Category Archives: 2010 Municipal election

11.24.12
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Wrong time and place for Ald. Yusuf to editorialize

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While his message of outrage and disgust may have been well aimed, Ald. Sam Yusuf’s diatribe on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict was totally out of place Monday in the council chamber.
The complex Gaza turmoil is far outside the realm of council’s mandate and to take this time to editorialize in front of a large group of army cadets shows poor judgment on the part of Yusuf.
He would do well to channel his energy into municipal matters like attending hospital board meetings, from which he has been missing in action for months.
It is no secret he does not intend to seek re-election. Put the last two years of this term to good use. Represent the interests of constituents who voted for you – and those who didn’t.
After all, Ald. Yusuf, you were not elected to office to broker Middle East peace.

HOSPITAL STAFF WANT TO RAZ YOU
A week ago in this corner, we engaged in dialogue with St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital president and CEO Paul Collins following announcement the facility had been recognized for its efforts in trimming ER wait times which you can read here.
We pick up the conversation this week with an explanation from Collins on the rapid assessment zone (RAZ) and its role in the ER which will further help clarify wait times.
“We’ll have people who come in,” explains Collins, detailing visits to the ER from individuals who will undergo assessment, treatment and then be released, “and rather than clogging up the emergency department specifically, they go this rapid assessment zone where they can get a quick assessment and then they are released.
“Generally, these are patients who are not admitted. So, one of the problems we experience is in how people experience this. If you are someone who wouldn’t be appropriate in going to the RAZ because your situation is a little more concerning, then you may be in the waiting room waiting to get into emergency proper while you see someone come into emergency who may not look very serious but they are taken in the other way (through RAZ) right away.”
It can result in the perception those with less of an issue are getting attended to faster, Collins points out.
“In the end,” Collins continues, “it keeps those folks out of emergency proper and clogging it up even further. We certainly have had people comment on that. In the moment, in can be pretty disconcerting.”
In other words, movement through ER is not a care of first in, first out.
“The RAZ has certainly helped ensure the waiting room is not clogging up and folks are getting seen relatively quickly and on their way. In most cases the issues they come in with are not that complicated.”
As he is acutely aware, there will always be grumbling about wait times, however Collins and his front-line staff are putting time and thought into making life in the ER more bearable.
They’ve got the recognition from their peers to back that up.

WHO IS LOOKING OUT FOR RATEPAYERS?
One of the charges laid by the RCMP this week against London Mayor Joe Fontana is breach of trust by a public official, in relation to a cheque issued as a deposit on a wedding reception.
Here in St. Thomas, Ald. Tom Johnston received Detroit Red Wings’ season tickets valued at a similar amount as compensation for serving as board chairman of St. Thomas Energy/Ascent, in direct contravention of a city bylaw prohibiting remuneration of any sort.
Is that not a breach of trust by a public official who continues to sit and vote on city business?
Ald. Johnston has so far refused to publicly acknowledge this under-the-table compensation he orchestrated with former Ascent CEO Brian Hollywood.
Likewise, he has steadfastly refused to pay back the monetary value of the tickets.
As frustrating as that is, equally baffling is the fact no member of council has challenged Johnston in open session to account for this transgression and have him commit to a repayment schedule.
Who exactly is looking out for city ratepayers here?
Or as one T-J reader, chubby 7880, succinctly posted on our website: “City council members and the Mayor should keep in mind – tick the people of St. Thomas off … you only get 1 term. We voted you IN!!!…. we can vote you OUT!!!!!”

OUR LOSS, LONDON’S GAIN
A month ago, we speculated on the appearance of a toxic atmosphere in the environmental services department at city hall, similar to the cancerous environment nine years ago in the treasury department involving harassment of staff.
Is that the root cause behind the departure last month of operations and compliance manager Edward Soldo for greener pastures in London as director of roads and transportation?
That’s the loss of another huge city asset and if it was prompted by a philosophical clash in the bowels of city hall, then we definitely are regressing back in time.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
 “(The bus) is picking the individual up two hours or three hours before their actual appointment and dropping them off so that poor individual is left sitting three hours in a doctor’s office waiting for their appointment so there’s something wrong, there’s something wrong here right now in the present system.”
Ald. Dave Warden on deficiencies in the city’s paratransit system that are again dogging city council and staff.

City Scope appears Saturday in the Times-Journal. Questions and comments may be emailed to ian.mccallum@sunmedia.ca.

