CORNWALL Ontario – Monday night two subjects stood out. Now these were distractions from the bigger mess of our budget which preliminary numbers are looking at a tax increase of over 5% which simply is not acceptable, especially considering the bloating of taxes through eight years of Kilger rule.
The first issue I’ll write about is the mess of 2nd Street and the narrowing from four lanes to two.
When you have city staffers running reports that get rubber stamped without proper public consultation this is the result you get. Here in Cornwall, City Hall, at least during my time here, has a clear issue with consulting with voters. I’m not sure why as an ad on the largest and most read media in our city isn’t that expensive.
The results can be the costly mess that 2nd Street is today. One media report blared that it would cost $35,000 to fix the roads. That’s about the price of your average car. Saving one accident per year alone could equal that and the more claims an area ends up with the higher all of our local insurance rates will go.
Bike paths? Yes, for sure. On Second street as they exist now? Not a chance. It’s ridiculous.
Apologies for the grainy video, but since Councilor Frost made some utterly impossible claims against myself the last time I attended council I am staying away due to the high legal costs of dealing with such claims which I expect will be cleared up shortly and may never recover costs on.
That City Hall is standing silent while Mr. Frost runs amok, he also said I made sexual advances upon him at a sales meeting, is to me a lack of leadership at City Hall. While some might try and hide behind that he’s doing things personally and not on behalf of the City, when the most Senior Journalist in a city of 46,000 has to deal with the cost of false claims while attending City Hall to cover Council is something that many should be concerned with.
I’ll be able to write about this in detail after our next court hearing.
As for Councilor Frost’s motion to create a $75K salary for an Arts person at City Hall, which Councilor Frost stated that “We should be ashamed” for not supporting I think that City Management and Council voted clearly in the right direction. At this point $300,000 per term makes no sense when we’re not supporting Artists to that tune. What exactly would that party co-ordinate at this point?
Mr. Frost’s plan was defeated unanimously with Brock asking for a recorded vote.
Personally I see a disconnect between Council and Arts at this time. The only real artist on Council, Mark MacDonald, who himself is a musician, was very quiet.
Councilor Murphy clearly does not support Arts and Culture. He sure as heck supports Benson’s as you can hear in his speech. (And what’s with the fascist Red and Black that he likes to wear along with his Brown Shirt haircut?)
The one issue that comes clear though is that the Arts Community needs to get its act together and work to push if there will ever be a bigger Arts Centre than TAG.
The babble about how the Hockey people supported the Benson Centre simply is babble. The Cart was in fact put before the Horse and frankly the Hockey people came up with less than 10% of the money. Some on council were simply in love or pushed by their partisan friends to grab at Federal and Provincial monies available at the moment. Instead of building a rink on each side of the City for about $12M they spend $35M on a facility that this city simply may not be able to afford.
However the Feds and Province will not pay for the upkeep at the end of the day. Tax payers will and if Councilor Rivette is right and Cornwall is in a “depression” then how will those that don’t even use the Benson Centre afford it? Yes, it’s time for larger user fees for those that do not reside in Cornwall especially as so many posturing for it live in freaking South Stormont and South Glengarry and don’t pay municipal taxes.
Councilor Justin Towndale (see Justin, no “S”) wrote about the meeting on his facebook page.
This is a quote he shared about Glen Stor Dun Lodge.
The original estimates were well below the updated estimates for the work. The work itself relates to the assistance (help) call system, floor replacements, and repairs and replacement of equipment for the backup generator system. The system is crucial in the event of a power outage. For the majority of these projects, Council has very little choice but to proceed. By provincial mandate, the city is required to operate a facility with the scope of Glen Stor Dun Lodge. It is also the city’s responsibility to ensure that it is up to code. The updated cost estimate numbers are the worst kind of surprise for any Council.
Frankly if this is truly the case someone (s) should be fired as this would be gross incompetence. Personally, in my opinion, I don’t believe that there were “surprises”. I do think that many times elected officials delay spending money.
Like the old Fram Oil commercials always told us “You can pay us today or pay me later.”
That former Mayor Kilger’s own mother resided at GSDL makes this even more sinister. It’s inexcusable, and half of this council was part of the last and I think owe the community some answers.
And this comes down to my final point in this 11th Councilor column and that’s about what do councilors owe the public when it comes to learning about important issues and not simply relying on reports from Management?
Some elected clearly were for recognition or popularity and not for their ability and of course the Municipal Act doesn’t have recall language meaning a bad choice or fraudulent choice essentially leaves a bad taste for four years.
The smartest and most likely capable candidate for council was not even close to being elected. Clearly there is a fail in our system and not only in Cornwall.
The result may be a 5% increase in taxes this year instead of cutting taxes with some stating next year will be worse!
