Aurora Citizen

News & Views from the Citizens of Aurora Ontario

Mayor Morris Confuses Many With Her Ethical Choices

Posted by auroracitizen on June 26, 2010

So, here’s a question.

If the Mayor spends 2 hours on a Friday afternoon, standing in the hot sun at Yonge and Wellington — telling people about the recently released Aurora Promenade study — should that be considered campaigning?

Does the fact that she drags high-priced help like Neil Garbe along make it Town business? Surely he has something better or more useful to do than hang out with the Mayor promoting a study that already complete.

And you can be sure that Brian Morris – the ever faithful Photographer — was there capturing the activities for the next campaign brochure.

In our opinion — if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck 🙂

But as usual Mayor Phyllis Morris has her own unique  interpretation of the rules — regardless of what common sense would indicate.

Why doesn’t she just do the honourable thing and declare? Oh, then she couldn’t drag high-priced staff along to keep her company.

Posted in Election 2010, Integrity, Leadership, Waste | 4 Comments »

It’s Official – Geoff Dawe is Running for Mayor

Posted by auroracitizen on June 22, 2010

The rumours are true. The Auroran broke the story earlier today that Geoff Dawe is running for Mayor. 

In an email by former Mayor Tim Jones, Jones writes about the newest candidate as follows; “He is Geoff Dawe, the outgoing President of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce and 33 year resident of Aurora. Geoff has participated in and held leadership positions with his children’s school councils, his church and is president of his own company. More recently, Geoff has served as Chairperson of the Aurora Library Board.”

Jones went on to say; “He is a leader who seeks consensus, not retribution. He’s a team player, allowing full and uninterrupted input and with that input, he is a decision maker. Geoff respects the positions of others while asking for respect in return.”

It will be interesting to see how the 2 current candidates and Mayor react to this news.

Although Dawe has no direct Council experience, he brings a wealth of business experience and has been involved in town governance for many years serving as past Chair of the Library Board and President of the Aurora Chamber.

Maybe it’s time we had someone in a leadership position who actually has some real leadership experience — rather than the smoke and mirrors the current Mayor has bamboozled folks with for the last few years. It’s time Mayor Morris provided some specific documented experience rather than her generic claims of leadership and HR experience. Goodness knows, she hasn’t demonstrated any skills in either area.

Stay-tuned — it is shaping up to be an interesting summer.

Posted in Election 2010, Leadership, Town Council | 24 Comments »

Guest Post: Further Info on $500,000 Trail Addition Requested

Posted by auroracitizen on June 19, 2010

I do a lot of hiking on a weekly basis in town & in Newmarket and thoroughly enjoy Sheppard’s Bush and the Nokiidaa Trail north of Green Lane in Newmarket.

I just read the article at yorkregion.com, Trail link project set to start this winter ( http://www.yorkregion.com/news/article/835366–trail-link-project-set-to-start-this-winter )

At the General Committee meeting Aurora Council  approved going ahead with linking the Nokiidaa trail in Aurora to Newmarket section, but would still need final approval. I have followed bits & pieces of this topic from various sources but don’t have the whole picture. I do see that this does not include the “other planned enhancements, such as turtle ponds and snake hibernacula” and the project is going to cost $500,000 (1/2 million) and that’s without the already spent consultant’s fees, etc.

Fair enough, you don’t get anything for free and I’m all for trails since I am a user, but I on these trails, weekday evenings, mornings and weekend mornings and I don’t see heavy use. You pass by a few hikers, runners, a couple of families sometimes.

Yes, trails are great, but here’s the kicker $500,000 and its less than ½ kilometer of trail. Less than 500 metres ( 283 metres of trail and 185 metres of board walk – so it’s an average of $1,000 per metre.

There’s already a great boardwalk already there on St. John’s Sideroad, why is another boardwalk needed at that cost? I hope they plan on putting parking in somewhere there because I have always seen that area to hike as a problem since you have to park down on Industrial Drive at the dog park or further south at the Leisure complex.

Anyone have a quick summary as to what they are getting at $1,000/metre?

Posted in Community Corner, Community Input, Environment, Guest Post, Recreation | 5 Comments »

Councillor MacEachern Instigates 2 Integrity Complaints

Posted by auroracitizen on June 4, 2010

By Sean Pearce — Jun 04, 2010 – 2:26 PM

Integrity commish reviewing new complaints

Here we go again.

