CORNWALL Ontario – 
A new Lay committee is being formed to decide on who gets a seat on the many committees in our fair city.
There are lots of options to serve. Last term I applied for several but was denied because….well essentially all but one of the Lay committee was not re-elected so that should answer that question.
New Mayor Leslie O’Shaughnessy has some interesting choices for the Lay Committee and I have a hunch will rely on some of the more experienced Councillors
I attended the last meeting of our Waterfront Committee last week.
Former Mayor Kilger was a no show as were Roy Perkins and Todd Bennett.
It was a sombre meeting and apparently a few whiny comments were made as I had to leave early.
People talk about healing and moving forward. One act of sanity would be to give all on this committee a term off. Not a single one should be on any committee for the simple reason that they allowed pettiness to embarrass Cornwall by moving into an illegal in camera meeting.
Sadly, even after the Fournier report spelled things out not a single member of this committee apologized to the community. Not a one. A few actually bitched about it believe it or not, and Glen Grant still thinks he did nothing wrong even though he was the chief agitator of that night.
The excuses given about “not knowing” the rules clearly are a canard as Former Mayor Kilger and Former Councilor Grant were both long serving. Chair Lee Cassidy asked for advice and received none.
For Ms Cassidy, Glen Grant, Eric Lang, Roy Perkins, Todd Bennett, Michel Dubuc, Kevin Donnelly, Guy Menard, Pat Clarke, Colleen Bissonette, Bob Kilger, and Keitha Fisher (btw congrats on the patronage gig from former member and councilor Denis Thibault at the EOTB Keitha!) choices were made. Multiple opportunities to mea culpa occurred, but not a single one taken advantage of.
Committees are extremely important and should be more than just an opportunity to eat on the public dime.
Hopefully lots of people apply again this term. I know I have.
From the City website here is the list of Committees in Cornwall below. Now is the time to apply! CLICK THIS LINK to go to the application.
The Council of The Corporation of the City of Cornwall is seeking applications from interested individuals who would like to serve the Community and volunteer to serve as Member on various Boards, Commissions and Committees as follows:
- Audit Committee (2 Lay Members)
- Building Industry Liaison and Advisory Committee (2 Members from the Development Industry and 1 Design Professional)
- Committee of Adjustment (3 Lay Members)
- Cornwall and Area Housing Corporation Board of Directors (3 Lay Members)
- Cornwall Community Police Service Board (1 Lay Member)
- Cornwall Economic Development Strategic Plan Implementation Advisory Committee (4 Lay Members)
- Cornwall Planning Programs Evaluation Committee (1 Lay Member)
- Cornwall Public Library Board (5 Lay Members)
- Cornwall Regional Airport Commission (1 Lay Member)
- Cornwall Regional Airport Review Committee (1 Lay Member)
- Cornwall Youth Advisory Committee (8 Students and 3 Adults)
- Culture Plan Committee (5 Arts Community Members, 4 Community-at-Large Members)
- Environmental Advisory Committee (3 Lay Members)
- Heritage-Patrimoine Cornwall (9 Lay Members)
- Long Term Goose Control Committee (3 Lay Members)
- Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee (3 Members from Community Stakeholders and 5 Members from the Disability Community)
- Property Standards Advisory Committee (3 Lay Members)
- Property Standards Appeal Committee (3 Lay Members)
- Recreation Advisory Committee (8 Lay Members)
- Skateboard/BMX Sub-Committee (2 Lay Members)
- Transit Committee (2 Lay Members)
- Waterfront Development Committee (10 Lay Members)
- Waterfront Land Acquisition Committee (2 Lay Members)
Applicants are invited to submit their Applications (click on link below) and Resumes to the City of Cornwall’s Clerk’s Department outlining their qualifications and interests by mail, in person, by fax or by email no later than 4:00 p.m. on Friday, December 5, 2014.