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09.15.12
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Surely a finance chairman would have greater priorities

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I guess it must be the good Liberal thing to do. Ald. Lori Baldwin-Sands will stand in council chamber Monday and present a motion to change the title of city alderman to that of councillor.
We can only presume Baldwin-Sands is a close personal friend of Heather Jackson and is doing the mayor a favour by continuing on with her battle of 2005.
Do you remember in June of that year when a previous edition of city council debated the very same point?
Well, gather round and let City Scope dust off a reporter’s notepad and recount the tale.
You see history prevailed over innovation on June 20, 2005, when members of council agreed to continue with tradition.
This followed an impassioned history lesson delivered by Ald. Cliff Barwick, which resulted in members defeating a motion to adopt the title “councillor” instead of the currently recognized term “alderman.”
The motion, tabled by then-alderman Heather Jackson-Chapman, was defeated 6-2 with Ald. Bill Aarts the only voice of support.
Gender equality was the driving force behind her request, advised Jackson-Chapman at the time.
“Gender neutrality in titles is important when we say we are a progressive, forward-thinking community,” she stressed. “Some will argue that we should maintain and respect the history of the title, but I believe that changing the term (alderman) is a matter of gender equality, leadership and inclusion.”
Increasing numbers of men and women are offended by language they consider sexist, noted Jackson-Chapman, “believing that such language creates images that are inappropriate today.”
Aware that Barwick was waiting in the wings to argue on the side of tradition, she acknowledged, “I look forward to the history lesson.”
And Barwick didn’t disappoint as he condensed 1,200 years of history into a few short minutes.
“Our traditions are fundamental concepts of British Parliament,” he began. “And the assumption change is good and beneficial is not necessarily true.”
He proceeded to trace the roots of “alderman” back to the ninth century, when it referred to the elder men of the community who were consulted on matters.
“I’m not saying it’s good or bad,” stressed Barwick, “but it’s a fact of history.”
He noted the terms “alderman” and “councillor” are not necessarily interchangeable.
“An alderman is the person next in authority to the mayor,” he advised. “To change to councillor is a loss because my title goes back 1,200 years and I am proud of that connection.”
Barwick insisted the matter was not about “sexist language.”
“Remember not only who you are … but what you represent. This goes far beyond sexist language.”
What a history lesson that was.
So, what does the retired Barwick think about re-visiting the past once again?
“To spend our time on this stuff is not really a good use of a politician’s time,” Barwick told this corner on Friday.
“It’s a lot of time and a lot of energy and for what?”
Barwick continued: “To have council get all wrapped up and its attention diverted for something like this when they should be doing other things really is a waste of time and energy. I just throw up my hands and say ‘here we go again.’”
As finance chairman, you would think Baldwin-Sands would have enough on her plate, like balancing budgets and lowering taxes.

OUR VERSION OF THE SENATE?
Former St. Thomas mayor Peter Ostojic now has company over at St. Thomas Energy/Ascent as he is joined by former alderman Bill Aarts. Ostojic sits on the Ascent board of directors while Aarts was quietly installed on the St. Thomas Energy Inc. board back in January.
Wonder how St. Thomas ratepayers, the ultimate shareholders in St. Thomas Energy/Ascent, feel about paying Aarts, a resident of Southwold, $3,000 for attending five meetings over the course of a year.
Surely there must be worthy city residents who could have filled this position. Otherwise cronyism appears to be alive and well over on Edward Street.

ON A RELATED TOPIC
Former Ascent board chairman, Ald. Tom Johnston, took an oath of office after city residents entrusted him with their vote in the municipal election.
Subsequently, Johnston has not only thumbed his nose at that oath for personal financial gain, but has so far declined to explain his actions to his peers and made no offer to pay back compensation he has received from St. Thomas Energy/Ascent over the past three years in spite of a city bylaw that forbids such remuneration.
We understand he was also approached to resign from council and steadfastly refused.
Voters have long memories, what are the chances trust will be forthcoming in the next municipal vote on Oct. 27, 2014?
Or, is the plan to once again share election signs with a mayoral candidate?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“It’s a project you discuss as to what lenses you’re going to use on the street bulbs and what shape lanterns we need downtown. That’s the kind of things you discuss along with this.”
Former mayor Cliff Barwick on the weight of importance attached to discussing the merits of “alderman” versus “councillor”, as will be the case Monday at city hall.