Aurora integrity commissioner David Tsubouchi is working on two formal complaints under the town’s code of conduct, both of which were filed by Councillor Evelina MacEachern, The Banner has learned.

At first, Ms MacEachern would only say the complaints originated from a member of council, but, when pressed, conceded she had filed a pair of formal complaints and expects a decision on them from Mr. Tsubouchi “any day now”.

“I have filed two formal complaints,” she said. “I don’t want to say what they’re about or who they’re against.”

Councillor Evelyn Buck, who was the subject of the first formal code complaint lodged by six members of council last year, wouldn’t confirm if the two new complaints were against her. It wouldn’t be appropriate to do so, she said.

“I will neither confirm nor deny that the two complaints are against me,” she said.

“I would not want to give them any ammunition, because one of the things they said last year was that I had breached the confidentiality of the process before they did by publishing my response to their (informal complaint) letter.”

If the two new complaints are against Ms Buck, this will mark the second time she has been targetted by one or more of her council colleagues through such a mechanism.

Last July, Ms MacEachern along with Councillors Stephen Granger, Al Wilson, John Gallo and Wendy Gaertner and Mayor Phyllis Morris, voted to file a formal complaint with the town’s first integrity commissioner, David Nitkin. Mr. Nitkin, whose contract had only been finalized in June, returned his ruling Aug. 5 and was fired the next day.

A month later, his report was publicized, at which point it was revealed he had ruled the complaint, as submitted, was “ill-formed”, “incomplete” and “inappropriate” and, as a result, could be seen as “wholly political” in nature.

A freedom of information request filed by The Banner last fall revealed Mr. Nitkin was paid more than $28,000 during his time with the town.

Shortly after the release of Mr. Nitkin’s ruling, Ms Buck launched a libel lawsuit against the six members of council who filed the complaint against her and The Banner relating to a town-sponsored advertisement that ran in the paper.

The town’s code of conduct doesn’t lay out a specific timeframe for a response on any complaints, town clerk John Leach said, but noted he has no reason to suspect Mr. Tsubouchi isn’t working as quickly as possible to return a ruling.

When a decision on one or both complaints is received, the complainant and councillor complained about will be notified and a report will be placed on the next council agenda, he said.

Posted in Code of Ethics, Election 2010, Integrity, Leadership | 17 Comments »

Why Must We Pay For FOI’s From Government That Claims to be Open & Transparent

Posted by auroracitizen on June 3, 2010

Council Watch #10 – by Richard Johnson

I have a question that I would like to pose to the participants of Aurora Citizen and maybe Councillor Buck could assist me here, given that she is the only named Councillor that participates openly in our discussions.

Regular readers of this Blog will recall the following two postings:

Town Solicitor Demands Removal of Blog Comments, Posted by auroracitizen on April 25, 2010

A Monument to the Leadership of Mayor Phyllis Morris, Posted by auroracitizen on April 18, 2010

In an effort to follow-up on the underlying question raised in these postings, I asked the Town Clerk if the staff turnover we have witnessed recently is typical of past councils and after multiple e-mail attempts to get a response I was asked to pay $5 and file a Freedom Of Information request, which I promptly did. Putting aside that this is supposed to be a more open, responsive and transparent government, I am happy to receive a response near the end of the legal time limit permitted of thirty days, however I am now not sure how I should respond to the latest development.

Earlier this week I received a phone message stating that there I could pick up a response to my FOI at the Town Hall. Again, I set aside the suggestion that the cost of a postage stamp might be more than the town wants to pay in order to respond to me, so I phoned the town and ended up speaking with a very nice receptionist on the main switchboard (at this point I honestly think she should run for council, but I digress).

I am now faced with the question as to if I should pay the requested $25 in order to get an answer to my simple question. While I am thankful that this is hundreds of dollars lower than what I thought they would ask for given that the town is racking up legal charges and other costs these days, and it is thousands of dollars less than another FOI request that I once filed (and never got an answer to), at the same time I am wondering why I should be paying to receive an answer to a question that the Council itself should be asking ? Am I alone in asking myself this question ?

