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Alliston, Ontario

Madhunt Publishing Company
founded March 22, 1999.

New Tecumseth Free Press Online
First Posted April 30, 1999

To email: Tony Veltri .

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'Taxpayers take it up the proverbial backside'

Posted September 24, 2012

Ahhh, the old "seamless transition" trick. The term "seamless" in New Tecumseth seems to include getting $50K stuffed into your front and back pockets, the front not large enough to hold it all.

Councillor Richard Norcross laughs and giggles all the way to the bank and taxpayers take it up the proverbial backside.

Who in their right mind would install, at the taxpayers expense, about $750K in lease-hold improvements to build a restaurant that specializes in chicken wings and beer that is only open for eight months of the year, and whose sales projections could only be described as outlandish, absurd, ridiculous and too stupid to even contemplate as having a chance to succeed? Who in their right minds would pony up $750K on sales assumptions that have no bearing with reality?

If it was not obvious in the past it should now be obvious to even the most obtuse of us, that the current and previous council that locked us into the contract with councillor Norcross, have no business acumen and lack even the most basic level of business common sense.

George the window washer would have laughed at this deal. George would have known the taxpayer was going to be screwed on this fiasco.

Did the Town do a study in other small town recreation centres to see if the projected sales of the Hornet's Nest bore any resemblance with reality?

When the mayor and other council members were in attendance at the Hornet's Nest quaffing beer and chewing on chicken wings did they ever do a head count?

Did Town staff ever check the sales receipts of the Hornets Nest and ask this basic question, why the actual sales receipts didn't even come remotely close to the projected sales?

Purely from a business and political viewpoint this mess could have been handled a different way. Council should have offered Mr. Norcross the right to continue to operate the concessions and vending machines then should have told him "under no circumstances are we giving you one red cent of taxpayers money to give up control of the Hornet's Nest and the rights to alcohol and food sales for the entire recreation centre."

Would he have sued the Town? I don't believe so. The guy has a political ego almost as large as the Town debt.

Suing the Town would result in Councillor Norcross quickly becoming Citizen Norcross. Suing the Town would result in no more photos with him and the mayor and no more photos with him and the deputy mayor. No more photos of Norcross in the local papers. Not a chance in hell that's going to happen.

If there were an Olympics for political stupidity, surely New Tecumseth councillors, and Town staff involved in this deal, would be considered gold medal contenders.

Wayne Hutchinson