Last night’s meeting went pretty much as expected, everything put before Council was approved. A couple of things were notable:
The Town has decided to accept Parry Sound Bikes’ proposal for the Old Fire Hall to convert the building for use as a bike shop. The accepted bid price was $130,000. There were two strong proposals for the building, Maurizio’s proposal to reconfigure the building to a restaurant, and Parry Sound Bike’s proposal. I think it’s a win for the Town and a win for Parry Sound Bikes. It’s a shame we couldn’t have a bike shop and a restaurant.
The Mayor shared his concern that public officials are left with considerable legal expenses in situations where they are accused of code of conduct violations, and are eventually cleared of the charges. He felt that the individuals bringing forth the charges should be responsible for the legal expenses of the public official in cases where there were no violations. I have my own concerns about this suggestion
In Canada, the individual who is accused of a ’transgression’ can defend themselves, using whatever resources they feel necessary, and they can afford. For example, a person accused of abusing a child would be brought to court and would be required to mount their own defense. If cleared of the charge, I do not believe that the Crown would reimburse the individual’s expense related to their defense. Why should it be different in the case of a public official?
As noted by the Chief Administrative Officer, a public official who was found innocent of charges would have their legal expenses covered by the municipality’s insurance. If innocent, the Public Official accused of the code of conduct violation would not be out of pocket of their expense. Not stated, and presumably implied, the individual would be responsible for the expenses if found to be guilty. Yes, the process would be traumatic and distracting, but much less than for an innocent individual brought to trial for an unsubstantiated charge who would not have the support of a municipality and the promise of reimbursed legal expenses.
Council agreed to the Direction and suggested that the letter be directed to ‘vexatious’ claims against a public official. That seems reasonable in my opinion. I do wonder about the reason for this unscheduled raising of the issue. I suspect it relates to a matter elsewhere in the Province, but I wonder if it also relates to blow-back following public comments made by the Mayor a couple of years ago that seemed to disparage a member of the community.
I am reminded of the observation that we as individuals want to be judged by our intent and not our words or actions. As a blogger, I have learned that I need to be very careful with my words. I have come to realize that what you say, and write, is how you are judged. Intent, unless properly expressed with words, is too easily misunderstood. And when a mistake is made, one needs to be quick to correct the mistake and, as necessary, apologize.
Some people hate taking responsibility for a mistake and making the appropriate apology.
A final thought: we need to get the online council meeting process up and running as soon as possible. It is included in the approved 2017 Budget. Once again, Cogeco was unable to cover a meeting of Council. They have a reasonable excuse, the meeting was rescheduled. I believe that neither of this year’s council meetings has been recorded and made available on Cogeco. And none of the budget meetings were recorded. We need to do better if we are to keep people properly informed as to what is going on at council meetings and not depend on bloggers and the official media for their opinion, or lack of opinion, regarding issues before Council.
Woo-hoo! Sunny Days have Returned.
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February 15, 2017 at 8:54 am
What was the discussion like about the fireball decision? I wonder what the main selling points were for the bike shop over the pizza place.
Part of me suspects the decision was influenced by fear and yuppie elitism – fear of riffraff drinking in the park versus their desperate desire to see Parry sound as this upper middle class yuppie paradise where no one has to work and everyone can spend their days and disposable income out paddling, hiking, biking, or doing bizarre exercises at various stops along a “fitness trail” (or playing outdoor musical instruments).
I can see why town council would want that, and I think it actually does describe a certain segment of the population, but it’s simply not the town as a whole.
When I first moved to Parry sound, I biked everyday. Even in the winter. That was because I could not afford a car! I know plenty of people now who also bike. For the same reason. These people are not buying thousand dollar bikes at bike shops and going on organized guided “pedal” in the middle of the day – they’re buying $5 bikes at garage sales, or maybe splurging on a “supercycle” at crappy Tire, and riding to their minimum wage job at pizza hut or Starbucks.
In other words, I suspect the new bike shop will be a “community hub” only to a small and elite portion of the community.
For that matter, how much work will this bike shop even be doing in the middle of winter? Haven’t we just effectively turned the fire hall into a one season service?
Someone also pointed out that with the pending departure of the OPP from their waterfront location right across from the trail, the bike shop may have done better to wait till then.
The pizza place, in contrast, would have run full tilt all year round, and would have served a much larger and more diverse portion of the community.
It’s ironic too that just the day before the decision, the pizza guy won that national award. So here we are with nationally recognized award willing pizza and instead of giving him a prime showcase location in the centre of town, we make him stay stuffed into a shack by the carwash. Where’s this new economic development officer when you need him? Cause this sounds economically brilliant for sure…
February 15, 2017 at 9:10 am
Nah, it seems that Parry Sound Bikes offered much more money than the other party who may have been low balling it. The low ball may have just reflected the costs they would have incurred to make it a working restaurant, something nice, not like the pizza place over on Seguin Street. It will cost much less to set up a bike shop in that building.
Ironic, perhaps, I think Maurizios has much bigger plans than little old Parry Sound.
Drop by the bike shop sometime this month, it’s a busy place, even in winter.