CFN – So let’s see, first there was alleged fave of Mayor Bob “Bare Ass” Kilger Debora Daigle , and now the buzz coming out of City Hall in Cornwall is that David Dick has applied to replace disgraced and under investigation while on whatever the heck is administrative leave, CAO Paul Fitzpatrick.
For me this is a huge red flag.
Maybe Mr. Dick is the best candidate, but then again maybe it’s an end around by the mayor and his cohorts to bring in someone that will play ball with them the way Mr. Fitzpatrick apparently did?
Mr. Dick, formerly a manager with the City of Cornwall was of course one of those named in the Pilon case:
[6] For the reasons set out below the Application is allowed in part. The failures of the respondents are both substantive and procedural. I have found that the respondents, the City of Cornwall, John Flannigan and David Dick, discriminated against the applicant in suggesting to her that she attempt to confine her washroom use to her scheduled break times and failed to accommodate the applicant to the point of undue hardship when requested to do so in May 2004.
Frankly in this scribblers opinion and as a tax payer of the City of Cornwall I think that no CAO should be appointed until after the next Municipal election. It just doesn’t make sense to have those eating the chickens in the chick coop to be deciding who the next watch dog is to be… Many on Council now will not be after the next election. Heck some of them won’t be finishing this term even!
And while were at it I think it’s time for citizens to call for a provincial investigation to the goings on at City Hall. There’s simply too much going on in the shadows. Why was the City Clerk asked to delay her retirement especially in the manner that it was done?
I’m hearing quite a lot of buzz about the decision to not give Ms Manon Poirier, Deputy Clerk, the bump up to City Clerk replacing Denise Labelle-Gelinas.
Eight years of service should be long enough. Is there really a non-political reason for Manon not to replace the city clerk whose on vacation, again?
Is there really someone outside that could do as well as job or better especially without the hands on experience that our Deputy clerk has?
This reeks! Could this be why Mayor Kilger personally gave hand outs to council instead of the clerk to distribute at council this week?
That’s the problem with the way Mayor Kilger is running his show. The lack of transparency is costing tax payers a lot of money and jacking up taxes by 3% is never going to solve anything. It certainly will not attract more people to live and work here and how many more for rent signs do we need in the downtown core?
No it’s time for a big flush at City Hall and a major investigation and clean up. We the tax payers of Cornwall deserve better. We need to know what’s being done with our money and we need to elect those that care more about “our futures” than “their futures”.
Mayor Kilger once said the hardest choice a politician can make is to have to chose between party loyalty and loyalty to constituents.
It’s time he remembered his very own words.
And while it may be a small clique of 5 (down from 7) who are giving him carte blanche to rape tax payers and run amok those five that aren’t need to start talking out loud and remembering that they are there to do the best for the Corporation of the City of Cornwall and not the mayor.
Silence equals guilt. And while there are some faces not on the image above they need to share what some of them do in private. That our emperor is in fact not wearing any clothes and that the only way things can get better for Cornwall Ontario is for change.
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Jaimie an excellent article as usual. The only way that Cornwall can change is for the people themselves to change and stop bending down to these no good for nothings. You all have to elect someone good or don’t go to the poles which will show them that they are not wanted at all. Don’t give in to any of this pile of garbage. The same is everywhere in the country or around the world you as the people of Cornwall have to rise up against them. Everything that is going on is favoritism.
Bella wanted to know why I left Cornwall and Jaimie and folks that is the reason. If we didn’t bend down and kiss their behinds then there was no hope for our children nor for other people’s children. The majority of the people of my generation have left and never went back because they knew what was going on. Many are out west from what I gather. When things are bad you have no other choice but to move on for work and to get away from this crazyness going on at city hall.
I will say something to all of you that here in Canada we are still living in the best country in the world and that is the whole truth. Yes the country is full of flaws, etc. but in no where as bad as a lot of places. We have a lot to be thankful for but we don’t know for how long. When hard times come it will shock the people out of their minds. It will be something that people will never forget.
^The people that leave Cornwall leave because they are not smart enough to stay and thrive. The really stupid people, welfare caseload we have scattered around the city and in French Harlem bring the city down. And Jules, nobody has to kiss anybody’s ass and the good times stay as long as one is personally prepared to deal with change and embrace it. Stay happy.