It occurred to me that an alternative option would be for a Councillor to ask Council to waive the charge given the importance of the question being asked and especially given that it is an election year and it is not just me that is asking if the natives are in fact wrestles. Maybe even the local media could pay the freight.

Your thoughts ?

Richard Johnson

Posted in Council Watch-Richard Johnson, Freedom of Information, Staff Turnover | 23 Comments »

Banner Provides Interesting Perspective on Aurora Coverage

Posted by auroracitizen on May 29, 2010

Was anyone else struck by the reporting in the Thursday issue of the Banner on the information picket at Aurora  Town Hall?

For the first time in this writers memory, the main front page picture didn’t lead to a story in the paper. Readers were instructed to go online at www.yorkregion.com to read the story. Once there — there is nothing on the home page or on Aurora’s home page. However, a number of other articles from the paper are easily found. So what’s the deal?

In fact, there was no story at all. Best we could find was the original story  from May 25.

Another interesting twist was Sean Pierce’s article on page 10 about the role of the internet in the upcoming election. He mentioned serving members websites, candidate websites and even specifically mentioned Counselor Buck’s website — but no mention of citizens websites. Hmm.

Isn’t the fact that citizens across the GTA are increasingly using the online channel a relevant part of the story.

Ah well, possibly Sean hasn’t found out about our wee blog yet. Someone will have to whisper in his ear. Or maybe he does — but is discouraged from giving it any media coverage.

We’d be willing to wager on the later based on the historical coverage of the activities at town hall.

Posted in Election 2010, Media | 16 Comments »

Reader asks: Is the Code of Conduct Counter-productive?

Posted by auroracitizen on May 28, 2010

I had the opportunity this past Tuesday May 25th to watch the Aurora Council on Rogers TV in particular the debate and subsequent vote on the property development at Yonge & Centre streets. This issue consumed Tuesday evening’s council meeting and produced some heated debate from both sides as to whether the development should be delayed pending the release of the Promenade report.

I have also followed the reporting in the Banner and its web version yorkregion.com as well as the opinions in some of the Aurora based blogs including this one. It now strikes me that Aurora’s Code of Conduct may be working against any freedom of expression or was there actually a breach of the code committed in trying to sway the opinion of the Banner readers. It did strike me as odd that the chairperson of the town’s economic development advisory committee was critical of the councillors and the process.

Please read the excerpt from the below article and then the appropriate section from the Code of Conduct. What’s your opinion on this matter? Is the Code counter-productive, should it be applied to the letter of the law or simply a waste of space? 

1.    From http://www.yorkregion.com/news/local/article/821240–aurora-project-baffles-development-chairperson

 (I believe this article was also published in print in Tuesday May 25th edition of the Banner.)

Aurora project baffles development chairperson              by Sean Pearce

The chairperson of the town’s economic development advisory committee says he is scratching his head after council paved the way for a multi-storey residential building planned for Yonge and Centre streets last week.

The steering committee for the downtown study is working to release a draft version of its plan next month so it’s curious why councillors would vote to greenlight a six-to-seven-storey mixed-use development at this point, EDAC chairperson and downtown steering committee member Chris Ballard said.

It’s concerning councillors would approve official plan and bylaw amendments to permit the proposal, eyed for the northeast corner of Yonge and Centre, without knowing what the downtown study has to say, as it may set a poor long-term precedent, he said.

He’s also perplexed why it’s being waved through despite having about 25 fewer parking spaces than current policies permit.

“Why spend all of that time and effort on a plan with new rules and regulations and then just sneak this in under the wire?” he said. “I’m pretty miffed certain councillors would vote for this when they know we have a draft of the (Aurora) promenade study coming out in June.”

2.    From the Town of Aurora’s website “By-Law Number 5037-08.C Being a By-Law to Adopt a Code of Conduct for Members of Advisory & Statutory Committees”

Section 3 Communications and Media Relations

Committee Members will accurately and adequately communicate the attitudes and decisions of the Committee and Council, even if they disagree with the majority decision of Committee or Council.

Members shall show respect for the decision-making process of the Committee and Council.

Official information related to decisions and resolutions made by the Committee or Council will normally be communicated to the community and the media in an official capacity by the Mayor or designated staff member or through a Press Release issued by the Corporation.

