Weird Freeholder Agape Story Goes Boom As Council Rejects Funding After All by Jamie Gilcig

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Cornwall Ontario – You know it must be getting close to election time when Cornwall Ontario Mayor Bob Kilger doesn’t back Councilor Elaine MacDonald who tried to back door funding for the Agape Centre which she is on the board of.

It was Twilight Zone time for the while  which started earlier in the day when the Freeholder released that headline as well as the odd dating of Sunday November 24th.  The story even quoted Exec Director Alyssa Blais of Agape doing the happy dance about getting her funding and talking about the construction project she would be able to turnover to her friend or family member to get cracking on.

Of course the Freeholder released that headline prior to the actual council meeting where the Agape funding was on the agenda.   One wag actually said it was our CFN story of yesterday that put pressure on the mayor and councilors to vote against the funding which was a 5-5 tie with Mayor Bob Kilger casting the deciding vote against his good buddy Elaine.

Syd Gardiner summed things up best; the benefits of being around long enough to remember the odd thing;  in this case that Agape took $200K from City Hall for renovations on the proviso of not returning for more.

btw, what the heck language is Clerk Helen Finn speaking?  Can you understand her either?

The debate and discussion show how dysfunctional some members of this council are from clear lacking of propriety (Elaine MacDonald) to comprehension….

I asked Ms MacDonald about her clear conflict, but she insisted that she isn’t making money off of this so it isn’t a conflict. (She’s on the board of the Agape)     I know insane.  And of course if her works for Agape and other boards lead to her winning the MPP ticket like she tried last election she wouldn’t get paid?   And the influence she exerts and abuses in her roles in these organizations has no value either?

It was a double act for Ms MacDonald as she led the charge against a company that leaves donation boxes for items in cities and towns which she actually stated was hurting Agape which she is on the board of!

Btw Ms MacDonald an easy fix would simply to charge high license fees for placement of such a box on City Property in Cornwall and allow entities to apply for a credit from the City.    So the Agape or Sally Ann would pay the fee; but if the city chose to, would reimburse them which they most likely would  as opposed to  an out of  town carpet bagger.

However it should be pointed out that in many cases these bins are filled with garbage that would not end up in our land fill; something Ms MacDonald’s protege, Alyssa Blais complains about.

Personally I feel sorry for the talented Mr. Peerenboom of the Freeholder as writer’s rarely write their own headlines.  Although the interview question with Ms Blais in yesterday’s story does beg the question of whether this was a back room deal gone boom by exposure to the public?

The Freeholder online pulled down yesterday’s embarrassing story and replaced it with a new one as though nothing had happened also killing all the comments posted.

Again isn’t it time that Cornwall adopts a policy that   a councilor can not sit on the board of an entity doing business or asking for funding from City Hall?    And isn’t it time that people like Ms MacDonald stop trying to use charities to pimp their own political aspirations and those of their cronies?

What do you think dear CFN viewers?  You can post your comments below.

15 Comments

  1. Tried to post a comment relating to this story on Free Loader…guess they didn’t like my questions as they did not publish them…what a rag

  2. She may not be earning revenue from her actions but she is misleading people into a false sense of belief ths keeping her position as councilman….isn’t that cause for conflict of interest.

    Kind of like Bob having his son hired on with the fire department weeks after resume submittal was closed

  3. Just Wrong
    If you put a link or a swear word in the freeholder comments disqus system will stop it…the freeholder doesn’t control that part example it will accept s_e_x but if you type sex…its gone to moderation
    same if u put a link to any site…its gone to moderation….I truly believe there are no real moderators just computer code as Stellabyestarlight found out when she complained to them that our group had stole her “exclusive online name” We did it ONLY after she accused some dude of being a crook

    Freeholder does have control about posting a BAD story…then taking it DOWN with no explanation but I truly feel sorry for them under huge pressure to keep such a huge budget afloat and with half the staff being new from SLC
    The little guys get kick in the teeth while the SunNews empire gets richer sorta like that gd son of a bxxich Conrad Black the evil destroyers of newspapers…who sometimes appears on this site with all his arrogance and non wit…He like Mitt Romney took good newspapers…sucked all the money out of them …them left them to rot…Conrad did papers…Mitt did industries
    As Bruce Springsteen sings..Banker man gets fat working man gets thin

  4. just wrong, why do you continue to post on the SF site if they keep deleting post. You are just adding to their revenue every time you post. It’s a numbers game for them,

  5. NEWS FLASH Urgent United Press 10 bells

    Mr James Gilcig and CFN have just been served with court papers

    Jamie will be charged under the third strike rule for stealing……headlines…not cash…..relax stella

    At issue…his headline Agape story goes BOOM

    Our rich high priced lawyer from Hog Town say we have a strong case since its obvious this headline was stolen from StopDrone/strikes November 25, 2013 at 7:13 pm

    KAAAAA BOOOOM
    Seconds after a comment strongly supporting Rob the Freeholder comment section disappears
    like magic

  6. She, (Elaine) just don’t get it, does she ? Oh no, I’m not in a conflict of interest…..oh my God no ! A conflict of interest is not just a monetary gain Elaine, it is also the perception & the perception is, you are definitely in a conflict. Not to worry though, your not the only “nay-sayer” your buddy Carr, I must add, definitely trumps your situation. But hey, let’s not also forget the committees of Council, the land acquisition com, the waterfront com, shall we continue ?
    This old boys style of doing business, is going to cease, it doesn’t work, people are fed up with it, taxpayers cannot afford it & hopefully, next fall’s election , will be the start ?
    Fellow taxpayers, please give due consideration, to the “BIG FLUSH MOVEMENT” ?

  7. Author

    Um, we have never been sued in our near five year history for the record.

  8. Lying by omission….so Agape had to borrow $400k to reach their $1 million fund raising goal. I guess they “forgot” to mention this when they said they were successful in reaching their funding goal. Failing to mention something like that is lying, pure and simple. Now they’ll have to divert donations to pay the mortgage. And people question why I have issues with Agape administration.

  9. Author

    The entire board needs to go. The piecemeal changes just keep the incompetence and clique rolling. Spending money on that building is a waste of money. It should be sold to developers for condos and a trust set up to support of a proper food bank in a less development friendly site.

  10. I totally agree Admin. The BoD for Agape is too long in the tooth and have been there too long. They have become complacent and led by an administration that can’t see the forest for the trees. Agape needs to move into a purpose specific building and/or move into a few smaller buildings that are purpose specific. This all in one building is not working and is too expensive

  11. Agape’s downtown property should be sold to developers. The money could be used to build or rent a proper building/buildings. The land they’re on now is too rich to ignore it’s potential to developers. But Agape refuses to look outside the box they’ve been in for far too long.

  12. You can’t borrow yourself out of debt and it sounds like Agape went way over their heads. Yes Agape should be put in an area where the need is the greatest and the land given to developers. When you have a bad administration then everything goes to hell in a handbasket. Many changes are needed including the town hall.

  13. You can’t wear two hats as mayor, council and some other jobs. If you are in a conflict of interest then you don’t belong in council or mayor. Elaine is in conflict of interest and there may be others and this Carolyn is also a conflict of interest. Something has to be done and huge changes are desperately needed and boot out the laughing stock that we all see who are incompetent.

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