@Jules. I am so sick and tired of your ignorant know it all rants of what you think Cornwall is, you left town for your reasons but I suggest it’s high time you stop abusing the people who do live here. Just because “Jules” you have issues Cornwall is not at all as bad as you would like it to be.
I know full well we have issues at City Hall, crime, welfare, drug abuse. I could go on and on. Let me tell you something. I do a dam good job living and raising my kids in what I feel and know is a GREAT City and I also know Jules thousands upon thousands will agree with me.
You think you know it all, you have hate in your vains and never anything good to say, for months we have wrote comments for you to stop and you won’t, you know this, you know that, you know nothing but anger, hide behind your computer but when your done reading this I bet I hit you with reality of what you really are.
Let us, the people of Cornwall decide what is good, what is wrong, you worry about the Great City of Ottawa. And don’t comment to me, don’t need or want to hear another rant, respect that.
People
Don’t pick on Jules, they are right as rain about the area. For the most part the general public in the city are great!!
However, when you escalate to the upper echelon you get into a whole new identity. What runs the city? We see nothing more retirees and pensioned individuals and people not benefitting by growth and change. Municipal servants are at the age where they are only awaiting retirement to enjoy the pension we have paid for. In that mix I see nobody that would benefit by encouraging any form on industrial growth.
I see that in my career on a different level, when a project or task is being bid on or costs are to be justified there is nothing of more value than billable hours. Nobody really cares if the work is actually being done, and if you push back you are often pushed out.
In Cornwall we now have another former civil servant accused of discrimination in the running for a Cornwall City position. No different than Mr. Menagh, he was charged with harassment with the city of Hamilton and then employed in Cornwall.
CAO is a reputable position and impacts much of what markets the city. So are Bob and company saying the city is home to people having no respect to their fellow employees convicted felons can work here in the upper levels of municipal government? Or is he just flipping the bird to constituents and voters in the city showing complete disregard for their wellbeing.
And it begs the question, If what this newspaper says inaccurate why are they not charged with liable suits. Is the city afraid of what people seeing proof of what is already known?
I agree with Jules wake up people, personally I am fed up with working in another other city while paying taxes in eastern Ontario.
Maybe that is an approach I should try, charge the city for my expenses, stress and grief caused by being away all the time. They do ot provide me with an option for viable employment.
Hailey the Cornwall Free News in over three years has never had to print a retraction nor have we been asked to change what we have printed.
As for possible legal action when you make a statement of claim; for example if Denis Thibault would sue me for calling him a liar then there is a process called disclosure where our legal team would have the right to fully investigate any records and documents related to defending such a claim. So instead, in the meanwhile Mr. Thibault and some of his confreres institute a boycott that leaks into boards and agencies they are connected to with the hopes of CFN being strangled to death and dying with no revenue.
That’s probably why no entity or person from the City of Cornwall has made so much as a peep to date. It’s not what we have reported, which is just the tip of the iceberg; it’s what they are afraid would be discovered in disclosure.
The problem, and this is a biggie; is that if the public at large refuse to hold Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mayor Kilger, and that shrinking group of councilors that have propped up their lies and abuse of power accountable then their actions and misdeeds will never be accounted for properly.
Does it make sense for Mr. Fitzpatrick to still be sucking back his salary of over $180K per year before riding off to his pension of over $100K per year based on what he’s done and is under an investigation now that the city will never fully disclose? Does it make sense for the City of Cornwall to still have Denise Labelle-Gelinas as clerk or that she even be allowed to retire without sanction or investigation?
Nope. It’s yet another black mark on the good people of this city that work hard and are over taxed.
We need a metaphorical guillotine. We need those at City Hall who know better to step forward and tell the truth. Nothing more. Just the truth.
We need a Project Truth, a real one to expose what’s gone on at City Hall and those who are pulling the levers of power and holding back Cornwall from growing and fulfilling its destiny.
Cornwall is more than a $150M trough which a select few should feed from.
Admin, congratulations!
Since this is what has happened and as we all know continues to happen, why has no legal authority taken them to task?
I am sure the province would joyfully audit both their financial and ethical dealings.
Is there no way we can pursue this legally?
How would you suggest we take the powers that be to task? I can assure you I would be first in line and know of others that would stand at the ready.
All this is needed is one charismatic individual to start the train
Hailey it all starts with the public. Fill the council room at meetings. Start petitions. Start to write emails and make phone calls. It takes the first steps by many to make things happen.