WOOLWICH HAVE DEIGNED TO CONTACT ME

It was actually a very nice e-mail received yesterday from Sandy Shantz. Polite, courteous and respectful. It was appreciated. It was short enough that I will include it here in its' entirety.


"Thanks for your email and your offer Alan.

Staff in consultation with our consultants GHD, are completing an internal review of your presentation to Council this past Tuesday. The review is targeted to be completed by Friday.


We don't require your assistance at this time, but we will certainly share the results of the review with you.



Sandy".


Yesterday's e-mail included the one I had sent Staffer Dan Kennally and all six Woolwich Councillors back on August 2. That's right it appears as if Sandy is responding to my offer to sit down with Staff regarding methane problems in the Bolender Park landfill, 26 days later. I had also repeated my offer just last Friday (Aug. 25) to sit down with Staff to clear up their misunderstandings around 20% LEL (lower explosive limit) not being the same as 20% methane by volume in air. I admit that my second e-mail was a bit more brusqe than my first one that had received no reply as of last Friday. It is also possible that including my first e-mail of August 2 was simply for reference and in fact she was primarily responding, as stated in her e-mail, to my latest Delegation to Council (last Tuesday).

Regardless what am I to make of her communication to me? At face value it is clearly good news in that she is acknowledging the seriousness of my concerns regarding the Bolender Landfill. She is also acknowledging that the contents of my Delegation require serious, professional attention hence Staff and GHD (formerly Conestoga Rovers) review of it.

The problem however is this. One it doesn't sound like Council are sitting in on this "internal review". Secondly in my first Delegation to Council I advised that a peer review of CRA (GHD) was needed. That's code for CRA's reports are of unacceptable quality. Thirdly I have essentially thirty years experience reading and dealing with CRA's client driven reports on behalf of Uniroyal Chemical, Crompton, Chemtura and now Lanxess. Regarding Uniroyal Chemical's litany of name changes, a turd by any other name smells just as bad.

Yes it's true that I'm guilty after nearly thirty years of both private and public abuse by Uniroyal and their supporters of not having
any tolerance left for them. That doesn't change the facts however. I have no friends at and no input into this "internal review". Woolwich are masters of the "internal review" often while masquerading it as an external review. The Municipal Elections Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC) is an excellent example of that.

While it is not out of the realm of possibility that this "internal review" will admit to shortcomings and problems around both the Reports done by CRA (GHD) and by Woolwich Staff's interpretation of them and actions taken; I'm not going to bet the farm on it. It's always more enjoyable being pleasantly surprised than disappointed by unlikely expectations.