Figures released for 2010 (2009 salary in brackets)
BEECH-ROBERTS,RHONDA Director, Long Term Care Homes $117,125 ($110,686)
BRYCE, ROB Director of Human Resources $105,568 (new)
BUNDSCHUH, JIM $122,805 ($111,885)
MCDONALD,MARK Chief Administrative Officer $170,880 ($160,700)
WATTERS, CLAYTON Director, Engineering Services $112,819 ($110,686)
Monday’s council meeting was most decidedly the tale of two aldermen.
The definitive issue — who should attend and how much should be spent on conferences and conventions.
Council has budgeted $6,000 for attending such functions this year and four members had sought to attend the Ontario Good Roads Conference coming up in Toronto.
Sam Yusuf
Mayor Heather Jackson-Chapman and the committee chairman, in this case Ald. Tom Johnston, should be the only attendees. Ald. Sam Yusuf read the situation correctly and graciously withdrew his request to participate. In the process exhibiting political maturity beyond his two months of council experience.
Mark Cosens
It doesn’t matter there is a fixed budget to deal with. It means nought council is attempting to set an example of fiscal responsibility for ratepayers who are picking up the tab in any event.
No, this is all about entitlement — and a complete disregard for the understanding the mayor and aldermen are elected to serve the people.
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Court services about to move to interim site in preparation for construction
ST.THOMAS – The next step in the revitalization of the historic courthouse on Wellington Street will begin with the official move to the interim site.
The move to the interim site on Silver Street will occur in late December 2010, with court beginning at that location in January 2011. During the construction period, matters for the Superior Court of Justice
will be held at a temporary courthouse located at 1 Silver Street at the corner of Burwell Road. Once the occupants have moved from the current location, fencing will surround the entire Wellington Street
site to ensure the protection and preservation of the heritage courthouse and provide safety for residents and courthouse property. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2011 and be complete
in early 2014.
The project will extensively refurbish the existing courthouse and add a major addition while respecting the grandeur of the original courthouse and the surrounding residential neighbourhood. Construction at
the historic site will include the removal of some buildings in order to make way for the new courthouse which will incorporate the existing courthouse and the former Land Registry Office.
The new facility will consolidate two existing courthouses – the Superior Court of Justice at 8 Wellington Street and the Ontario Court of Justice at 145 Curtis Street – into one modern facility.
“I am extremely pleased to see that the consolidated courthouse project is continuing to progress according to plan and on schedule,” Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Steve Peters said.
“While those residents who require court services in Elgin-St. Thomas have waited for many years for this to happen, we will soon have a refurbished, modern facility that will serve our community for decades to come.”
ST. THOMAS
MAYOR
Heather Jackson-Chapman, 3,666
Cliff Barwick, incumbent, 3,158
Al Riddell, 2,910
ALDERMAN
(seven to be elected)
Lori Baldwin-Sands, incumbent, 5,366
Jeff Kohler, 4,691
Mark Cosens, 4,592
Gord Campbell, 4,415
Dave Warden, 4,037
Sam Yusuf, 3,760
Tom Johnston, 3,681
Linda Stevenson, 3,294
Peter Ostojic, 2,948
Bill Sandison, 2,699
Ryan Dolby, 2,607
Rose Gibson, 2,243
Joe Docherty, 2,114
John Allen, 1,966
Joan Rymal, 1,945
Joseph Fric, 1,708
Wayne Northcott, 810
Shawn Claridge, 631
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Almost seven years to the day, (Sept. 22, 2003 to be exact) municipal council unanimously approved a motion calling for an independent review of council and its working relationships at city hall.
The damning overview, known as the McCarthy Tetrault report, was delivered just prior to the municipal election. It held back little, naming names and pointing fingers.
The report concluded all those interviewed agreed “this past term of council has been extremely troubled.”
Flipping through the pages, you can’t help but dwell on those players still in the running, or hoping to make a comeback, and the brush they were painted with.
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Patrick Brennan
Times-Journal
Sylvia Hofhuis, a Central Elgin mayor who was loved by her own council and credited with working tirelessly for the public, died Sunday morning at St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital.
Hofhuis, 55, a resident of Port Stanley, died after a lengthy illness.
She and her husband John, a family practitioner and coroner for the area, moved to Port Stanley from Toronto 35 years ago, recalled Tom Marks, Central Elgin deputy mayor, in an interview with the Times-Journal on Sunday.
“I guess what I remember most about her is the people person. She always tried to help people.”
Marks said he got to know her well over the last six years after Central Elgin was created, the result of amalgamation, and both were elected.
In the 2006 municipal election, Hofhuis was elected mayor and Marks, deputy-mayor.
