Collingwood – Page 7 – Scripturient

Yet More Disrespect From Madigan

NB: This is a repost from Dec. 9, 2021. See below. Last year, I wrote about how Councillor Bob “Lapdog” Madigan had behaved in a churlish, misogynistic manner towards female members of council during open council meetings, first in March, 2021, and again in October. But if you thought the boorish Madigan — who, it’s rumoured, plans to run for mayor or deputy mayor next election — could not set the bar any lower in puerile, boorish behaviour, last December he showed his utter disrespect not only to council and staff, but to the entire community he is supposed to represent. ……… click below for more ↓

Power Play Behind Council’s Closed Doors

2022-01-07 2022-01-07 Collingwood / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Saunderson's MPP campaignOne Comment

This is a repost from a draft of the piece posted on Dec 7, 2021: In the Dec. 7 meeting of the Strategic Initiatives Standing Committee, last Tuesday, one of the issues discussed was the replacement of Deputy Mayor Hull during his unexplained absence, as well the “potential” (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) “Mayoral Vacancy” (readers will recall that Mayor Saunderson sloughed off his mayoral responsibilities and his oath of office last January to announce he wanted a better-paying job at Queen’s Park, and since then has practiced the art of flaccidity in office). And underneath that discussion broils the political ambitions ……… click below for more ↓

Heritage District Rules Need Repair

2022-01-07 2022-01-07 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Planning & Policies / Publicity & CommunicationsOne Comment

A November story in CollingwoodToday about a new homeowner who got caught in the quagmire of our heritage district rules underscores the need for a thorough overhaul of the rules, a review of how the district is managed, and serious improvements in how the town and the heritage committee communicate information about the zone to both new and existing property owners. And how they treat homeowners. According to the story in CollingwoodToday, the new owners of a 1930 house on Fourth Street, renovated and painted the building in violation of the district’s rules, but claim they were not fully informed about the requirements of those ……… click below for more ↓

Did Our Mayor Violate Copyright Law?

2021-11-18 2021-11-18 Collingwood / Council / Saunderson's MPP campaignOne Comment

Did our mayor violate Canadian copyright law? And not just once? His “saundersonformpp” website recently had copies of three separate articles from Municipal World magazine about his vendetta (aka his vindictive judicial inquiry). As of yesterday morning (Nov. 17, 2021), they were all on his site. These pieces were not linked to an authorized site: instead, the text of each piece was typed in on Saunderson’s own web pages (this is usually called “pirating”). There was no indication on any that he had permission from MW to reprint these copyright pieces, that he paid any fee to use them, or ……… click below for more ↓

Utter Disrespect for Local Media and Citizens

2021-11-12 2021-11-12 Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Publicity & CommunicationsOne Comment

Recently, CollingwoodToday ran a six-part series asking all members of council to express — without editing or Berman’s censorship “fact-checking” — their thoughts on what they had done on council, what they hoped to do, what challenges they faced, what they thought was their “enduring” legacy (stop laughing!) and whether they planned to run again. Our mayor — who is expected to set an example for council, yet ever fails to do so — showed such disdain for the local media and for the residents who depend on it for local news, that he refused to participate. That’s ironic, given ……… click below for more ↓

An Exercise in Hypocrisy

2021-11-06 2021-11-06 Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / EntitlementLeave a comment

A story in CollingwoodToday is titled, Collingwood residents asked to add to council code of conduct. It suggests the town (aka council) is looking for public input into the always-changing, always-ignored Code of Conduct. Yes, I know what you’re thinking when you read that story’s headline. Stop laughing. As if this council would ever pay any attention to public input. Or would heed any rules, codes, protocols, regulations or anything else that crimps their style or gets in the way of their ambition. This has always been a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do council. The story notes without a trace of irony: After the ……… click below for more ↓

Our Council’s Reprehensible Greed

2021-11-03 2021-11-03 Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / deception & secrecy / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ineptitude and bungling / Planning & Policies / Taxes2 Comments

Our council’s sense of entitlement again came to light this week. A report from a consultant tabled in the Nov.1 meeting of the Strategic Initiatives Standing Committee recommends that the mayor receive a 9.5% increase, while councillors get a 5% increase (page five of the report). Nine-point-five percent? Who gets a raise like that these days? Even five percent is over the top. The justification for this egregious salary boost is stated in the report: Remuneration traditionally is intended to provide some form of compensation to recognize the time commitment required to meet the needs of constituents and apply municipal ……… click below for more ↓

Mayor and Council: Absque Verecundia

2021-10-30 2021-10-30 Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour2 Comments

The same year Columbus set sail west for unknown lands, Sir John Kendal received a stern admonition in writing from the council of King Henry VII, of which he was part. The reproof, written in Latin, was for publishing self-serving documents meant to promote his goal to be appointed prior of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in England. He put his own ambitions above his responsibilities to the realm. Sounds like a few local politicians, doesn’t it? The chastising document described Kendal’s behaviour as “absque verecundia” which meant “without shame, shameless, lacking respect.” The word verecundia also means ……… click below for more ↓