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You know Jamie these committees are laughable when I see the gang around the table. There are one or two who are the head honchos and don’t care what other people’s opinions are and it is all show. I have seen so much back biting when people turn their backs by certain people and they think that they know it all and nobody can change their ways. I sure wouldn’t want anything to do with any of it and if they ever use their mighty stupid plans that they had before they will destroy Lamoureux Park. Jamie if you go up Bank Street here in Ottawa to the football stadium and look at the gigantic, humoungous condos that they are building you would go yuck. People can no longer bring their cars in to the games and have to take the buses. There is a Whole Foods opening below and I cannot remember the date but it is this month and I had the thing in the mail and threw it since that is high end. I like the condos that Mr. John Markell built and to build them on Water Street and other such places but not along the river and not humougous size monsters that block out the sun and people’s views.
A committee to decide on committees, only in government!! A lot of these committees could be combined to cut down on the number. I noticed before there are two airport committees. Jeez!!!!!!
Expecting different results from the same group members is indeed a stretch of the imagination. A clean slate would be preferable and progressive.
From the list Jamie posted the committees will have a definite different look once formed.
Hugger and I sure do know about the insane way that government operates on so many committees and they screw up everything in site and only there to collect a pay cheque. Hugger a committee about airports? Something as insane as what former PM Pierre Trudeau did with the airport of Mirabel that is no longer in use and took peoples farms away and for what? Committees usually do more damage than good. All it takes is good common sense which a lot of people lack.
Jules, not just one airport committee, there are two.
As for Mirabel…it is still being used, but as a commercial airport, not a civilian one.
I see that Mark MacDonald is in doo-doo already and he hasn’t even been sworn in yet. He wants $10M from the federal gov’t for putting in the tank “farm.” To me a tank “farm” is far more than two tanks. Good luck with that one Mark. He has been using city staff to do his bidding until he is sworn in. The mayor elect, Leslie O’Shaughnessy, is not enthused on how Mark has been doing this. I say it’s going to be an interesting four years with this council. It’ll be better than the last council. But I see lots of personality conflicts and differences of opinion on how things should be done.
Committees… a group that spends hours making minutes.
BTW, last time around, a Cornwall resident with 20+ years of aviation and airport experience — both civilian and military, in the air and on the ground — didn’t get the time of day from City Hall when applying for airport committees.
Just as well maybe… having to listen to Syd “Captain Kangaroo” Gardiner for 4 years would have been torturous at best.
Jules I would never venture to speak for Mark or someone else, but I think it’s great to get a dialog going. We may not be able to fix the damage done by the Federal government with the help of Mayor Kilger (I want to wish him well with his next battle against Cancer) but at the same time we can and should try and leverage something back.
Jamie I don’t know what is going to happen with those tanks on government land but this will be one hell of a battle because it also involves Trillium Company. There has to be a contract and that would cost big money to break if at all. I was against those tanks from the very beginning and something should have been done back then but with all the papers signed, sealed and delivered then I can’t see what can be done now that the damage is done. I like Mark very much and don’t know him personally but he is the kind of person who will push to get things done and that is great. If I were in Mark’s place I would be a great deal more pushy and shouting than what he is and would not take it sitting down at all and Mark is a lot more polite than I am. This salt (supposed to be salt) can do a great deal of damage to the water table and not just that but if trucks are going to haul that crap to Ottawa and Gatineau can you imagine the state of the roads with the heavy trucks and the danger for horrible accidents. Whoever came up with this crazy idea needs their heads examined.
I agree that dialogue must be started with the various stakeholders in the harbour tanks issue. But it has to be done the right way. Until the councilor-elects and mayor-elect are sworn in they are just like you and I, citizens. Using city hall staff and resources to further this as a citizen is not good business. He could have asked one of the re-elected councilors to do the work or have it done through them. Leslie O’Shaughnessy was not happy in the article I read.
Jules…yes it will cost lots of $$ to break the contract with the company that has the tanks on the harbour lands. I don’t think people realize that breaking contracts cost money. You just can’t say we want the contract to end and that happens. Then the harbour lands have to be restored to their previous state, that is not cheap to do. I think that is what Mark MacDonald is trying to do, get money for that. But the way he went about it is all wrong.
The chemical in the tanks is just being used in the area, in the area municipalities. It is not being shipped to Ottawa and / or Gatineau.