A Little Hindsight

When Barry Dingwall and Steve Sainsbury were laying the groundwork for the Proudfoot take-over of Council they began by petitioning the Ontario Municipal Board to abolish the ward system in Kearney.

It's interesting to note the following from Sainsbury's closing argument to the OMB:

"First lets[sic] analyze what was said by the Council.

It is striking how little was said by anyone except the Mayor on this critical issue. However we do have a few newspaper quotes:

Councillor Shirley Reeds was quoted as saying...”If we accept it, it gives Ward 3 [Proudfoot] the power to elect the entire Council and run it from another city” end quote (Tab 10 page 33 in the appellant Book)

“For about eight months of the year, more or less, the social culture in Kearney is made up of permanent residents” said Councillor Zummach of the possibility of summer residents being on Council. They don’t understand or care about the social culture we have here for the other 8[sic] months. (Tab 10 page 34 in the appellant Book)

Both comments reflect a clear prejudice against “those people who aren’t from around here”. Arbitrary, unfair and unreasonable statements made by Kearney Councillors."

...

[Mayor Jeff Johnston] goes on to give further evidence of his prejudice against land owners and the groups that represent them. I quote: ‘Any group that has access to the phone numbers or email addresses has an advantage which can distort the democratic process. Also to reach the absentee voters is a more costly process and will favour the better funded candidates.’ An Arbitrary, unfair and unreasonable statement."

"Arbitrary, unfair, and unreasonable"? From what we've seen in the last 6 months we'd say it was outright prophetic! But to be sure, maybe we should ask Tim Brown and the Grass and Loon Lakes Residents Group...

Sainsbury wrapped up his closing remarks with:

"[A wardless] system will bring the community together and will allow all the electors to have a say in the election of every Councillor.

Elections at large should and must be the most appropriate choice FOR DEMOCRACY in Kearney."

How's that working out for the full-time citizens of Kearney, Steve?



Oh, and did we mention that Mayor Paul Tomlinson recently pledged that there will be no more funding for Bethune. In other words, all future funding will be earmarked for Proudfoot.

Thank God the Proudfoot Four were able to bring democracy to Kearney and save us from that dictator Jeff Johnston, eh?

The Proudfoot Four Screw Their Own

 Submitted by a concerned citizen:

As your readers are aware, Mr. Tim Brown (or his company Something Something Wealth Corporation) has purchased the Outfitters Property at the corners of Highway 518, Chetwynd, and Higgins Roads. The purpose we were told was to build storage units. The property was rezoned to commercial and to reward Mr. Tim Brown for his fund-raising for Dingwall & Sainsbury the Proudfoot Four waived the $1000 re-zoning fee.

Well now, it seems Mr. Brown is not only going to add new storage units to the Outfitters property, Mr. Brown is also going to reopen the Outfitters General Store. But wait a minute. When the Outfitters General Store closed several years ago, Silversands added a General Store to Whiskey Jacks Restaurant.

And didn't Whiskey Jacks cater last year's Grass and Loon Lakes Residents’ Group annual member’s meeting? So, where does this leave Silversands/Whiskey Jacks now that key individuals of the GLLRG ie Tomlinson, Dingwall, Sainsbury, Wadsworth, have thrown their support behind Mr. Brown's venture?

Sorry Liz, it looks like the Proudfoot Four and the GLLRG only look out for themselves. We wonder how the mostly fair minded in our Proudfoot community feel about these antics. And to the Proudfoot community, and more specifically the waterfront properties on Loon & Grass Lakes, you owe your Proudfoot Four Council big time. After all, in the 2011 Budget, they reduced the tax rate by 9.5% which coincidentally is the average increase in your property re-assessments for 2011. How is this possible when Municipal Revenues are down and Operational Costs are up (a loss of approximately $550,000)? Very simple. The previous council left Reserves in excess of $1,000,000 and a surplus. The Proudfoot Four are taking the shortfall in property tax revenues out of Reserves and calling them "Grants".

Next year is the 4th and final year of the property reassessment phase-in and the Loon & Grass Lake waterfront properties will again see their re-assessments go up on average 9.5%. If the Proudfoot Four Council pulls the same trick, the Town's reserves will be seriously depleted, and we will have an Operational shortfall going into 2013 of $1,100,000 or more. Well, ladies and gentlemen, what do you suppose will happen then?

Property taxes will need to be increased significantly, at least to make up the 19% tax rate reduction in 2011 and 2012. Well the waterfront property owners can say "fine". We got 2 years of no tax increase and now we will play catch up. Well, not so fast. A 19+% tax increase in 2013 will be across the board and will hit everyone equally, including those who have been subsidizing under-assessed waterfront property owners for years. Those folks are our elderly, our seniors, our widows, our under employed, our unemployed, our young families, our disadvantaged. This could be the last straw to force some of these residents out of their homes.

Way to go, Proudfoot Four. We expect after you have destroyed the Town of Kearney, you will list your cottages and move on to some other unsuspecting town you can destroy.

Thanks for your letter. We knew about the budget shenanigans, but Tim Brown and the Proudfoot Four screwing their own will definitely create a bit of a stir in Proudfoot. Maybe.

Council Meeting Cancelled Due To Lack Of Interest

For the first time in Kearney's 100-plus years, a town council meeting had to be cancelled because too many councillors (and the mayor) didn't show up. Tomlinson is vacationing in Florida, and the three other weak-enders decided they'd rather stay home instead of making the trip all the way to Kearney for some stupid council meeting. 

Apparently none of their buddies needed any favours this month...

Are you surprised?