Kearney Tourism Page Revamped

Back in December we critiqued Mayor Paul Tomlinson's lack of effort in promoting tourism in Kearney. But Mayor Tomlinson was listening and really went all out to improve the website and get those tourists to Kearney:

So enjoy Kearney's ski, hiking, and snowmobile trails, provided you happen to stumble across them. And the Ice Caves, wherever they are. And the ice rink (but there's no longer an attendant so the washrooms are closed). Or any one of the sites (sights?) and sounds... hidden somewhere.

So enjoy all that Kearney has to offer, but they're all secrets, so don't tell anyone.

Are you surprised? 

Tomlinson Snubs Kearney's Seniors

Kearney Mayor Paul Tomlinson was cordially invited to attend the Kearney Seniors' Club get-together last Thursday.

Did he show up? Nope.

Did he at least thank the seniors for inviting him? Nope.

Did he even acknowledge the invitation? Nope.

Are you surprised?

Nope.

Tomlinson Sells Out To Huntsville?

"Quick! Take a picture of me with Claude Doughty!"

Early in his term Mayor Paul Tomlinson eliminated Kearney's Economic Development Committee (along with the Roads Committee and Beautification Committee). On March 16th, 2012, Kearney's Economic Development Officer had finally had enough and quit in disgust. He was eagerly snapped up by Perry Township.

On the front page of this week's Huntsville Forester, we find the article entitled “Graphite Mine May Reopen,  Kearney facility could employ 80 people” and read how Mayor Tomlinson is now making deals with Huntsville’s Economic Development Officer and Grants Officer. Meanwhile, in this week's Almaguin News we read about Tomlinson and his boot-lick Councillor Louise Wadsworth sticking it to to two of Kearney's most promising businesses. (This is why we didn't get too excited about Councillor Wadsworth when we were told she stood around at the Dog-Sled Races). The main article is here, and a letter to the editor here.


So let's go through the facts, point by point:

• Tomlinson killed Kearney's Economic Development Committee (and others).
• Tomlinson ran off Kearney's Economic Development Officer (and others).
• Tomlinson, while still a councillor under Mayor Johnston, tried to obstruct the development of the graphite mine. (While the rest of council was trying to work out an equitable deal on how Ontario Graphite Ltd. would pay the back-taxes on the mine, Tomlinson wanted the town to simply run in and seize all their property. This would have eliminated any chance of the mine reopening. In the end, it turned out that Ontario Graphite didn't owe as much as Tomlinson thought.)
• From the very beginning, Tomlinson has made it clear that he will use any means to forward his own agenda at the expense of Kearney's townies (or Kearney's "trash", as he puts it).
• Tomlinson has done nothing to build relationships with the provincial or federal governments (he thoroughly managed to piss off our MP and MPP though) and has not procured any new grant money since coming into office.
• Huntsville's Economic Development and Grants Officer, John Finley, is employed by the Town of Huntsville.
• John Finley is now coordinating the deal between the graphite mine and FedNor for potential grants (because Tomlinson thoroughly managed to piss off our MP and MPP).
• Huntsville wants jobs for the residents of Huntsville.

Good work, Paul! The Town of Huntsville and their Economic Development Officer are working with Ontario Graphite and our federal and provincial governments to address employment opportunities and grant money for the Town of Huntsville. Meanwhile, Huntsville's Mayor Doughty thinks Kearney is a region. "The Kearney Region": a place where nobody lives or tries to make a living but rather an opportunity for Huntsville to help rectify Huntsville's unemployment situation. And our bumbling mayor is bragging that he'll be panting at Doughty's table in the hopes that some scraps might fall his way.


But, here's the big question:

WHERE THE HELL WAS THE REST OF KEARNEY'S TOWN COUNCIL WHEN TOMLINSON MADE THIS DEAL?

Did council approve this business relationship that Mayor Tomlinson has set up with Huntsville’s Mayor and his Economic Development Officer? We couldn't find anything in any of the council minutes.

If council didn’t approve the actions of Mayor Paul "Just-One-Voice" Tomlinson then Kearney has a big problem. Our Mayor has unilaterally committed the Town of Kearney to a very damaging and irreversible arrangement and council must demand the Mayor’s resignation. Anything short of Tomlinson's removal will ensure the Huntsville/Ontario Graphite deal remains in place to the severe and lasting detriment of Kearney.

So, Council of Kearney, we leave it to you to sort out this horrendous mess.

Are You Surprised?

Tomlinson Wants Taxpayers to Pay for Lost Cell Phone

At the council meeting Friday, March 2nd, 2012, Kearney Mayor Paul Tomlinson informed council that he had lost his personal cell phone at the Ontario Good Roads Association conference in Toronto. Mayor Tomlinson insisted that council approve reimbursement for the phone at a cost of about $1100.00. Tomlinson quite correctly declared a conflict of interest when the issue was before council and left the room.

Council deliberated and the request to reimburse was denied. Not surprisingly, Councillors Wadsworth and Dingwall voted in favour of blowing $1100.00 of taxpayers money to buy their buddy a new phone, while Councillors Murdy, Sainsbury, and Wills, who have a clue, demonstrated sound fiscal sense and voted against. When Tomlinson returned to the council table and learned that they had had the audacity to defy his demand for reimbursement, he lost his mind.

Now, the Conflict of Interest Act has three criteria that members of council must follow to ensure they are not in conflict:

1) They must declare the conflict or pecuniary interest for matters of personal involvement. Tomlinson declared a pecuniary interest. Check.