City Scope will now pause for a short break to trek the highlands of Scotland in search of distilleries. We will return refreshed and invigorated in October.

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08.04.12
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Survey snafu begs question: Is city getting good value?

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An anonymous letter landed in the City Scope in-box this week with an attached sticky note reading, “Nice to see a local business trying to screw the city out of $14K.”
Well, that sure caught our attention – at the same time sending up warning flags as to the motivation for passing along such correspondence.
The letter is a copy of a disciplinary decision from the Council of the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors (AOLS) relating to allegations of professional misconduct on the part of surveyor Ward Houghton of Houghton + Houghton Inc., St. Thomas.
To summarize, Houghton bid on a city surveying project dealing with the infrastructure needs of Fairview Avenue, from Elm Street to Southdale Line. As part of the project, the city committed to providing the legal survey.
Houghton’s bid of $32,770 lost out to the lowest bid of $18,871 from Callon.Dietz Inc., of London.
Houghton subsequently informed Terry Dietz of Callon.Dietz Inc., that Houghton + Houghton owned all of the copyrights to plans prepared by his firm dealing with the subject area and the cost of supplying copies of such would be approximately $40,000.
As a compromise, Houghton suggested Dietz withdraw his bid and Houghton + Houghton, as the only other bidder, would likely be awarded the project. If such were the case, Houghton proposed to hire Dietz to perform most of the work on the project and pay the London firm the same amount of $18,871.
At first glance this would appear to be somewhat unethical or unprofessional and Dietz complained to the AOLS, leading to a disciplinary hearing.
The crux of the matter is the understanding an AOLS member “has a statutory duty to share surveyor’s field notes for a ‘reasonable fee’.”
The disciplinary committee deemed $40,000 for approximately 200 Houghton + Houghton plans was “far and above what most members of the profession would consider fair and reasonable.”
Speaking to Houghton on Friday, he told City Scope all he is seeking is clarification on what is considered a reasonable sum for work in which his firm owns the copyrights.
Fair enough.
The disciplinary committee proved unsympathetic and slapped Houghton with a $2,500 fine and determined Houghton be required to successfully pass a course in professional ethics at a college or university level.
Ironic in that Houghton has for years served as a lecturer for the AOLS on boundary and survey law.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting.
In our meeting with Houghton, he produced a copy of the finished drawings submitted to Ric Radauskas, project coordinator for the city’s environmental services department. These drawings were far from complete, Houghton argues, and did not include an OLS seal of certification, as required in the city’s request for quote.
Throwing the accuracy of the Dietz drawings into doubt and raising the question of whether the city obtained true value in accepting the lowest bid of $18,871, an amount Houghton asserts is “a low-ball figure” instead of retaining the services of a local firm city staff has employed on numerous occasions in the past.
If such is the case, then who really screwed the city financially?
We’ll continue to follow this survey snafu to determine if city staff are aware of the the quality of the material they have paid for and accepted.

TIME FOR ACTION
Earlier this week, the T-J referenced a letter from Elgin-Middlesex-London Conservative MPP Jeff Yurek to Madelliene Meilleur, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, alerting her of the dramatic deterioration of conditions at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre.
The closing paragraph of Yurek’s letter is worth highlighting: “This problem will not go away if we ignore it. It certainly won’t go away by muzzling those who are trying to inform the public of the conditions as we saw this weekend with the local OPSEU president being reprimanded for talking to the press.
“That is why I am offering to accompany you on a tour of the whole facility at EMDC. Afterward, we can discuss the issue with staff and management. We need to get the ball rolling before things spiral out-of-control at EMDC.”
We have approached Yurek to request the media be included on the tour and we will continue to stress the need for transparency on this powder-keg that could easily erupt into a full-scale riot in the coming months.

THE READERS WRITE
The point was raised in this corner last week as to whether St. Thomas was in the running as a possible home for Texas-based food-distribution giant Sysco, which recently announced it will build a 400,000-square-foot distribution facility in Woodstock which could eventually employ 250-350 people.
A reader mused, “was the St. Thomas brain trust (Economic Development Corp. and city council) even in the game? If not,why not?”
That prompted Grace Northcott to email the following observation.
“Recently the EDC has been given funding from city council to maintain it’s operation because it no longer is self sufficient through real estate sales on land or otherwise. My question is simple, if public funds are supporting this agency why isn’t the public receiving regular progress reports?
“In addition, during the last election most of the candidates stressed jobs and economic development. Is it time aldermen provide a progress report of what they have done to support their promises?
This should not be difficult to do since all of city council is on the board of EDC.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“This is the most vicious attack on the most vulnerable of our society and, to me, it is unacceptable.”
Elgin Warden Bill Walters at Thursday’s open house to gather information on the closing of the local ODSP office slated for October.

