THREE WOOLWICH COUNCILLORS TAKE A THUMPING LAST EVENING

The three "Councillors" are Murray Martin, Mark Bauman and Mayor Sandy Shantz whom I presume can also technically be called a Councillor? I took a round out of Councillor Bauman and Mayor Shantz while Lisa MacDonald of Conestogo clearly is unhappy with Councillor Murray Martin. Last evening was the first time that I put a face to the name Lisa Macdonald. She seemed organized and factual and repeatedly indicated that the books of the Conestoga Recreation Association backed her financial claims. She made claims that she clearly feels are substantiated regarding work for hire that Murray Martin has done in the park in Conestogo. That said I don't know Murray that well although I've not been overly enamoured with what I have seen as his pro Chemtura stance as a past Councillor. Therefore at this time I think it is a little premature to go into any allegations about him that were made last evening in Council. Whether either the Woolwich Observer or Elmira Independent will publish the details this Thursday and Friday, I simply have no idea.

Dr. Henry Regier spoke as a Delegate last evening and as typical by the way Councillor Bauman shook his hand immediately after his Delegation and praised him; you could be forgiven for thinking that Henry had praised Woolwich Councils, past and present. He did no such thing but in his typical Henry fashion presented his Delegation titled "The Mire Of Elmira". Henry went into detail about how chemical plants can externalize their costs by simply dumping their toxic wastes into the air, ground and nearby surface water. He did it in such a fashion that as I have seen before his targets cheerfully overlook his major point in their relief that he hasn't explicitly called them liars and deceivers. Hence Mark's over exuberance afterwards. This could also be Mark in his subtle fashion of sending the message that see Alan you can be critical without being personal. Henry did a great job and for the unbiased his meassage clearly was that all levels of governance share the blame including the feds, the province through the M.O.E., the GRCA and most definitely local Woolwich Councils.

I shared the history regarding the last time Chemtura boycotted UPAC (Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee) back in 1999. My two biggest points were that the current three meeting boycott is a manufactured crisis by Mayor Shantz and Mark Bauman that timing wise is exactly concurrent with the new Council. The second point was that Mark and Sandy's "plan" is ridiculous. A private meeting with secret discussions amongst non-involved "stakeholders" is patently a sham. I asked Council at the end of my Delegation whether they agreed with secret discussions on public matters. These matters include more than CPAC such as the 2028 cleanup deadline of which the GRCA and other participants are woefully uninformed.