Disappointed with council’s treatment of mayor
Sir: I'm at a loss for words to describe how disappointed I am with Sarnia City Council.
The very people that were elected by the general public (including me) and whose salaries are paid by the general public (including me).
What I saw at the June 28 council meeting was one of "all of us against him." Well, good for them.
One councillor described a "toxic" work environment. I suggest she read the dictionary description of the word "toxic." I'm not aware of our Mayor feeding poison to anyone.
I worked in local industry offices for 30 years. I worked in some wonderful environments as well as some “toxic” environments, to use Coun. Gillis' description.
Yet, I'm not aware of any effective "workplace resolution systems," as described by Coun. Mike Kelch.
There are always disagreements on the best methods to solve a problem. In a perfect world, no one would ever lose their patience or be nasty. But, I haven't experienced a perfect world. Have you?
Doesn’t the Bible say, let he who is blameless cast the first stone.
Over the 28 years Mike Bradley has been mayor, could one of his friends in City Hall have told him that in their opinion he had crossed the line.
My question is, did he? And how strongly did he cross that line? After the last election, my husband and I talked to one of our new council members. We were told that the new councillors intended to get rid of the older councillors (I'm paraphrasing). What we wanted to hear was that City Hall would be run by people working together for a common cause.
Over the years, if I experienced a problem with our city, I could quickly and easily contact Mike and he would refer my issue to the proper department and the problem was dealt with quickly and efficiently.
Who Ya Gonna Call now that the Integrity Commissioner and City Council have said, loud and clear, that Mike's job is not to solve the problems of voters and taxpayers?
My question is, what is a Mayor's job? Just another vote on council?
Then why call him the Mayor?
Janet MacKey
Sarnia
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Nature trail access being chipped away
Sir: This is in support of Lloyd Marshment’s June 23 letter, ‘Stand up Against Trail Destruction.’
The insidious erosion of trail access and availability to the ordinary citizen was highlighted in a July 07, 2014 article headlined: ‘Trail mix: Why the Watson nature trail is curiously incomplete.’
( https://thesarniajournal.ca/trail-mix-watson-nature-trail-curiously-incomplete/ )
The denial of trail access on the north side of Wellington Street has created a blight and a hazard. The alternate side trail is flood-prone, black-topped (which is starting to fail) and has created a 90-degree blind corner as a biking-pedestrian hazard that is a disgrace as a city-provided alternative.
It would be beneficial if our city elites would negotiate a compromise with the numbered company that owns the old railroad right of way to restore the original straight and level route.
So in summary:
A section of trail north of Wellington has been removed from public use and enjoyment.
A section south of London Road is paved over and in public use (tolerated on sufferance?)
Time is running out for the section north of Exmouth Street and passing under Highway 402.
Our city council is rubber-stamping a horrible decision made many years ago that will destroy and pave over a large portion of this local treasure.
For Shame!
Mike Martin
Sarnia