WOOLWICH COUNCIL WERE GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY AND THEY BLEW IT

How often in life are we given a chance to rectify an earlier error? Woolwich Council were given just that opportunity. Indeed it was laid out on a platter for them. Twenty-seven months ago they gut reacted to the crys of the Mayor and Councillor Julie-Ann Herteis about how they'd been done wrong by a nasty CPAC member. They then kicked said member (moi) off of CPAC without five minutes discussion, consultation or full presentation of the facts. They did not even ask any of the other CPAC members present at the meeting in the Councillor's Board Room, the previous night, as to what had occurred. If they had they would have gotten an entirely different picture of the behaviour of both Councillor Herteis and Mayor Cowan.

This time around Council had the advantages of time and opportunity to inform themselves of the facts. They had a written recommendation from their own handpicked CPAC members advising that they CPAC had confidence in yours truly and that I had been a strong supporter of CPAC and an extraordinarily well informed and knowledgeable critic of much of the nonsense that both Chemtura and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (M.O.E.) are still trying to sell to the public. CPAC Chair Dr. Dan Holt had sent numerous e-mails to Council expressing his wish to be able to speak to them for the purpose of giving them advice, details and specific knowledge as to why all three nominees were excellent choices. Dan and CPAC recognized that Council might be reluctant to revisit their hasty decision of spring 2011 thus he and they did everything possible to make the decision a pragmatic, worthy one, without prejudice to anyone. Council's response to the Chairman of a committee of council was overwhelming silence.

Woolwich Council had a clear opportunity to base their decision on the merits of my CPAC membership. Instead they have once again made it clear that they hold ridiculous grudges for a long time. Councillor Herteis's motives are those of a hurt and spiteful child. Her inability to look beyond her pettiness and see what is in the best interests of Woolwich Township, is truly scary. She is one of only five councillors. Woolwich deserves better than this.

Councillor Bauman's motives are more complicated. In the best case scenario he is a strong advocate of capitolism and free enterprise. Councillor Bauman does carry with him the baggage of being a long time member of Woolwich Council under former Mayor Strauss. This council overall were very best friends with many polluting industries in town including Mayor Strauss's own in Elmira and Heidelburg (contaminated service stations & fuel depot).

Under the worst case scenario Councillor Bauman is Chemtura's man both on CPAC and on Council. He was the only CPAC member who voted against my CPAC membership. He did this via the scoundrel's refuge, namely in camera discussions. I was fortunate to have been a fly on the wall during those discussions. Both Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E. have lobbied in the past to keep me off of CPAC. That is shameful but more shameful has been their success. Who has been carrying their message to Woolwich Council pray tell?

Mayor Cowan played Tuesday night's meeting with aplomb and relish. He 180 degrees reversed himself from as recently as this spring. Here in the Advocate on April 30, May 2 amd May 22/13 I posted comments regarding the Mayor and Woolwich Council's behaviour and or meddling in CPAC business. Mayor Cowan two evenings ago publicly stated that he supported my nomination to CPAC. He publicly stated that he supported CPAC's knowledgeable and honest nomination of myself. If this was sincere then credit should go to him for his reversal in attitude and his removal of disgusting conditions he wished to impose earlier upon my membership. On the other hand if mayor Cowan already knew the outcome of the vote and if he was posturing for the benefit of CPAC Chair Dr. Dan Holt, then shame on him. Perhaps he was even possibly posturing for me hoping that my postings here would reflect badly on Councillor Bauman and leave him unscathed.

Woolwich Council could have shown stature and professional leadership on this matter. They could have accepted the serious and sincere recommendation from their own committee of council. Instead for pettiness combined with a desire to please one of the worst polluters in Canada they dropped the ball. Although little Elmira are long past the 60's when Uniroyal employees dominated Elmira Council, perhaps their influence is still strong albeit more subtle.

I would like to publicly thank the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee for their support. I would like to especially thank Chair Dr. Dan Holt as well as CPAC member Vivienne Delaney who commented on yesterday's Advocate posting. Further thanks goes to the Cambridge Advocate who picked up yesterday's Elmira Advocate posting titled "Woolwich Council publicly expose themselves". Finally prior to reading either the Woolwich Observer or the Elmira Independent this week I would like to thank them both for their ongoing coverage of council meetings and their overall reporting.