Information concerning adopted policies, procedures and decisions of the committee shall be conveyed openly and accurately.

Confidential information will be communicated only when and after determined by Council.

When a committee member chooses to communicate through the media which may include or involve interviews, editorials, writing of a regular column in the newspaper of magazine, hosting/co-hosting a regular televised program, where they are identified as a “member of a committee of the Town of Aurora” which is a recognized entity of the Municipality as a Corporation, the committee member shall be expected to feature an appropriate acceptable disclaimer stating “the opinions reflected by the member are their own personal comments and are not endorsed nor representative of the committee or the Town of Aurora Council”.

Posted in Code of Ethics, Community Corner, Community Input, Leadership, Town Council | 5 Comments »

Why Take Our Word For It – Seeing is Believing

Posted by auroracitizen on May 26, 2010

Council Watch #9 – by Richard Johnson

It has been a while since I last posted a formal Council Watch comment, but that is not been as a result of lack of material!

Did anyone catch this week’s Council meeting on Rogers TV?

I’m aware that no one appeared to be sitting in the audience at the Town Chambers but I do have to wonder how many people know what is really going on at 1 Municipal Way these days! I would not blame anyone for claiming to have better things to do with their time, but sometimes I can’t help but tune in to see the latest developments at Council. For those people who may want to watch council in action, you may want to note the procedure provided below.

This week’s meeting was as good as any to give one an idea of what has been going on for some time now, at Council.

  1. Select: www.rogerstv.com
  2. Choose your region – Aurora – from the pull down menu, then choose your language (You probably only have to do this on your first visit)
  3. Click on Video on Demand link located near the top right corner of the home page.
  4. Select City Council from the Shows/Events option.
  5. Select City Council – Aurora from the Sections option.
  6. Select All from the Category option.

You should see all of the council meetings there and you can choose by date for the one you wish to view.

I can’t possibly cover all of the shenanigans I witnessed, but I can assure that all is not what it appears to be at the Town Hall when one puts what is being said into some necessary perspective. It really is something to behold.

Here are some highlights as far as I am concerned.

The town is still debating the costs surrounding the diesel generator it plans to install at the Town Hall. This issue strikes me as more than a bit ironic given the town’s clear and apparent lack of understanding with regards to the power supply issues and corresponding environmental impacts that the region has been facing for years, but at least one thing became very clear last night. Despite asking developers to “consider” (Council’s words not mine) incorporating more green initiatives into their developments while passing the cost on to consumers, the town itself does not appear to be prepared to incur any extra costs associated with buying a more environmentally friendly alternative to the proposed diesel generator or to even to install solar power generation on the new recreation center (not to mention any number of other similar eco-opportunities). Council also seemed to not grasp the difference between supplying back-up power to a telecom local area network (LAN) versus providing back-up power to the whole building. Council could not grasp why a substantial change in the stated specifications contained in the request for proposal resulted in an increased cost estimate. I kid you not. Staff tried in vain to explain the basics, but to no avail, so you guessed it, another staff report is on the way.

Given Council’s track record on power supply issues it is doubtful that they have explored the Ontario Power Authority’s Feed in Tariff (FIT) program or the fact that a properly designed and more environmentally friendly bio-diesel generator could in fact allow the town to recoup most, if not all, of the associated cost for the back-up source of power. To go a step further, a gas powered generator, a gas fired combined heat and power plant, or a district energy plant could be even cleaner still, but clearly local generation is not something the council is prepared to even discuss given our experience with power supply issues over the past few years, even if local generation does make technical, economic as well as environmental sense on any number of levels.

The simple truth is that Council wants to ensure that the lights stay on at the Town Hall with diesel power no less, even if the power may go out for the rest of us. Working towards finding viable long term and comprehensive power solutions clearly is not seen as being Council’s responsibility or priority for that matter. The most difficult thing for me to accept is that the facts surrounding the viable alternatives and the resulting impacts of various power supply solutions never do seem to matter. If you ask me, the Mayor and Councillor MacEachern get what they want on the big picture issues and who cares about what the impact is on others, including other municipalities, as a direct result of their actions and inactions?

