WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP IS NOT DOGPATCH

I have lived in Woolwich Township since 1993. Firstly for nearly a decade in West Montrose and now for the last thirteen years in Elmira. While I love it here I will not deny that many things including politics are below standard. Obviously I also have huge environmental concerns thus the reason for this Blog.

Here is the hot off the press news: This morning accompanied by my Ward One Councillor (PM) I attended the Woolwich Township Building and spoke with the Woolwich Township Clerk, Ms. Val Hummel. I gave Val a signed and dated Letter along with a fourty page package of documents. The letter she received and then photocopied and stamped as a receipt for me is as follows:


WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP CLERK Ms. Valerie Hummel May 20, 2015

Ms. Hummel: Along with this request for the removal from office of a sucessful candidate for municipal councillor I am including fourty pages of references relevant to my request. These pages include the on-line Financial Statements of candidates for municipal and school board positions representing Woolwich Township. Also included are the City of Waterloo Financial Statements simply as a a comparison regarding the proper handling of acclaimed candidates. Included is a CBC News release speaking to the recent removal by the Municipal Clerk of an acclaimed school board candidate in Sudbury, solely due to his failure to file his financial statements by the March 27/15 deadline. Both the 2010 and 2014 Candidates Guide for Ontario and School Board Election Guides are included with references to automatic penalties for failure to file financial statements. Finally the Table of Contents of the Municipal Elections Act 1996 is included showing the the various Sections and most specifically Sections 77(a), 78 and 80. It is my understanding that there are three specific instances/failures by candidates that stipulate immediate removal from office and the one in this case is the failure by an acclaimed candidate, Mr. Mark Bauman, to have filed his required Financial Statement by the deadline of March 27, 2015.

Sincerely Alan Marshall a resident and voter of Woolwich township
99 Church St. W. Elmira, Ontario N3B 3K7 519 6692801


Of interest to me was the Clerk's initial response that Mark Bauman's Financial Statements were on line. Then after about ten minutes of looking we were informed that it has been Woolwich "tradition" not to require Financial Statements from Councillor Bauman when he has been acclaimed. It was and is my understanding that he has been acclaimed before as well as having a worthy opponent, a Mr. Eric Shwindt, in 2010. Nevertheless the Clerk confirmed the obvious that Councillor Bauman failed to file Financial Statements as demanded by the Municipal Elections Act. We await the Clerk's actions as have occurred in this most recent election both in Sudbury and as well in Toronto. Woolwich is not Dogpatch.