Yesterday, I spoke with someone who had been insulted by our Mayor and didn’t even know it. So, I sent him a copy of the public meeting where it happened.

But the interesting thing is that sometimes when you review a meeting months later, things that were said, suddenly paint a clearer picture.

This was a meeting where the Town was updating us on their plans to have shovels in the ground with FRAM and to introduce us to a new partner “Sunray”.

But, sometimes this is where our Mayor or staff say too much. Watch the whole meeting if you truly want to have a chuckle, but pay close attention to a few points made during the question period. (June 20 at RecPlex).

At one point, there was a question about taxes going up to facilitate the Beach One development:

(OK- I didn’t catch this at the time, but it sounds like they planned to participate in actually funding or participating in the development financially, as they spoke of ROI changing with the real estate market trend. Let’s be clear- It is against the intent of the Municipal Act for a municipality to operate a for profit business or operation.)

(So it sounds like we were actually spending tax payers money that we hoped to recover from profits in this “partnership”. WHAT HAVE WE SPENT SO FAR?)

(At one point it was said that the reason we could not hear more details was because Council was not yet aware of nor had they approved this plan.)

(Well that was a big one. They did get a letter of Intent from Sunray, but talks with the main developer fell apart and after ten years of wasting our time, FRAM walked away. This begs the question; Will Sunray move from a letter of intent to an actual firm contract?)

Now for me the “aha moment” in watching this was their mention of the developments being “joint ventures”. How many story’s of developers in Ontario going bankrupt mid-project have you heard? I have heard plenty.

So… if we are challenging the Municipal Act and actually investing in a development with the new developer, what risk is there to our financial stability as a municipality?

What are the plans (financially) between Sunray, Stonebridge or any other developers they may be talking to behind those constantly closed doors?

I suspect there are some sweet deals in the making. I would hope that details of these deals can have a cooling off period where the actual tax-payers who are funding this circus can object to or applaud the Councils / Staff efforts. Yes… I am saying, we need a “sorry, the people say no” clause.

A quick little addition for consideration. In their ramblings, attempting to sound good, they also compared their efforts to that of the plans of the previous Council.

Mayor Smith said their public space along Beach Drive was going to be 5 to 7 mètres narrower than that proposed by the previous Council. He claimed the reasoning for this was to eliminate the need to expropriate. However, in the most recent Council meeting, an item was on the agenda regarding expropriation of two properties on what the Mayor refers to as “Main Street Proper” (his chosen phrase for the pedestrian mall they hope to open to vehicular traffic).

The more I hear of their plans (even in looking back), the more I realize that we HAVE TO try to stop some of these expensive, poorly thought out actions.

At this point, it really appears that they are pulling straws to give the appearance of success, simply BECAUSE their idol walked away.