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?