Petitioning Mayor Saunderson to Actually Act Like a Mayor

2021-10-27 2021-10-27 Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour / Ineptitude and bungling5 Comments

There’s a petition being shared online that calls on Mayor Brian Saunderson to actually do his job as head of council and discipline the misbehaving Councillor Madigan. You can read my post about Madigan’s behaviour here, and download a PDF copy of the petition here (or download a Word version here). I doubt he will heed it, but I admire the sentiment. After all, Saunderson has yet to show he actually cares about his role as mayor or even about the community he was elected to lead. And his favourite, Madigan, has been acting puerile for too long to change. ……… click below for more ↓

How Can Anyone Afford a New House Here?

2021-10-25 2021-10-25 Collingwood / Musings / TaxesOne Comment

My sources suggest that a local retailer recently bought the Blue Shores house shown on the right, paying more than $100,000 over the asking price, for a total of $1.15 million By my standards, that’s a helluva lot of money. Where would anyone working in retail get the funds to buy and maintain a home that sold for that much? I did some rough calculations. The minimum down-payment for a house selling at more than $1 million requires a $230,000 (20%) down-payment, plus another $19,000 in land transfer tax, legal fees of around $1,000, plus title insurance of $1,150, you’d ……… click below for more ↓

Why is Our Mayor Being Sued?

2021-10-21 2021-10-21 Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / deception & secrecy / Entitlement / Saunderson's MPP campaignLeave a comment

Ontario civil court records found online show our Mayor, Brian Saunderson, is listed as the first defendant in a recent lawsuit, along with his allegedly former employers. The lawsuit is for $150,000 and was filed Sept. 17, 2019. The plaintiff is Grand Mortgage Investment Corporation, which the Financial Services Registry Authority office shows has a local office at 192 First Street, in Collingwood, with John Dopp listed as the mortgage administrator. M. Christopher Diamond, of DiamondPantel LLP, is listed as the company’s legal representative. I have not yet found other details about the lawsuit, or why Saunderson is the only ……… click below for more ↓

More Disrespect From Madigan

2021-10-19 2021-10-19 Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement4 Comments

After my last post, I was informed about a similar incident of disrespectful behaviour during a previous public council meeting this year. It’s also by Councillor Bob “Lapdog” Madigan. And again his disrespect is again aimed towards female council members. Are you seeing a trend here? And why are local media silent about what seems to be abusive behaviour? The meeting was held March 15, 2021, and the discussion in question was about spending taxpayers’ money to create yet more work for staff on Saunderson’s Vindictive Judicial Inquiry (the SVJI) and his vendetta against people who thwarted his personal ambitions ……… click below for more ↓

Bad Behaviour, Disrespect in Council Meetings

2021-10-18 2021-10-18 Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Legal issues / Saunderson's MPP campaign / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry2 Comments

There’s a video clip being shared on social media from the “special” meeting of the Strategic Initiatives Standing Committee Agenda, on Thursday, October 14, 2021 (full video here). It shows a dishevelled Councillor Bob “Lapdog” Madigan in the upper right corner of the screen. It’s worth watching to see how poorly some of our councillors treat their role and their office. The meeting was held to continue the discussions on the judicial report’s recommendations that councillors should disclose their personal financial relations and holdings when elected. Seems many on council (and some staff) think they know better than the judge ……… click below for more ↓

What is Council Trying to Hide?

2021-10-08 2021-10-08 Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Legal issues2 Comments

In an article in CollingwoodToday titled 18 simple rules? Council receives draft of new Code of Conduct, we learn that council is looking to update and revise its current Code of Conduct. Again. The article says, A new set of 18 rules aims to help town councillors navigate the sometimes-complicated situations they may find themselves in through their public service roles. You’d almost think it was a good thing when the article adds that the proposed code “seeks to incorporate recommendations to tighten up and clarify the rules for councillors, members of committees and local boards based on recommendations out ……… click below for more ↓

Council Considers Possibly Thinking About Maybe Doing Something Important Sometime in the Future

2021-10-07 2021-10-07 Collingwood / Council / COVID-19 responses / Ineptitude and bungling / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

We’re almost two years into an ongoing pandemic, yet all the lessons learned in jurisdictions worldwide about vaccinations and public safety have apparently simply drifted past our inept and gormless council. People are still getting ill and dying even in our own community, but our council is sort-of thinking about possibly sometime maybe in the future considering the potential to discuss the likelihood of looking at having a municipal vaccination policy. Or not to have one. And maybe they’ll even think about discussing the possibility of the likelihood of perhaps doing it before the pandemic ends. According to a recent ……… click below for more ↓