Whither the Sutherland Press building? That was the point to ponder last week in this corner, and it didn’t take long for Suzanne vanBommel to take the bait.
Speaking on behalf of owner David McGee, she answered in succinct fashion.
“A new council, a new attitude, a fresh start.”
There is hope yet for the derelict and semi-roofless building that two years ago prompted the closure of Talbot Street.
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Tonight begins a revolution. Together, we, as a community will begin
the hard work of embarking on a path toward economic renewal and
community revitalization. Together, we will pave the way to the future
for St. Thomas.
Imagine: anticipating possibilities, creating a vision and a direction,
assessing alternatives, scanning terrain and mapping our route ahead.
It is not about predicting the future, it is about mapping a course and
building the road for getting from here to there. The process will
require many skills and there will be room for many voices to be
heard: Members of Council, City employees, community volunteers,
students, Members of the business community and the social sector
agencies.
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Your worship mayor Jackson-Chapman, members of city council, special guests, ladies and gentlemen: it is both an honour and privilege for me to be here tonight to speak with you and witness a new day, a new beginning, in the life of the city of St. Thomas.
Thank you Heather, for inviting me to be here tonight. As I look around at the members of council there are some faces I am not totally familiar with, but some I do know well. In fact looking around there are at least two of you whose weddings I have performed. Perhaps the way to look at what we do tonight is use the analogy of a wedding. You’re all wed, stuck with (?) each other for the next 4 years.
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Mark Dec. 13 on the calendar, because it should trigger the process that will witness the return of a CAO to city hall.
The position has been vacant since 2004, when council determined Roy Main just didn’t fit into the city’s plans.
City clerk Wendell Graves would sure fit the bill now, however.
In a chat this week with Times-Journal reporter Kyle Rea, incoming mayor Heather Jackson-Chapman said she fully expected a notice of motion would come forward on that date to initiate debate on a CAO.
Forget the showmanship by the trio of Elgin St. Thomas Public Health board members that dominated Monday’s council meeting.
Instead, let’s cut to the chase and deal with facts.
The health unit was the subject of a visit by the Ministry of Labour on Oct. 18, 2010 to investigate a complaint regarding harassment at 99 Edward St.
The Industrial Health and Safety Program officer in charge of dealing with the situation is Beth Nethercott, based out of London.
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Posted by Ian:
Built heritage wasn’t even on the radar at the onset of the Oct 25 municipal election campaign in St. Thomas. Certainly not a lot of candidate literature went into any detail on preserving the city’s heritage and it was a non-starter in the Chamber of Commerce member survey found here.
By the final weekend of the campaign, with full revelation of the $3 million lawsuit filed against the city, Mayor Cliff Barwick and others by developer David McGee, details here, heritage may have proved to be a critical factor in the final outcome.
Here are thoughts taken from Acorn, the newsletter of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, including comments from president Lloyd Alter and two St. Thomas residents …
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One of the more acidic municipal election campaigns in recent memory took barely an hour to resolve once the polls closed Monday evening. Emerging as the popular winner was a jubilant Heather Jackson-Chapman who, by clinching the mayoral race, out-distanced what can only be referred to as the old boys club – Cliff Barwick seeking re-election and Al Riddell eager to launch a political career that never got off the ground.
The 2010 St. Thomas municipal vote can best be characterized as the “dump-Barwick-at-any-cost” campaign and it succeeded – however his fate was sealed nearly two months ago. More on that shortly.
For Heather, the early days in office will be a severe test of her mettle, beginning with the appointment of a finance chairman, normally filled by the top polling alderman, in this case Lori Baldwin-Sands, another winner, albeit a surprise to many. Lori’s strength is social services and she may choose to stay that course. If so, Heather will be under pressure from several quarters to fill one of the most important chairman positions at city hall.
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It was determined late Friday the boil water advisory, issued Thursday evening, was actually a false reading — the result of contamination at a lab in London — but it flushed out weaknesses in the city’s communication strategies.
Four hours may not seem like an excessive amount of time, but when you’re dealing with the potential of an E. coli outbreak, it might as well be an eternity.
City engineering staff knew about the suspect water sample at around 3:40 p.m. on Thursday, however the first notice went up on the city website at 7:40 p.m., when Elgin St. Thomas Public Health released details of the boil water advisory.
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Heather Jackson-Chapman has filed nomination papers to run for Mayor of the City of St.Thomas in the October 2010 municipal election.
Having served two terms as Alderman, Jackson-Chapman feels this knowledge and experience has prepared her to serve as Mayor.
As Chair of Planning and Development, Jackson-Chapman is especially proud of this full term’s work on the City’s Official Plan to be released shortly. The OP will modernize zoning and expand the urban settlement boundary in the southeast area of the City.
Platform issues include the need to hire a CAO, create a strategic plan for the City that will align with the goals of the Economic Development Corporation’s strategic plan (the EDC plan deals with the Industrial sector only) and establish a better working relationship with the County of Elgin.
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