HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-02-09, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012.Councillor livid after ‘discovered’ money revealed
School petition being circulated throughout Blyth
Vodden questions
ownership of school
THE EDITOR,
It’s clean up time once and
for all.
Huron County and its
council: What does the
general public really know
about it? Not enough.
County Council is made up
of mostly mayors and deputy-
mayors of the member
municipalities (plus or minus
four more depending on when
they’re done arguing about it.)
This council is responsible for
a corporation with over 600
employees and an annual
budget of over $100 million
dollars of ratepayer money to
provide services to the public.
In a typical council meeting
there are always one or two
councillors sound asleep
through most of the
proceedings, and a few more
rarely read the materials in
preparation for the meeting.
(Meetings are public, attend
one time for some good
entertainment.) That leaves
about half of them well
informed and ready to govern
… and therein lies the
problem.
It appears that the largest
employer in Huron County,
funded by the public purse is:
• Left to run itself in large
parts with no efficient
oversight by council.
• Fostering a sense of
entitlement amongst key
employees rather than
awareness that a service is
provided to the public and
that the public is footing the
bill for their wages.
• Lacking internal controls
and transparency.
• Ambiguous in its
relationship to property
owned by the county and
hence the public when it
comes to disposing of it.
• Tolerating department
heads padding their annual
budgets.
• Running on the principle
that if you kick up enough
fairy dust council will just let
things be and the same old
show goes on and on.
How dare I arrive at these
conclusions? Well, how else is
it possible that somebody just
“discovered” $1.7 million in
taxpayer money in a health
board savings account that
nobody knew about?
Why does the warden have
to send the department heads
back to rebudget and to only
reflect the upcoming years
true costs in that budget?
How else can it be
explained that once the
tornado hit, managing staff
found it more important to
finish attending a conference
and some were extremely
worried about not having
access to their custom clubs
stuck in the courthouse,
leaving concerned staff on site
scratching their heads?
It is high time for county
council to wake up, take the
reigns and show some
responsibility to the public
and take some of that
“newfound” money and
conduct a thorough forensic
audit of the financial affairs of
the Corporation of Huron
County. The return on that
investment will be significant.
It is council’s responsibility
to clean up this mess once and
for all and actually understand
the budgets and financials
they are voting on.
It’s the people’s money!
Burk Metzger, Clinton.
THE EDITOR,
Any day now we can
expect an announcement
that Avon Maitland District
School Board (AMDSB) is
prepared to dispose of
Blyth Public School.
According to regulations,
North Huron will be
granted an opportunity to
submit an offer to purchase
this property within 90
days at fair market value.
So, fairness is now to be an
element of this proposed
deal. Fairness is not a word
I can easily associate with
Avon Maitland as a result
of what they have done for
us (and to us) recently, but I
guess it depends on
whether they are dishing it
out or demanding
something from us.
And “market value”!
Which market value will
they be referring to? The
market value which existed
before the school board
declared our school
surplus, or the rapidly
declining market value of
all Blyth real estate since
their announcement?
There is another
perplexing aspect of this
situation. The first Blyth
Public School on this site
was built and paid for by
the Village of Blyth
residents, under the
leadership of our very own
school board in 1896. The
land, the Blyth Fair
Grounds, was donated to
the school board by the
village. The present school
building was built, I am
sure, with some provincial
grants, but local ratepayers
put up the remainder of the
cost. I don’t recall any
mention of AMDSB ever
buying this school. In a
moral sense, we see this as
our school, not the property
of the board. Should they
not simply return it to the
original owner?
In any case, if this
community wants this
property, it is going to be
cash on the barrel head. At
market value! No monetary
breaks for us as a result of
our “sense of ownership” of
this building and historic
piece of land, no advantage
over land speculators from
places unknown, no sign of
compensation for the
economic and social losses
we will be experiencing by
the loss of our school.
We realize that the school
board is no friend of this
community; the Ministry of
Education is against us; the
Ontario Education Act
offers us no right to appeal
this unfair decision. Our
only recourse is to convince
the Ontario legislature to
THE EDITOR,
We’ve experienced a lot of
pent up frustration in rural
Ontario, which was probably
brewing for some time
anyway. And it wasn’t only
about wind farms. The
outcome of the provincial
election demonstrated that it
was as much about a need for
change and focus, as it was
about a referendum on how
things are. And as long as we
don’t stand up for what’s
right, and fair, and reasonable,
they (whoever THEY seem to
be) will continue to do what
they do.