2) The member of council shall not try to influence council in any way. The best approach is for the member to leave the room while council deliberates. Tomlinson left the room. Check.

3) Upon returning to the council table, the member shall not express any view or opinion regarding council’s decision. In other words, not be a big whiny suck-bag if things don't go his way. On this point, Tomlinson failed by "expressing his displeasure" with council denying his demand for $1100.00 as a reward for losing his phone. FAIL.

Now, if a judge ruled that Tomlinson failed on point #3, Tomlinson could be forced to vacate his seat as mayor. The only catch is that under the Municipal Act, only a member of the public can challenge a member of council by applying to the courts. The public has up to 6 months to decide.

As a follow-on to this little saga, a parcel arrived this week addressed to Mayor Paul Tomlinson.  Guess what was in the package? Yep, Tomlinson’s lost cell phone.

One question remains, now that council can view Tomlinson’s old cell phone, was it really worth $1100.00? Or was Tomlinson trying to use this opportunity to upgrade his phone at our expense? In the interest of openness and transparency, we hope council will do this assessment.

HEE HEE HEE...

And if pictures of you or your family at McManus Beach suddenly show up online, you'll know where they came from. 

Are you surprised?

Tomlinsons Eat and Run

On Saturday, February 25th, the town of Kearney celebrated Family Day and Heritage Day with a potluck dinner at the community centre. Councillors Ken Ball and Steve Sainsbury both rolled up their sleeves and helped out in the kitchen. Ken is well known for volunteering in the community, but we're being surprised more and more by Councillor Sainsbury who really seems to be making an effort to stand shoulder to shoulder with his neighbours. Not surprisingly, Councillor Barry Dingwall didn't show up now that he knows he can stay at home (in Barrie) and still get paid.

To avoid another "Where's Pauldo?", Mayor Paul Tomlinson did attend with his wife, but of course neither offered to help out and obviously couldn't wait to get out of there once they'd finished stuffing their faces with free food. In fact, Tomlinson and his wife barely seemed able to stand being in the same room as us icky Townies and huddled alone in a corner while they gobbled down their meals. Free meals finished, they couldn't get out of there fast enough. Tomlinson even snubbed his buddy Sainsbury who he now considers a turncoat for socializing below his station.

Are you surprised?

The Resignations Continue

Kearney Mayor Paul Tomlinson's reign of terror continues to take its toll on town staff.

First we lost Paul Schaefer, Kearney's CBO, when, shortly after becoming mayor, Tomlinson dissed Perry Township's mayor John Dunne by secretly cancelling their joint CBO agreement (Mayor Dunne had to read about the cancellation in the newspaper). Mr. Schaefer now enjoys employment in Perry and has vowed he would never work for the town of Kearney so long as Tomlinson sits on council. As no one else would do business with Tomlinson, Kearney has since had to hire Magnetawan's cast-off CBO Henry Hess at triple the cost.

Then in December 2011, Liz Stermsek, Kearney's office manager had finally had enough of Paul Tomlinson and resigned.

Now it looks like Kearney's treasurer and Economic Development Officer David Hunks has had enough of Mayor Paul Tomlinson and Councillor Louise Wadsworth's asinine budgets and has also tendered his resignation. Mr. Hunks has been offered a position in Perry Township as Chief Financial Officer.

We also lost Cole Dault, a youth intern from Kearney funded through FedNor, who will be Perry's new Economic Development Officer. Mr. Cole didn't even bother setting foot in Kearney's town office before making the wise choice of going to Perry Township.

Perry - 3

Kearney - 0

Are you surprised?

Remember This?

Back in April of 2010, while smear-campaigning, Barry Dingwall sent out this email:

Barry Dingwall

From: Barry Dingwall <barryinbarrie@yahoo.ca>
To: Barry Dingwall <barryinbarrie@yahoo.ca>
Cc: Lorne Levy <LLevy@GOV.NU.CA>
Sent: Mon Apr 19 18:25:54 2010
Subject: Fw: Kearney Mayor Councillor Honouraria & Expenses 2010

To One and ALL

A little more insight into why our taxes are so high.


Barry Dingwall

And at the time, even the Proudfoot Four's key supporter Robert Pritchard saw the pettiness and mean-spiritedness of Dingwall's tactics:

 

J. Robert S. Pritchard

From: Robert Prichard
To: 'barryinbarrie@yahoo.ca' <barryinbarrie@yahoo.ca>
Sent: Mon Apr 19 22:20:40 2010
Subject: Fw: Kearney Mayor Councillor Honouraria & Expenses 2010

Barry,

I regret your circulating this, particularly at this time.

The amounts are modest in every respect. I wouldn't take on one of these roles for ten times the pay given the attacks and nastiness that come with them. Surely no one could believe the amounts are excessive. I am more than happy to pay my share - we pay taxes on four cottages, 13 lots on Sand Lake and a 100 acre property on Little Loon which is not a small bill.

Circulating this now can only be seen as an attack on the Mayor, the very person we are asking to unite us. Coming from you as a leader of the association that has had the most difficulty getting behind the resolution just breeds distrust instead of finding common ground.

I beg you to do all you can to contribute to unity at this time. Let's keep our eye on the big picture where we are making big progress and not be distracted by the little stuff.

Rob

Sent from my BlackBerry

 

But now that Councillor Dingwall is stuffing his own pockets, he's not objecting to two honouraria increases in two years. Especially now that he'll get his new salaried honouraria no matter how little he does. 

Are you surprised?