“I said to her, ‘let’s work together.’ She treated me like gold. She never lost an election.”
Marks said a hallmark of Hofhuis’ time on council was her passion for her constituents.
“She put a lot of time into helping people,” Marks stressed.
St. Thomas Ald. Heather Jackson-Chapman worked with Hofhuis on the St. Thomas-Elgin Public Art Centre board.
“She always fought for the art centre,” she noted. “She was able to get increased funding for it from Elgin county council. She was able to convince her colleagues it was a wise investment.”
Jackson-Chapman said one of Hofhuis’ greatest strengths was her ability to see the big picture and make fair assessments based on that.
Hofhuis knew even though the art gallery was located in St. Thomas, it was for both city and county residents to use and enjoy.
“She knew the outreach components of the art centre programs benefitted everyone,” Jackson-Chapman said.
St. Thomas Mayor Cliff Barwick said Hofhuis was a mayor who strived to be accessible to her ratepayers.
“Her primary purpose was to make sure everyone had access to her,” he said. “She was a person very involved in the community. She was a very pleasant person, very optimistic.
“I know we were both enthusiastic about the Ontario government’s intention to build up the psychiatric hospital.
“She was a very fine lady and an excellent warden,” added Aylmer Mayor Bob Habkirk. “My condolences to her family.”
Malahide Township Mayor John Wilson praised her work on county council.
“She was a good county councillor, a very progressive thinker and someone who understood how things worked.”
Elgin Warden Bonnie Vowel noted county council will miss Hofhuis.
“County council was deeply saddened by the passing of Sylvia Hofhuis,” she said in a statement. “As each month went by since her illness began, we never gave up hope that she would one day return to the table.
“Sylvia was a pleasure to know and it was a privilege to work alongside her at county council. Sylvia was able to make decisions and take a stand for the good of the county when called upon to do so. Sylvia worked so very hard for her community and what she believed in.
“She will be missed greatly by all who knew of her good works.”
Hofhuis held several elected positions in Port Stanley and later, Central Elgin.
She was a reeve of the former village of Port Stanley and later a councillor, deputy mayor Elgin county councillor and Central Elgin mayor.
Hofhuis served as Elgin warden in 2008.
Flags flew at half-mast today at the Central Elgin municipal offices, located in the Elgin County administration building on Sunset Road.
Posted by Ian:
With no clearly defined picture as to what Canada’s agri-industry should look like in the coming decades, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture is taking a lead role in devising a national food strategy. OFA vice-president Mark Wales, who farms near Copenhagen in east Elgin, is a vocal advocate for a clear, defining agricultural template that can be adopted on a national scale.
City Scope conducted a lengthy interview with Mark on March 9 of this year. What follows is the entire unedited version of the phone interview with Mark in Toronto that delved into a national food strategy, a similar undertaking in the U.K., GM foods and other agri-industry topics on the radar.
City Scope: Mark, define for us what has led up to the push for a national food policy.
Mark Wales: There never has been any clear defining, overarching national or even provincial food strategy in this country. Some municipalities, like Vancouver, have a food strategy and I think Manitoba has a bit of one, but those are mainly focused around very local food. But there is nothing overall to say what should Canadian agriculture look like, whom should we be trying to feed, what should we be trying to produce and who should be doing it and under what standards and so on.
There is a myriad of policies but none of them with any overarching vision or strategy. So, that’s what we’re working on here, both in Ontario at the OFA level, and at the national level through the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.
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Figures released March 31, 2010 for 2009 – 2008 salary in brackets
BEECH-ROBERTS,RHONDA Director, Long Term Care Homes $110,686 ($106,840)
BUNDSCHUH, JIM $111,885 (new)
MCDONALD,MARK Chief Administrative Officer $160,700 ($143,288)
UNDERHILL, HARLEY Director, Human Resources $111,686 ($106,840)
WATTERS, CLAYTON Director, Engineering Services $110,686 ($106,840)
ST. THOMAS, ONTARIO and ELGIN, ONTARIO– Feb. 26, 2010) – Today, front line Children’s Aid workers will ask local MPP Steve Peters to come to the aid of vulnerable children and families by pressing the government to fix a faulty funding formula that has kept Children’s Aid Societies (CASs) in a funding crisis for years.
“In 2006, the government legislated CASs to do much more to improve safety and better outcomes for children and families, but has not kept up its side of the equation with adequate funding,” says Marcia Andkilde, Unit Chair of CUPE 841.5, representing front line workers at the St. Thomas and Elgin Children’s Aid Society. “We’re calling on our MPP to step up and advocate for long-term provincial funding in the coming provincial budget to sustain child welfare programs in our community.”
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