This week the Mayor even stated her intention to do what I (and others) suggested should have been done over five years ago with regards to revisiting our planning codes and objectives in order to address corresponding environmental impacts more proactively, but then again it is an election year so why not claim to be on the cutting edge ? One can always bait and switch after the fact, regardless of what the speech writers may say so effectively during any given election.

The Mayor can’t even apparently understand the development approval process as was demonstrated by her handling of the condo development proposed for Yonge and Wellington. Remember the site that the Mayor demanded should get cleaned up ASAP and the same development that she repeatedly claims has not been delayed by council for years? In a rambling statement the Mayor said that the delays caused in 2008 were not under her term in office (go figure), but in that case she must have misspoken by accident. The Mayor and council could not for the life of them figure out the approval process and they asked for yet another staff report that could delay the development approval for a further three or four months. At this rate there is a good chance that there will be no shovels in the ground for at least another twelve months in the best case scenario. It was stated that Council does not want to make any decision until the Yonge Street improvement plan (aka the Ken Whitehurst & Co Report)  is presented in September after taking over a year to prepare, so I guess we’ll all just have to wait until the election to see what the grand plans are, not to mention who gets elected as Mayor on October 25th, 2010. The grand redevelopment plan pending will no doubt be incorporated with great fanfare into the Mayor’s re-election campaign given that Ken Whitehurst will very likely once again play a significant role in crafting Phyllis’s every utterance, along with the Mayor’s newly hired speech writer. You can see where this is all going.

The other inescapable highlight of this week’s meeting was the electioneering that is clearly well under way. Don’t get me wrong, I think that I still detected the bitter undertone and some less than subtle grumbling, but thanks to a great set up by Councillor Wilson the Mayor could boast what a GREAT job staff and council have done in reducing the back-log of issues. A job well done, way to go everyone and thanks especially who paid with their jobs! Amazingly the Mayor also even lost a couple of recorded votes which seems to buck the trend and may even suggest that either “the block” is not what it once was, or someone may have wanted to make the point that at least at times the block is controlled by others. Of course some would insist that there is no block or that all of this is completely normal and to be expected from a well oiled and professional team.

Oh the web we weave in Aurora!

I suggest that you should take the time necessary to watch the Rogers video of the meeting and decide for yourself if this is good government and smart growth development in action.

RJ

Posted in Council Watch-Richard Johnson, Integrity, Media, Town Council | 14 Comments »

Another Mayoralty Candidate on the Horizon

Posted by auroracitizen on May 21, 2010

We have confirmed through a number of sources — including the person in question — that another Mayoralty candidate is contemplating standing for election as Mayor in October 2010.

They were initially approached by numerous community and business leaders citing ongoing concerns with the conduct of the current Mayor and Council, and the lack of a viable alternative with the 2 declared candidates

Although they were not planned on running for Mayor, they decided to consider this increased level of community involvement because of the wide-ranging encouragement by community and business leaders.

No official date has been set for a final decision.

It will be interesting to see what response an additional candidate will bring from the 2 declared candidates and the current Mayor.

Posted in Election 2010, Leadership, Town Council | 58 Comments »

Aurora Market Going It Alone

Posted by auroracitizen on May 21, 2010

The Aurora Farmers Market & Artisan Fair have delegated to Council last Tuesday that they wish to separate operations from the town.

After being used as a political tool this last term it was only a matter of time before the folks who were simply interested in providing products and services to the community, would wish to distance themselves from those who sought to use the market for personal advantage.

Ex Councillor Kean initially championed the idea of the market to offer a service to the community and provide a draw for the downtown core on a Saturday morning. His good intentions were matched by selfless behaviour.

This last term we have seen a different approach.

Since the market  resisted the efforts by Sher St Kitts to leverage her “volunteer” role for personal gain — she has disappeared. Guess there was nothing in it for her any more.

Councillor Granger also backed away after his manipulative and dictatorial attitude were resisted by the executive.

Good for the executive at the market. If they stick to delivering on what the citizens of Aurora are looking for — and leave the politics out of the mix — they will probably be a success. The opportunity to purchase local produce without the political grandstanding every Sat will be a pleasant change. Well done!

Now let’s hope that Council can see their way clear to letting business do their thing without the ongoing political interference.

Posted in Community Corner, Leadership, Local Business | 2 Comments »

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