Citizens speak out on alleged nepotism

Ruth Brett
Contributor

The Lake of the Woods Township Council met at Bergland on May 4th with Mayor Pizey, all Councillors, Clerk Giles, Road Supt, Pearson, and more than 42 visitors.
Seven citizens wished to address Council. Mayor Pizey called them in order and allowed them each 10 minutes to speak.
Tony Sepers, addressing the community’s concern over the moral issue of Council’s hiring of their spouses, began by quoting from the Ontario Municipal Act 2004 User’s Manual, page 602. It states, in part...”Council members are the repositories of the citizens’ highest trust. They must always have an ear to dissent in their voters”
He believes council members to be honest and upright and the hiring of their spouses is “ an unfortunate lapse of judgement”. “Our local councils are chosen to do what is good for the whole of our community, not to enrich themselves. This is self-serving no matter how you look at it.”
Mr. Sepers said” I believe in this community’s attempt to come to terms with this issue and it’s belief that we can do better than this. For all of us, just being ‘legal’ is not enough.”
Ken Pentney, in speaking to the technical issues of Council’s hiring, stated that:
1)the tenders were poorly written and vague, consequently, the people were unsure of what was being required;
2) the Road Supt. should have been involved in the hiring process for the labourer and
3) Council did not give the applicants the courtesy of an interview. The community is upset at the way this was handled. He said “ This is not going to go away. We will give you (council) one week “ to make it right.
Margaret Bartel stated that by January, 2005, it will be law across Ontario that all municipalities must have a Procurement by-law and hiring policies in place. This information from Municipal Affairs in Thunder Bay. She was well armed with information from the job descriptions and tenders and questioned several issues. For example, why has Council agreed to a contract with someone who would charge $100.00 each time they mowed and whipped the ball diamond over one who would charge $37.50? Why are the same duties listed in the job descriptions for contract and labourer positions?
Clerk Giles, explained that this Procurement policy is a system of how to obtain goods and services. Dollar values will indicate whether verbal quotes, requests for proposals or formal tenders are used to obtain these goods and services.
Mary Ann Milne said she has no problem with the people who have been hired. She does not agree with Councillors hiring their own spouses. Who is going to look after the taxpayer’s interests if they have a problem? Can the Council be honest and totally unbiased when it’s their spouse who is involved? Expressing her concern she said, “I can see where there can be problems”.
Sherri McCormack spoke about this small community of caring, selfless people, who rally to help each other during rough times. She also spoke about the growing tension lately, about insinuation, hearsay and rumours about Council members and other individuals. “It’s easy to jump to conclusions when you are provided with only portions of the truth....” She said “I see no one challenging the abilities or qualifications (of those hired), only the fact that they are married to Councillors.”
Shane White requested more hours at the dumps. He stated that if garbage was held more than two days in summer, the odor from the meat scraps in his store’s garbage will be an invitation to bears and a deterrent to customers.
Justin Gaudry echoed Mr. White’s request, asking for the addition of Saturdays and Sundays to the dump schedule during summer. Because of yard work and renovations being done during spring, he would also like the dumps open for the whole month of April. He had concerns regarding the garbage cage at Vauthey Road being moved. “It is perfect where it is”.
Council, to their credit, listened to all delegations without comment, they entered into no consultations with the members of the public.
Mayor Pizey replied to some of the questions and comments. Regarding the same duties listed in all the job descriptions - She said “Some of the duties were purposely overlapped because if one can’t do the job then the other will.” To the question - Why were the hall positions tendered out if everything was going so well? she answered “One reason to tender was that the Women’s Institute brought a number of complaints regarding the Bergland Hall to our attention.”
Richard Symons requested Council to write a letter to Bell Canada asking them to clean up the tall grass and brush around their tower. He also spoke to Council’s hiring issue by reminding the citizens that this Council was elected to perform duties for the municipality. “The people are not happy with the duties performed but we have elected them so let’s let them get on with it.”
The delegations and discussions continued until 8.45pm at which time all of the public, except one person, left the meeting. Council then dealt with the issue of dump hours.
Other business
•Effective May 18th, 2004, the Morson dump will be open on Thursday and Saturday from 10am to 6pm; Bergland dump hours are Sunday and Tuesday from 10am to 3pm and Wednesday from 1pm to 6pm.
•Road Superintendent Pearson expressed concern over the By-Law hiring him. He is looking for some clarification in his job description.
•Council has asked the Road Supt. for another report and a recommendation regarding the purchase of a new truck or grader for the township.
•Council has acknowledged the receipt of an executed release from Sherry and Colin Harris for the development of the website www.lakeofthewoods.ca