City Scope appears every Saturday in the Times-Journal. Questions and comments may be emailed to ian.mccallum@sunmedia.ca.

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04.21.12
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Rescoping? Beats me, insists former MPP Steve Peters

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Watch for the matter of a new home for Elgin St. Thomas Public Health to heat up dramatically in the coming days.
The health unit has been out of the public spotlight of late and that’s not a bad thing after the drama and controversy that dogged the previous board of directors.
The new board, including Elgin Warden Bill Walters and St. Thomas Ald. Dave Warden, has got the organization focused on moving forward.
However, will it withstand the fallout from a forthcoming announcement on a move from its current digs at 99 Edward St. to a two-acre site that is not the west Talbot Street property owned by Shmuel Farhi?
Continue reading →

03.10.12
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No need to look to Ottawa for political shell games

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We briefly alluded last week to the 2011 public sector salary disclosure for city hall employees who earned more than $100,000.
Here is the full list and the previous year’s salary in brackets:
Bridge, Tim, lead hand building maintenance – $101,483.03 (new)
Brisseau, Mark, captain fire department – $107,871.76 ($106,709.75)
Broadbent, Robert, fire chief – $127,496.56 ($120,384.15)
Butters, Kevin, captain fire department – $104,962.28 ($101,462.01)
Carroll, Michael, Valleyview administrator – $107,975.14 ($107,836.12)
Dart, Graham, director human resources – $116,552.80 ($116,435)

Continue reading →

01.21.12
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Putting transparency to the test at city open house

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After decades of dawdling, similar in process to the consoldiated courthouse project finally underway, an open house will be held 5 p.m. Wednesday at city hall to unveil plans and cost of the new police headquarters.
The long-awaited home of the police service is to located on city-owned land adjacent to the Timken Centre.
Ald. Dave Warden, chairman of the new building committee, says it’s an occasion to not only inform ratepayers, but demonstrate “the transparency of everything that’s going on,” and attach a price tag to the project.
Warden continues: “We’ll lay to rest all the rumours and everything else there is about the police building. We’ll have the actual cost.”
Nowhere near the $30 million sticker price being promoted by one member of council.
Continue reading →

12.31.11
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Anything you say will be misquoted and used against you

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“I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.” — Actress Marlene Dietrich

As a wordsmith, there is particular appreciation for thought-provoking quotes — be they humorous, timeless, or utterly mangled in their reasoning.
No one fit the latter category better than ballplayer Yogi Berra, who observed: “I didn’t really say everything I said.”
It’s been a tradition in this corner to greet the incoming year by surveying the past 365 days to savor the wit and wisdom of our elected representatives.
This time around is satisfying in that we get to recall the best of the best on the final day of 2011, a year which yielded a bumper crop of memorable moments.
As noted in this corner one year ago, when media scribes document a response or comment for posterity, they must be prepared for the inevitable charge of being taken out of context.
Or, as one anonymous wag noted: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.” 
Continue reading →

12.17.11
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A fundamental change blowing in the budget wind?

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Budget deliberations are a critical indicator of the direction city council will follow in the coming fiscal year and the sometimes quirky priorities of our municipal representatives.
After a warm-up session Thursday, council will get down to brass tacks on Monday as they tackle Part 1 of the 2012 capital budget.
Members are being asked to approved expenditures of just over $8 million, of which $2 million will be sourced through the 2012 property tax levy, the same as 2011.
In total, the requests for capital in 2012 total $22.4 million, requiring property tax supported funding of $9.5 million.
Continue reading →

10.22.11
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The kind of fixture we really need at city hall

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Let’s put aside, for the time being, the bickering in council chambers and the backroom legerdemain over at the hospital.

Instead, we could all draw inspiration from a young gentleman who delivered an impassioned deputation to city council this past Monday.

Garrett Smith, a Grade 12 student at Arthur Voaden Secondary School and the author of several letters to the Times-Journal, has become quite the outspoken advocate for those with accessibility issues.

His current focus of attention is a dangerous curb at the corner of Wellington and William streets, which proves a barrier for someone like Garrett in a wheelchair.
Continue reading →