Tag Archives: Jeff Kohler

08.21.10
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What we have here is a failure to communicate

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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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07.24.10
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Surprise and disappointment in candidate’s priorities

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If you flash back to this space seven days ago, we noted how the dynamics of the 2010 municipal election campaign took on a new urgency with the return of former mayor Jeff Kohler to the political stage.
That observation was not lost on Carole Watson, the former chairman of the St. Thomas Police Services board, who reminds us police, fire and ambulance services are some of the most important components of this community’s infrastructure.
“Our citizens expect, and often take for granted, a paramedic, firefighter and police officer will be there to respond if and when we need them, at a moment’s notice, day or night, 24/7, 365 days a year,” she writes.
She notes in recent years city council had the foresight to update and expand the facilities of the fire department and ambulance service with new substations in the city’s north end.
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