Image Credit: Allen Allen / Flickr Creative Commons
Two lengthy and heavy Integrity Commissioner reports appeared in the agenda for this coming Monday’s Council of the Whole meeting. The complaints and the IC findings shed a great deal of light on the tensions between Members of Council.
NewsNow’s own Mike Williscraft talks to Ron Schroder and Ruxandra Bucataru of SaveMainStreet to get their take on Main Street East development, the upcoming LPAT/OLT hearing and other issues in Town. Well worth a watch or listen!
If you couldn’t make it out to SaveMainStreet’s first neighbourhood meeting on August 29th, they have posted a video of the meeting for your viewing pleasure.
You can read SaveMainStreet’s post on the meeting by clicking here.
The good folks over at “Save Main Street” are organizing a good ol’ fashioned “neighbourhood meeting” for this Thursday evening at Centennial Park. With two proposed MSE developments that never were presented to Council for decision and are now awaiting an LPAT hearing, forensic questions about the handling of these applications at Town Hall are certainly in order.
You don’t need to be a resident of Main Street East to attend, but if you have concerns about how this situation came to be or concerns about Town Planning/Administrative matters, you may wish to consider attending.
On the long “Weekend Edition” on NewsTalk 610 CKTB, Ward 2 Councillor Lianne Vardy spoke with Matt Holmes about development pressures and realities in Grimsby, especially along the Main Street East Corridor.
You can listen to the 10 minute-ish segment by clicking the following link:
It was an early 5PM start for the Special Council meeting, mainly for 314 Main St. E., that was rescheduled from last week. Despite the dinner hour, the delegations representing the residents of Lawrence Avenue and the developer (Branthaven) were ready, willing and able to put their best points forward to Council.
While many have raised questions both publicly and on social media about the actions of the Town’s CAO, an online media outlet in Brampton today posted an in-depth article that captures Mr. Schlange’s movements and hiring practices.
From his early days at Fort Erie to his current tenure in Grimsby, the article takes a long and factual look at where the CAO has been and who he brought along for the ride.
You can read the full post at the Bramptonist by clicking this link here.
It came as a surprise to many on Council in February when the 2021 budget was presented and the 2020 revenue for “Freedom of Information” fees was revealed. The Town had estimated it would take in $50 in these fee revenues for 2020… but they actually took in $3,989. That’s almost an 8,000% (yes, eight-thousand percent) increase compared to estimated revenue.
Welland’s new Integrity Commissioner, Deborah Anschell of ADR Chambers told Council there that blocking constituents on social media might contravene the city’s Code of Conduct. The Integrity Commissioner cited a recent case in York, where a complaint was filed by a constituent who had been blocked by a member of Council simply because the resident was critical.
Photo Credit: St. Catharines Standard/Fair Dealing
It was bad enough last year when West Lincoln Mayor Dave Bylsma offered less than acceptable comments regarding LGTBQ, Pride and Black Lives Matter, but he apparently has sunk to a new low. In this particular incident, Mr. Bylsma felt it appropriate to ask a woman if her recent COVID-19 vaccination was affecting her menstrual cycle.