DOES WOOLWICH COUNCIL KNOW THAT STAFF ARE MISREPRESENTING THE FACTS?

There are times when individual members of Woolwich Council have lied to the public. There are times when Staff have done the same. I was advised by an outgoing councillor after the last election that they had never been lied to as much as the four years they were on Woolwich Council. The implication was that it was staff doing the lying. Which staff was not stated.

Last evening at Council the word "corrupt" was used by Dan Kennally. I did not hear it from anyone else. Mr. Kennally basically was upset that a later citizen Delegate had used the word to describe a Woolwich staffer, allegedly in a correspondence. While I do not know the truth or otherwise of the allegation I do know that the Delegate after me was upset that he could not rebut or speak to Mr. Kennally's comment about him.

Mr. Sigurdson sent a letter to residents living on High St. and George St. in Elmira last Wednesday. He misrepresented the facts in his letter. Or he gilded the lily. Or he lied possibly. Or maybe he didn't read the reports carefully. Take your pick. Mr. Kennally repeated the gist of Mr. Sigurdson's inaccurate comments last evening in Council Chambers. Misstatements, errors and inaccuracies by public officials Mr. Kennally is exactly why citizens believe the word corruption is accurate. Keep in mind that corruption can mean both taking bribes or payoffs or it can be much less harsh as in "riddled with errors".

Mr. Kennally last evening in Council Chambers stated that the latest test results showed zero methane at the gas probes nearest High St.. That is correct. The one monitoring event in 2015 and the one event in 2016 came up with zeros. Unfortunately however the 20% LEL (lower explosive limit) was exceeded twice in 2008 and twice in 2010. In fact in 2009 it showed almost zero. Both 2010 tests were more than four times greater than the LEL. This is precisely why CRA recommended indoor monitoring in 2009 at the High St. home nearest the Landfill. The Township did not do so. Nor did they or CRA apparently do anything for the next five years. Thank you very much Woolwich Township for exposing the High St. residents to the risk of an explosion and fire and the Township to a huge lawsuit for negligence.

Methane readings go up and down like a toilet seat. Having zero readings either before or after huge methane readings is normal. What is not normal is ignoring or pretending that there isn't a problem. Mr. Kennally's statement last evening to Council that Warning alarms for residents are not consistent with current results is a deceptive statement. Councillors need to step up and do their duty. Warning devices are inexpensive. Lives and lawsuits are not.