LET THE SUNSHINE INTO WOOLWICH

As per yesterday's posting I had promised certain information to the readers concerning a meeting Monday night at the Councillor's Boardroom in the Woolwich Township building. Keep clearly in mind this meeting was not only at the insistence of Dan, Lynne, Vivienne and myself but would not have occurred but for the excellent letter written by Lynne and then endorsed in writing by e-mail by the rest of us. In it Lynne very sweetly concluded the letter by asking if Councillor Herteis, Mayor Cowan, Dave Brenneman etc.would prefer we took our concerns and issues directly to Woolwich Council. Unknown to me at the time, Lynne was bluffing. Turns out she has developed a personal relationship with both Councillor Bonnie Bryant and Mayor Todd Cowan. This also explains her presence on CPAC. Turns out each appointee including myself has (had) a personal, long time personal relationship with Mayor Cowan.

At the meeting it was concluded by ALL present including Mayor Cowan that Councillor Herteis entered the meeting with a huge chip on her shoulder. From body language, facial expression, tenseness, followed by tone of voice, snippiness and hostility, she was not a happy camper. She lasted less than an hour and after being mildly disagreed with on a point, stood up and walked out of the meeting without a word. ALL of us were shocked by her behaviour. By this time both Dave Brenneman had left as had Dan Holt. Dan had a previous committment and the time had intentionally and sucessfully been run out by Dave Brenneman's initial monologue followed by others. Ron Campbell, Julie-Anne's next door neighbour, Todd Cowan's friend, CPAC member, summed it up by suggesting that she simply wasn't Chairperson material. All nodded or verbally agreed and Mayor Cowan said he'd take care of it. This he did however it included him telling people privately that she had resigned and the Council would accept her resignation at the 6:30 pm in camera meeting Tuesday nite. He also advised that this resignation would be announced Tuesday evening and in fact some media and others were tipped off ahead of time to this fact. My suspicion now is that they didn't want to link her resignation time wise to my presentation at Council concerning the failure to launch of CPAC. Her credibility is minimal after this so I'm not sure how that can be restored.

Regarding the three "zero to nil" speakers described yesterday, in descending order of verbal drivel that would be CAO David Brenneman, Township Clerk Christine Broughton and then Mayor Cowan. Ron Campbell, Mayor Cowan's good buddy was the fourth person spouting pablum at the meeting. Keep in mind Ron is the environmental professional, however just like a former professional at CPAC before him, instead of speaking to his area of expertise, he is there primarily for his credentials.

FIBBERS: Yup I promised it. David Brenneman, Todd Cowan and Ron Campbell. The funniest part is that I'm not the only one at the meeting who knows it and they commented to me afterwards about it. All three of them with Ron leading the way as the most ingenuous, claimed that the reason the M.O.E. and Chemtura were not remotely prepared in a timely fashion to give CPAC Orientation sessions is because everything got delayed by the "sudden" withdrawals of Applications by the former CPAC members in March. Absolute HOOEY! Mayor Cowan by the day after the election was already blabbing his intention to clean the CPAC house. NOBODY was to carry on. I lobbied hard for Ken Driedger to stay on because he is a person of high character, commitment and honesty. Meanwhile Ron Campbell solemnly advised Monday's meeting that he personally hadn't filed his Application until March. Guess what? Both he and David Marks didn't know they had to file their Applications at all. Their buddy Mayor Cowan verbally told them that they were CPAC members as of last NOVEMBER. Hence at the Council meeting in January (11 ?) when Julie-Anne was announced as the Chair, Mayor Cowan and Council had no Applications from their two professionals in front of them. How embarassing. Thus the Application deadline was publicly extended. You can imagine how this upset the old CPAC members. They finally caught on that all their Applications for membership were in the garbage bin.

Having been recently advised concerning being sued let me say the following. This information is to the very best of my knowledge, accurate and honest. Yes it is my opinion but I was there in person for this meeting. I believe that the taxpaying citizens of Woolwich have the right to know what goes on behind closed doors. I am far more upset with what I see as the betrayal of my fellow citizens via intentional delay and stalling of CPAC, at this critical juncture, than by anything else. I would estimate the probability of the behaviour of the mentioned authorities being do to stupidity or ignorance versus hidden agenda at only 5%. I don't believe they could be this stupid. If I'm wrong and you have no ulterior motive, Todd and company, then I apologize. But for God's sake start listening to the very few honest people with knowledge on this subject. There is one other possible motive for their ridiculous behaviour and that I would characterize as insecurity manifested by "control freak" behaviour. Again could their motive for their incredibly stupid and counterproductive behaviour be due to their own insecurities around their lack of knowledge? I truly don't know, but again as I have for many months emphasize how much and how willing I am, and have been, to help you with my extensive knowledge base (re: Chemtura) . What is the probability of this versus bad intent being their motive? I don't know because here, I am way out of my area of expertise. Again if this is the cause for your nonsense then I apologize for honestly criticizing you. Alan (no one else just me!)