But Where Are The SEASONAL Residents?

In an article in the Almaguin News, Mayor Paul Tomlinson said: 

"[Weekend meetings] was a big issue that was in my campaign platform and we heard from the public, in no uncertain terms, if we are to [be] open and transparent Wednesday afternoon at 1 pm does not allow residents of Kearney to attend the council meetings."

Well, there have been three regular council meetings and not a single seasonal resident has shown up. 

So either Tomlinson was lying about having "heard from the public, in no uncertain terms", or his adoring public had turned their backs on him even before his first council meeting.

Tough call.

Are you surprised?

Mayor Paul Tomlinson really HATES the Kearney Fire Department

It began years ago when Tomlinson held the new firetruck for ransom when council wanted Jim Skelton to resign from the Capital Management sub-committee. You can read up on that here. Then there was the incident with volunteer firefighter Frank Colley responding to an emergency in Perry Township. As you recall, Colley helped save two senior citizens and their dog, but got chewed out for leaving his job at the community centre to do it.

So what is Tomlinson up to now?

A bit of background first: The Fire Board is an advisory committee to council on matters of fire safety for the town. During the last term, Kearney's Fire Board consisted of the Fire Chief, the Fire Captain, and two members of council, Bob Tilley and Charlie Zummach. Tilley and Zummach were both appointed to the board primarily because they are ex-firefighters and fire safety instructors, as opposed to their just being councillors. Makes sense right?

Okay. Here’s Tomlinson’s new Fire Board:

• The Fire Chief. But, the Fire Chief will not be allowed to vote.
• Two of Tomlinson’s lackeys from council who have zero firefighting knowledge or experience.
• One member of the public, appointed by Tomlinson, who is also without any firefighting experience or knowledge.

But maybe they were the only ones to volunteer to sit on the new board?

Nope. Tilley and Zummach volunteered, as did several other Kearney residents with firefighting experience. But none were Proudfoot-approved so were rejected.

So, a Fire Board where the only knowledgeable member has been gagged, leaving three votes, two of which we know will vote as Tomlinson dictates. 

A bit of revenge for the Fire Department taking exception to Jim Skelton’s slandering the Fire Chief last term, or just another example of Mayor Paul Tomlinson trying to control and micromanage everything in Kearney?

Either way, you better hope he likes you if your house catches fire.

Are you surprised?

How Can You Tell When Paul Tomlinson Is Lying?

His lip are moving.

It's an old joke, but sadly an apt description of Kearney's mayor.

At the last council meeting a member of the public asked Tomlinson why he had abandoned VIP's Tony Clement and Norm Miller at the Dog Sled Races. Tomlinson, in response, didn't try to justify his absence, but chose instead to just lie. 

Let's look at the closing ceremonies. Mayor Paul Tomlinson, typically wearing his Chain of Office like a pompous ass, introduced MPP Norm Miller to the crowd and it went something like this:

Tomlinson: "Let me introduce Norm Miller, MPP for Muskoka."

Miller: "Thank you, Paul. But let me just correct that; I'm the MPP for Muskoka AND Parry Sound."

Tomlinson, who hates to be corrected, stomped off and went home. Seriously. He just stomped off without another word.

But! According to Tomlinson, when questioned at the council meeting, he and Miller (and Clement) hung out all weekend, watching the races, having dinner, and generally being the best of pals. 

Sorry, Paul, but unlike you, we were there.

Are you surprised?

The End of the Kearney Regatta?

Well, it looks like the Proudfoot Four and their sycophant Art Murdy have finally been able to do what Mayor Paul Tomlinson and Councillor Louise Wadsworth have been trying to do for years:

"BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the Corporation of the Town of Kearney approves the Event 2011 Regatta and further that the format be preserved as it had been in 2010 and previous years.   

Recorded vote requested by Councillor Wills

Ken Ball – Yea
Barry Dingwall – Nay
Arthur Murdy – Nay
Steve Sainsbury – Absent
Louise Wadsworth – Nay
Yvonne Wills – Yea
Paul Tomlinson – Nay

DEFEATED"

Are you surprised?

Once Again...

At this year's Kearney Dog Sled races, many members of the new council were on hand to help out with setting up, working the kitchen, staffing the tracks, and cleaning up afterwards.

Mayor Paul Tomlinson on the other hand managed to be available only for the Opening Ceremonies and Closing Ceremonies. The rest of the time he was nowhere to be seen. He certainly wasn't rubbing elbows with any of the Townies or guests.

MP Tony Clement not only attended the Opening Ceremonies, but joined the locals for breakfast in the Community Centre and watched the races.

MPP, Norm Miller attended the Closing Ceremonies on Sunday and stayed for the spaghetti dinner.

So where was Pauldo?

One of the prime responsibilities of the Mayor is to represent his town and be an attentive host to special guests. Instead, Mayor Tomlinson virtually boycotted the entire event, save the opening and closing photo-ops. Messrs Clement and Miller had to fend for themselves when they attended the races and community events. Nice manners, Paul.

But we did notice that Mayor Tomlinson busted out the Chain of Office and bent over backwards strutting his stuff for his personal friends from the U.K. who were visiting. He probably gave them all autographed photos of himself carrying the Olympic torch through someone else's town.

Tony Clement and Norm Miller have been huge supporters of the Town of Kearney and much of the improvements and funding over the years have been because of their continued goodwill and friendship. We owe both a sincere apology for Mayor Tomlinson's inexcusably  rude and selfish behaviour. 

Are you surprised? 

Incompetent or Malicious?

If you happened to peruse the Classified section of the February 10, 2011 edition of the Almaguin News you might have noticed that the Town of Kearney is looking to hire a Chief Building Officer (CBO). This follows a resolution tabled by Mayor Paul Tomlinson at the January 28th council meeting.

Tomlinson has screwed up here in several ways:

• First, Tomlinson told council (and about 50 members of the public) “it’s the law” that the town advertise the position of CBO whenever the term of contract expires. This is a lot of hooey. Kearney has always shared CBO services with Perry Township and it is allowable under the Procurement By-Law to just renew the contact. Tomlinson either doesn’t know what he’s talking about or he’s deliberately misleading council and the public.
• Next, Tomlinson should have discussed this in a “closed session” as protocol requires. You don't discuss staffing issues in a public session and Tomlinson knows it. But, Tomlinson has an aversion to closed sessions, because the Ombudsman’s Office has been scrutinizing Tomlinson’s abuse of the process and continues to monitor him. (Remember those secret meetings a while back?) Now he just circumvents proper procedure to keep the Ombudsman off his back.
• And Tomlinson slapped Mayor Dunn of Perry Township in the face by failing to discuss the tender before going public. Kearney and Perry share the CBO and it would have been just common courtesy to let Mayor Dunn know what was going on instead of letting him read about it in the newspaper.
• Currently CBO services cost Kearney about $30,000 to 35,000 a year. Hiring its own CBO would cost Kearney tax-payers about double that (CBO’s are high-demand and don’t work part-time. At least not ones that are any good). Tomlinson says he plans to enter into an agreement with a neighbouring township thereby splitting the cost. But the only neighbouring township that qualifies for sharing the cost is Perry Township and Tomlinson has just burned that bridge. Why would Mayor Dunn want to set himself up to be burned again? This means that Kearney will have to pay for a full-time CBO who will never have more than a part-time workload. Weren’t the Proudfoot Four screaming about over-staffing not too long ago?

Proudfoot fiscal responsibility in action once again.

Or are we starting to see some of that payback Tomlinson has been planning against staff who filed harassment complaints against him last term? Incompetence or malicious intent… Either way:

Are you surprised?