Wednesday, 4 February 2015
A Marvel Of The Age
Any reference to the former Mayor and decisions made during her term results in querulous response Obvious preference is for me to cease and desist. Unfortunately issues this Council and the community have to deal with do not permit the luxury.
Today I'm face to face with a shocking realization of my own gullibility.
It has been claimed the lease with the Department of Defence for the Hydro Property is secret for reasons of national security. Council was so informed by staff.
It never occurred to me that I might be misinformed.
And yet....Two leases had to be signed by two Mayors and two Clerks. Four people privy to the secret.
At least one solicitor wrote the legal agreement. Maybe two law clerks and a secretary engaged in
production of documents. Five more people privy to the terms.
Initially Councillor Gaertner commended the Chief Administrator for successfully negotiating the first lease. Probably with a secretary. Therefore two,more aware of terms.
In total eleven people could have been completely aware of the terms.
The Ontario Municipal Act allows a Council to deal in confidence with the buying and selling of real
Estate.
Leases are not referenced .In fact it's my understanding the Province does not favour a municipality in the role of landlord. A municipality either needs the property it owns or not. If not,,logic would indicate a sale to realize the asset .
A thirty year lease does not indicate municipal need.
The last Council directed the administration to produce a copy of the lease. It was produced . With blacked out sections and an explanation the whole could not be revealed for reasons of national security.
At least eleven people within the municipality know or could have known the terms of the lease. Two of the signatories were elected representatives.
Eight elected representatives required to approve the lease were not informed of its terms .
No documentation were produced, no Act was ever cited to support the requirement for secrecy.
Apart from how badly the town's interest was served by the deal, what kind of sense does it make that terms of the lease must be secret to protect the nation's security.
Zip,...Zilch.....Zero...Nada ...Nil ... None at all.
The property was slid right out from under just like Church Street School.
Political pandering to an extreme never before encountered.
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11 comments:
The first time national interest was used to explain why not details of the lease were available, I sort of accepted it. But you are right - time has passed & our understanding of what confidentiality means has changed.
What would it cost to charge the various participants with a breach of national security?
This is the sort of thing that MUST NOT be taken lightly.
You are never going to nail that one down, Evelyn. There was too much staff-shuttling and paper-shredding initially. It does seem that you were deliberately kept out of the loop but clearly you were not the only one. Hopefully we can do better .
I guess that's how all levels of gov't can get around being "transparent". Slap a National Security sticker on it and voilà!
Great photo in the Auroran, I guess the PM had not yet heard about Mr Baird's defection from his ranks.
Good Evening Evelyn Are you aware of a Provincial approval for transfer of water from Aurora to King via the golf courses????
Harper's ranks are getting more slender by the day.
Fantino is actually starting to look better.
What a ghastly thought.
Hush my head and mouth.
In an Auroran article this week mention is made of a new fire station in the vicinity of Yonge St. and St. John's Sideroad that will serve as a training centre and an added staff complement of 20 firefighters, or so says the consultant.
This would result in "better response times." I would hope so.
One interesting observation by the consultant is the tremendous improvement that something as simple as mandatory smoke detectors in all homes would have.
Frankly I don't understand why all homes are not required by law to have these devices. There are enough stupid rules and regulations now in place that are of little benefit.
Let's pass a municipal by-law that requires smoke detectors in all residential dwellings.
Get the populace involved!
"Better response time"? Didn't know we had problems with response times! Does anyone have a clue what the cost of this addition might be? Someone should make a phone call to East Gwillimbury. They can sure tell ya.
22:09
I think that you will find that smoke detectors are required by law.
In the last little while, CO2 detectors are also required by law.
Yes 09:08
But the Fire Services consultant Steve Thurlow says:
"Citing education and prevention as the first lines of defence, this came down as the second priority. Chief among these tasks is ensuring each home in Aurora and Newmarket has working smoke detectors. That, he said, could be a tall order."
So even if they exist, ensuring that they are all in working condition becomes a major challenge
I'm just trying to add some common sense warning protection to all residences..
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