Haldimand "Kudo's to Councillor Grice"

*********************UPDATE******************************************************

Friday May 30th, 2008.

Something was just not sitting right with me when I wrote this blog. The first problem that I ran into was actually believing what I had read as the "whole truth". Now anyone who has written a letter to the editor and had it edited for print finds out very quickly the "truth" can change by taking out a word here and there.

I called Councillor Grice to ask him a few questions but we have played telephone tag. So I called Mayor Trainer to ask her a few questions about that meeting on May 16th.

This was the conversation I had with Mayor Trainer;

I informed Mayor Trainer that I had written a blog about the meeting in her home with government officials and the fact that I agreed with the stand that Councillor Grice took. Boy I can tell you that when you need to know the truth you need to go directly to the "source".

As it turns out the Deputy Minister had no problems meeting at the Mayor's home. This was in no way an "official" type of County business. It was an informal meeting that started with a meeting of residents that live on "Sixth Line" in Haldimand County prior to going to the Mayor's home. After a "one hour" meeting at the Mayor's home at 2:00pm, the group went to meet with others at the Hagersville Tim Hortons. So there you have it these government officials were at three meetings in Haldimand County the same day.

Mayor Trainer found out this information about the other meetings at the Liaison Side Table Meeting that took place the following week, and "prior" to the Council Meeting this past Monday where Grice criticised the Mayor for having the meeting at her home. I asked Mayor Trainer if Grice new this information and she said Yes. So what was the rant all about?

Another thing to add is that Councillor Boyko was in fact at that same meeting on May 16th at Mayor Trainers home, yet the reporter left this information out of the article! So Counciller Boyko spoke with first hand experience that the Deputy Minister didn't have a problem with this.

Now I still haven't had a conversation with Councillor Grice on this "clarification" of the events that took place. When I do I will post what his comment was.

In the meantime my "apologies" to Mayor Trainer and Councillor Boyko for not getting the facts straight. But in my opinion this was a good exercise. I wonder what else we read that is really "NOT" the " WHOLE TRUTH".

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The Regional Newspaper reporter Bill Jackson wrote an article this week that has me scratching my head and wondering just how professional is our council? Actually in a way I found the story a little bit amusing at the same time.

Mayor Trainer, Councillor Grice and CAO Don Boyle met with Lori Sterling, Ontario's Deputy Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Provincial Representatives Doug Carr and Chris Mahar on Friday May 16th.

This meeting took place at Mayor Trainer's home. Councillor Grice criticized Mayor Trainer for her choice of location. Grice made the following statement at a council meeting on Monday;

"How are we being seen by the province?" Grice asked his colleagues at the council table, noting that "respect deserves respect" when it comes to the number one issue facing Haldimand these days. He told The Regional News that Ontario's representatives were introduced to Trainer's dogs and that a cow was grazing at the side of the driveway while the meeting was in progress.

Well I can say one thing the picture in my head right now of these people being introduced to Mayor Trainer's dogs certainly put a bit of a different view on how our local politicians conduct County business. I wonder was the cow a milking cow?

Now Mayor Trainer at this point in the meeting took a stand and basically said to Councillor Grice;

You can choose the meeting location when you become mayor, but that "this is my style...I go with my style."

Grice said it was inappropriate to hold the meeting at a council member's home and said it should have been held inside council chambers in Cayuga, or at another county location. Boyko said the deputy minister was pleased to meet at the dining room table, a different setting compared to the norm, and found Grice's comments "disturbing. "That wasn't the sentiment, Grice asserted."What do you expect them to say?"

I totally agree with Councillor Grice on this one. Exactly what kind of meeting was this? Where was the rest of Council? Bill Jackson doesn't say in the article what this meeting was about, or what was talked about at this meeting. In my opinion County business needs to be done in a business setting, especially when you consider this was not a meeting of a "private company" this was a meeting concerning "County business".

Councillor Sloat stated publicly that he could care less if the meeting was in a tent and called Grice's comments trivial and almost Insulting. However Grice stood his ground and said both Sloat and Boyko initially asked the mayor to have the meeting in an office setting. Now you have to remember that this was being discussed at a council meeting and obviously Sloat and Boyko were not expecting Grice to clarify in public what their initial comments were, and I am sure their initial stand was not stated publicly.

Grice continued on and makes the following statement;

"She has to have it at her house because it's grandma day. That is unprofessional and does not put us in a good light with counterparts at the provincial level. If you want respect you've got to give respect, whether or not you like the Party or not..."

Now apparently Councillor Delimonte never made any comments until after the Council meeting was over. Delimonte agreed with Grice but never made a comment publicly, instead he made this comment to Bill Jackson after the meeting was over;

Councillor Tony Dalimonte said he agreed with Grice. The business of the municipality should be held at the municipality, it's as simple as that," he said."There's no issue more serious right now than credibility at the provincial level."

So I wonder why Councillor Dalimonte didn't stand up for Grice in public?

I for one will say "Kudo's" to Councillor Grice for standing up and saying what some of us are thinking right now! In my opinion Grice is totally bang on!