When the plan to start the South Stormont News rolled forward it was simple and basic.
Help promote the community and offer something that most communities its size don’t have any longer, a local news presence.
The South Stormont News was incorporated in Ingleside. A deal was struck for a one year contract to publish the Township Bulletin at less than 10% per year than the Township was paying to have it published in Quebec owned TC media’s Seaway News which was based in Cornwall.
Further to that it was given an extra 20% discount on all additional advertising. Distribution was via Canada Post, home delivery, and drop off points at merchants.
Yet one elected official opposed it because she was upset at this newspaper publishing her antics which resulted in her getting sanctioned by South Stormont’s integrity commissioner.
When the South Stormont Council voted 4-1 to the contract for one year Deputy Mayor Tammy Hart released a memo clearly positing false information suggesting SSN was getting “start up” funds or “loans” which it never was or were even discussed.
She and current mayor Jim Bancroft actually campaigned on terminating the contract with SSN to publish the bulletin. It was just about the first thing council did after the election.
However the Township of South Stormont refused to pay the balance of the contract for one year which was discounted because of its term.
The South Stormont News, after hitting a communications brick wall with the township, issued suit to collect. It also stopped print distribution due to the impact of intimidation of some of its clients attributed to the actions of the Deputy Mayor.
To date the Township has spent nearly four times the value of the claim fighting and dragging it out.
The first trial date ended after half a day as it turned out that CAO Betty Dehaan was in Conflict of Interest with the judge. This was after an initial query of Conflict was not moved on before the trial commenced.
The second trial date was Friday March 18th. The SSN team led by Paralegal James Moak, and witnesses were there promptly, but the township did not.
After a half hour delay the court heard via telephone from Township lawyer Hali Adair. Ms Adair claimed a schedule mix up due to her leaving the Township’s legal firm to start up her own shop.
She shared that the CAO had contacted her that morning. Ms Adair did not contact Mr. Moak to give him notice which many would consider proper and professional conduct in such a situation.
The township will most likely be hit with “Costs” for the lost day, especially in light of having an out of town justice hear it.
The township to date has had to pay heavy legal bills for establishing the claim, going through the settlement hearing, the first mistrial, ironically the bill Ms Adair most likely furnish for her time on Friday, and ultimately the actual trial which a reasonable person would deduce that had very little chance of winning.
One has to ask if Ms Hart or the rest of council would run up a bill that might crest $20,000 of South Stormont Tax dollars if the cash was coming out of their own pockets?
Ultimately the Township will most likely have to pay the claim, pay the additional costs awarded via the lost court days, costs per Small Claims court formula, and all of that dwarfed by its own legal bill.
What do you think dear CFN viewers? Do you think Ms Hart, Mayor Bancroft, and South Stormont Council are spending public dollars well? You can post your comments below.
Cutting off their noses to spite their faces? Shooting themselves in the foot? …It’s hard to know which aphorisms to use for theses dogs in a manger.
It seems a lot of municipalities have this attitude….defend themselves at all costs….even if those costs are greater than settling when settling would be cheaper for the taxpayers……arghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hugger it’s amazing. They campaigned against a service delivered to tax payers at literally less than 10 cents on the dollar and will have spent nearly three times the value of the contract by the time they are done.
Jamie the hatred of these people like Tammy Hart and that Currier fellow go beyond money and the same with that new mayor Bancroft. The sheeple of Long Sault and other areas around that Bancroft, Hart and Currier represent are lame brain idiots and full of hate and I for one cannot live in such a place at all. Every time I look at Currier I think of the KKK and Missississippi.
That Tammy is so HOT! You really shouldn’t keep posting pics of her Jamie. The impure thoughts they induce will have me treading water in the preacher’s fiery lake for sure!
I guess sheeple live everywhere but Ottawa. It seems we can do nothing right and people from Ottawa can do no wrong. We won’t get into the sheeple in Ottawa letting themselves be conned into having the LRT which is going to cost them way more than they thought just so Jimbo Watson can have his legacy project. And now Jimbo wants photo radar “for the safety of teh people”, not a cash grab.
If Ottawa gets photo radar I will close down our new Ottawa office and pull out.
Jamie I think that Ottawa is going to get photo radar and if you lived here to see the speeding and going through red lights then you would agree with me – dangerous driving. Hugger I am not fond of LRT but when you have to take 3 buses to go to work and still not get there in time then you will understand why.
Hugger the people who live in Orleans and have to get out to the far west end for their jobs need LRT and even my daughter who lives here in the south and had to go to Kanata was hell – 3 hours on buses. The regular buses are ok for short trips but people need the LRT and yes it is going to cost big time.
Jamie I questioned two of our doctors – one just retired and I questioned the lady doctor who is a dermitologist why no doctors and she said that their salaries were scaled back and the cost of doing business – taxes as well as rent, utilities is way too much money. The rents here in Ottawa is very expensive and can you picture Toronto and especially Vancouver. Vancouver is for the very rich.
Jules I do not agree with photo radar.
Jamie photo radar can be tricky if someone else is driving your vehicle in an unsavory manner and you the owner gets hit with the tickets. I know both good and bad from this kind of thing. My husband drives and I sit beside him and the drivers are nuts to the core and you have to be kind of crazy to drive here in Ottawa. Crazy is hardly a word to describe it and plenty of gangs on the roads.
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Photo radar, pure and simple, is a cash grab. It does not deal with situations where the owner isn’t driving the car, but still gets the ticket. Municipalities are asking for it because it is fast cash for them.
The LRT might have been worth it IF it had been thought out. Blair to Tunney’s Pasture is a joke. If you are outside the route you’re still stuck with slow, unreliable bus service. And what does the LRT provide? Simple answer really..a legacy project for Jimbo Watson. The LRT is being run by OC Transpo. Do I need to say more?
Photo radar might seem unfair in some cases, and might appear to be a “cash grab”, but it sure was effective for slowing down the speeders and reducing accidents.
There is a lot more than just photo radar and there is a big stink going on in Ottawa about tinted windows and my husband was telling me about this thing this morning. Cops are very afraid of who is behind those tinted windows and believe me Jamie we were scared out of our wits with some gangs in another car with those tinted windows and one of them rolled down their window in the back seat.
Jules…it isn’t just Ottawa where tinted windows is a concern. The law states that the police have to be able to see in the car. The problem is that that is open to a lot of interpretation. Factory installation isn’t a problem, after market is the problem as there is always someone willing to bend the rules to their advantage.
Hugger the problem isn’t just Ottawa like what you said it is in many places and here in Ottawa a lot of the problem is on the Québec side of the river. Cops on both sides are having problems with tinted windows and Ottawa council are going to debate on this issue.