Tuesday, January 10, 2017

MORE WOOLWICH HUMAN ERROR OR PERHAPS INTENTIONAL?



Is it incompetence, deviousness, general unremarkable human error, my simple inability to navigate a spanking new website or none of the preceding? Long story short I went looking for RAC & TAG Minutes from 2015 and 2016 this morning and couldn't find them. I followed the prompts and Links and found the RAC (Remediation Advisory Committee) & TAG (Technical Advisory Group) information, correspondence etc. but when I followed prompts and links to their Minutes, they weren't there. Yes I found the upcoming schedule of their meetings and twice I found prompts advising me how to obtain past CPAC Minutes (ie. from the Clerk). That of itself is problematic as those Minutes should bre readily available on-line and NOT at the discretion or timing of the Woolwich Clerk. I have sent off an e-mail to the RAC & TAG (Woolwich) Support person (Lisa) and she usually responds promptly.

My problem is this. I have gotten into written exchanges with Woolwich Staff in the past and by far the worst should have been the best, namely their CAO. Based upon history and experience I now see his job as being a cheerleader and bodyguard/bouncer for either bad Council decisions or particularily for indefensible positions and decisions taken by both past and present mayors. You know he's on thin ice when he deflects the arguments and starts in on essentially irrelevancies. You can be quoting Woolwich policies, by-laws etc. and when Woolwich are off-target he will leap upon any thin strand in your e-mail which in his opinion isn't respectful enough of staff, council, himself etc.. That suddenly becomes the issue, the whole issue and everything else is out the window. Not impressed.

There is information, quotes and comments by both TAG and RAC that must be readily available to the public or the media. I hope that Lisa advises me where I can find those past Minutes otherwise Woolwich have done it again and granted undeserving concessions to Chemtura and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. Both the public and media need ready access to some frankly incredible quotes and comments made by Dr. Richard Jackson (former TAG Chair), among others, at public RAC and TAG meetings in 2015 and 2016. Permitting the Woolwich Clerk's department to act as a gatekeeper to these Minutes is not acceptable in any fashion.

6 comments:

  1. Did you try changing the calendar month?
    It seems to be all there.... Unless what I'm looking at is not really the minutes.
    List what dates you want & I see if they are there.

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  2. O.K. that's better instructions than I've received to date. Still a problem though. As Lisa has advised me the Township only go back to last September. No Minutes for earlier in 2016 or in 2015 at all.

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  3. An apology to the township might be in order for today's post seeing that it was, in fact, your simple inability to navigate a spanking new website...
    Please do not jump to conclusions that it's township's incompetence, deviousness, general unremarkable human error. To state that right off the bat is pretty ignorant.
    What is the legal requirement for them to have these documents posted? One year? 2 Years? Any requirement?
    I do not know, that is why I am asking.

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    1. Wow who peed in your cornflakes? I did not "jump to conclusions". I listed a number of possibilities in the form of a question which included "my inability to navigate...". It turns out that in fact Lisa has advised me by e-mail that the Township have removed all RAC & TAG Minutes prior to 2015. This is unacceptable. Regarding "pretty ignorant", while I encourage comments I do wish you would read the posting more carefully prior to responding in anger.

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    2. Why was the township website changed in the first place. The privacy commissioner will be pleased with the change. The township never does anything on their own. The website is finally almost comparable to a normal municipality or was it the township lawyer: smith-veleriote or Duncan Linton who knows, but is certainly better than before. User friendly, not really. Now, if we could only find the lost minutes meetings.

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  4. Oops sorry the Township have removed all RAC & TAG Minutes prior to September 2016.

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