Silence in public debate is
considered acceptance and
apathy is encouraged. So it
has been with this school
closure issue...until fairly
recently, however.
If I hear the phrase, “well
that’s the way things are” ever
again, my head will explode.
Things are the way they are
because we accept that that’s
the normal order of things. It’s
my opinion that things are
the way they are because
we allow them to be that
way.
In the past several months,
grass-roots organizations have
formed across the province, to
share information and a
common cause to stop the
closing of schools across the
province until reasonable
people review reasonable
solutions.
It seems that there has been
no funding to maintain
schools and keeping them
vital community assets. It’s
also agreed that schools help
to sustain neighbourhoods
and communities. So while
there’s been funding to award
incentives for school busing
contracts, and to build new
schools, there’s little for
maintenance of existing
schools.
While one provincial
ministry works to develop
programs to help sustain
communities like ours,
another seems intent on
working in the opposite
direction.
The Ministry of Education
has hired “independent”
facilitators (who were once
employees) to review and
answer the challenges of
those who have openly
opposed indiscriminate
school closing decisions.
These reviews have, without
fail, concluded that the local
school boards acted
appropriately, and followed,
their own policy. No surprise
there. So even if the policy is
flawed, as long as its followed
it, it’s o.k.
A quote from one of the
“independent” reports to the
ministry cited: “the entire
focus of the Accommodation
Review Committee is to ‘feed
information to the boards (sic)
senior staff’ not to the
affected communities or the
elected trustees” kind of
clarifies the position of the
independent nature of these
reviews.
And you wonder why many
do not accept these decisions
without challenge. To be fair,
these independent reports can
only address whether a
process was followed in
accordance with policy, not
whether the policy was
flawed. So, even if it’s
wrong, it’s o.k., as long
as process was
followed.
The former
Wellington-Perth MPP
John Wilkinson was
quoted prior to the last
election as saying, “in
principle, there should
always be people who
are elected who can
hold the decision
makers to account. That
is why we have school
board trustees, municipal
councils and Members of
Provincial Parliament.”
Blyth, Brussels, Zurich,
Moonstone, Long Lake,
Wanup, Peterborough, Cobalt,
Duntroon, Kirkland Lake,
Niagara, Holmesville...and
many more may have
something to say about that.
The Premier of Ontario,
before he was Premier, was
quoted as saying, “...the
province should avoid forcing
closures while the funding
formula is under
review...we’re going to regret
having closed schools
prematurely when we could
have kept them open.” That
quote was recorded June 11,
2002. The funding formula,
with a review promised in
2010, is still under review, 10
years after that statement.
The legislation is broken,
the process is flawed; both
need fixing. Currently, it has
provided a “get of out jail
free” card for school boards.
Fixing this is long overdue
and only the louder voice of
the people can bring about
that change.
Can you imagine the field
day the Ontario Ombudsman
would have, if he was allowed
to review the content of both
the public as well as the
closed meetings which took
place in all these jurisdictions.
Imagine what real estate
people are now saying about
the future of real estate values
in Blyth and other affected
areas. Imagine how Municipal
Property Assessment
Corporation will be assessing
our properties for property tax
purposes. Imagine what the
property tax revenue
implications are for the
municipality of North Huron.
There is a petition being
circulated in the Village of
Blyth beginning this week.
And folks, silence is not an
option.
“Change is brought about
because ordinary people do
extraordinary things.” –
Barack Obama, President of
the United States.
Regards,
Greg Sarachman,
Blyth.
Letters to the Editor
IS THIS A CRIME SCE
N
E
?
No one should ever be pressured, forced or tricked
into giving money — even to loved ones. If someone
you trust is taking advantage of you, help is out there.
Learn the signs of financial abuse to protect
yourself and the people you love.
To find out more from the Government of Canada about preventing
elder abuse, visit www.seniors.gc.ca or call 1 800 O-Canada
(1-800-622-6232) TTY: 1-800-926-9105
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