At one point does the public simply run out of money?
What do you think Cornwall? You can post your comments below.
(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of this site, their staff, or sponsors.)
Comment policy reminder
CFN has a new comment policy. You must use your real first and last name. As well if your email bounces we will terminate your posting privileges.
We value all input from our amazing CFN viewers and are always trying to improve the viewer experience which includes making this a safe, informative, and entertaining platform.
If you have any questions please email info@cornwallfreenews.com
A tax increase of over 5% is not acceptable. But is it unexpected? Not in my eyes. When previous councils continued to cut items from budgets those items will have to appear at some time. A perfect example is GSDL. For how many years have the city / counties known the upgrades were required? But what did previous councils do? They chose to eliminate those required upgrades from the budget as the system in place could survive another year. Like Jamie said “Like the old Fram Oil commercials always told us “You can pay us today or pay me later.” Well, later has arrived and it doesn’t look very good.
As for “bike pats” I don’t think they belong on Second Street in its current makeup. You don’t put bike paths on roads that are not wide eough. You don’t see bike paths on Ninth Street or the south end of Brookdale do you?
Now “arts and culture”…. I think we need to define what we want in Cornwall and to define what “arts and culture” are to us. We definitely need an arts centre, something like Brockville’s Art Centre. Aultsville Theatre is out of the question due to it belonging to SLC. To me the perfect location would be the Port Theatre. There is an empty lot next door allowing for a modest expansion of the Port and some parking.
I fail to see why having Bob Kilger’s mother a resident at GSDL is sinister. Unless she was getting a free ride. My mother was in a retirement residence and LTC facility before her passing. I know they aren’t perfect. But it beats having her stay in her own home and not being looked after. My mother received excellent care at both facilities and I have no complaints about her care or fees.
I do agree “that’s about what do councilors owe the public when it comes to learning about important issues and not simply relying on reports from Management.” Councilors need to ask more questions AND better inform the taxpayers on what is happening at City Hall, etc.
As far as elderly persons are concerned; all those who are remotely able to provider elder care should be responsible for the one that brought them to this mortal realm.
Wow!….have yu ever had to look after an aging parent? It isn’t as easy as you say it should be.
Wow I know what you mean but that is not always possible depending on the circumstances. Hugger is right on what he said. Some people have alzheimers and other diseases that need professional help and they cannot be left alone at all. Cornwall as well as everywhere else needs these special facilities for an aging population who can no longer look after themselves and yes it is very costly. Taxes are mighty expensive and like my husband said just a while ago that we need taxes to keep everything going and that Canada is the best country in the world. You have to go elsewhere to find that out. I wish that the old General Hospital was converted into such a facility.
Cornwall and other cities do have facilities to take care of our aging parents, etc. They are called Long-Term Care facilities. They have the expertise to look after people who have Alzheimers / dementia, etc. The LTC facilities are not perfect, but what is. My mom was in a retirement residence for two years, as well as a LTC facility later. I had no issues with the care she was given. It was easier than leaving her in her home and relying on home-care visits once a week, which were later cancelled. I was able to g and see her in her home every 1 -2 weeks. Having a brother and sister unwilling to help did not make the situation better.
BTW, the old General Hospital was converted into a health care facility by the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa. See the link below for info.
http://www.bruyere.org/en/elisabeth-bruyere-hospital
Hugger you said everything absolutely right on and yes I agree with every word you said. I know all about the Elizabeth Bruyère Centre and it is there where our friend Robert was placed in his later days with his cancer since the family couldn’t look after him.
What I was referring to was Cornwall’s old General Hospital on Second St. East and Marlborough which was an excellent facility for the needs of the growing elderly population. I would have liked to see this facility put to a better use. Someone said that a lot of the clinics are not being used seven days a week in Cornwall and maybe just a few days. Well if things are like that then another clinic should be out of the question and make the former CGH into a facility for the elderly who can no longer look after themselves. Home care is a great deal cheaper but it is for those who do not need constant 24 hour care and you are absolutely right in what you said. I was just talking to my husband about this matter as well and he agreed with me that Canada needs doctors and needs these long care facilities badly. My daughter and I are seeing a very old man (has to be over 80) and is a doctor and came from Egypt back in the early 60’s and is still practicing. It is getting to the point where he will have to retire and we all need doctors and young and competent ones.
We should see what is happening with the old General Hospital site by the summer fall. Hopefully it can be put to good use.
gimme a break gabby
{MODERATED}
Comment policy reminder
CFN has a new comment policy. You must use your real first and last name. As well if your email bounces we will terminate your posting privileges.
We value all input from our amazing CFN viewers and are always trying to improve the viewer experience which includes making this a safe, informative, and entertaining platform.
If you have any questions please email info@cornwallfreenews.com