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Madhunt Publishing Company
Madhunt Publishing Company founded March 22, 1999. New
Tecumseth Free Press Online
All editorials, unless otherwise noted, written by Tony Veltri. New Tecumseth Free Press Online welcomes and reads letters to the editor reflecting the diverse views of all readers. Letters on timely subjects of broad interest will be published. Letters may be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. We do not publish poetry, third-party or anonymous letters, or those signed with a pseudonym. We will however post letters without a name if warranted. For verification purposes, your address and daytime telephone number are required, although we do not publish them. We do not include the writer's email address, unless requested to do so. |
Rants for lack of any social graceGetting fired is only better than being on fire. But if it's gonna happen the deed is like hitting five of six lotto numbers by yourself if the end comes while employed in management by the City of Vaughan. At least that's been the case since April 2002, when then councillor Michael Di Biase was chosen to replace long-time Vaughan mayor Lorna Jackson shortly after her death. He was elected to the post in November. The Toronto Star's York Region bureau, which covers Vaughan council, has in the past two years published a chronicle of senior staff members that have either left since Mr. Di Biase took the helm, or were fired. The number is 10 and the total tab for severance and buyouts is about $1 million according to the Star. Among the more senior people to part ways on her own terms was Terri Caron, the City solicitor and deputy city manager in Vaughan under Ms. Jackson. Her boss, CAO Scott Somerville, was fired in December 2002. His exit package was $500,000. Ms. Caron was not long for life with Mr. Di Biase it turned out. She split, after 20 years for the Town above the Township above the City above Toronto from herein referred to as New Tecumseth. Ms. Caron has been our CAO since June 2002 making less money but still six figures, with benefits and a company minivan. She trail blazed a path to where life in the municipal trenches was a bit less hectic, nonetheless interesting. In from the cold behind her came Vaughan alumnus, Brendan Holly, Senior Manager of Development Transportation Engineering. Here, he is director of building and development, taking less money, but it's believed to be six figures with a company car. We'll know for sure by the end of March when every public institution in Ontario is outed and names and salaries of employees paid over $100,000 are posted. Last year, Ms. Caron displayed a bit of her own killer instinct when then New Tecumseth parks and recreation manager Tom Hodgson was terminated for what can nicely be described as a personality clash. Last May, a third member of the senior Vaughan team was brought in to serve as a consultant slash interim manager of parks and recreation. Joyce Epstein was hired here on a 28 week contract at a cost of between $32,761 and $49,142 based on a 16 to 24 hour work week. Almost a year later, probably at about the same rate which works out to $1,755 per week at top end, Ms. Epstein continues to serve in that capacity. She has reportedly rejected offers to keep the job full-time and soon the Town will embark on locating a replacement. As Vaughan's Director of Recreation and Culture, Ms. Epstein was paid $106,031 plus benefits. So it's not hard to understand or blame her for moving on. Not everyone is interested in trading off lighter workloads and stress for less money. Plus, it's hard to justify paying a full-time recreation manager in New Tecumseth, a six figure salary where other than parks and three ancient arenas, there's little to manage. At her contract rate, Ms. Epstein's take is $91,000 per year. Still high considering retired CAO Sterling Zeran was around that much by the end of his run. So why stick around when there's more to be made as a consultant? Turns out, Ms. Epstein has been waiting for her money from Vaughan. According to a story in this morning's Star, she's "demanding a severance package of $212,000, amid charges of cronyism and favouritism." And the circumstances that ended Ms. Epstein's 15 years with Vaughan are now wide open. The Star got hold of a copy of a letter she sent to Vaughan council last week, that otherwise was supposed to be an incamera personnel matter. It's ugly if true and the Star lays bare several passages from her letter. "Unfortunately, due to Mr. Di Biase's emotional battering, covert anti-Semitism, and threats, the final three years were extremely stressful and disheartening," the Star quotes from her letter. "He has created a poisonous environment that is fraught with cronyism, favouritism and special treatment." WOT? Is she implying Vaughan is run by developers? Why, that would mean good planning principles were ignored while Vaughan went from being a collection of farm fields north of Toronto, to competing for the fastest growing city in Canada title, almost overnight. Scoundrels. Well, Ms. Epstein can take heart in knowing we do things differently around here. There's not a shred of evidence to detect any signs of "cronyism, favouritism and special treatment" in New Tecumseth. Don't believe it? Ask Jim Wilson he'll agree. Larry Keogh probably has an opinion too. When not travelling, George McCague can be reached at his top floor suite overlooking the communities of Green Briar and Briar Hill next to the Nottawasaga Inn.........There is not a bigger friggin mess than the regional sewage treatment plant fiasco in New Tecumseth. Millions of dollars down a shit hole. Literally. And not any closer to a happy ending. Yeah, a softer word would be nice, but not appropriate. Where does it start. The long way touches Charlie Tathum of Tathum and Associates in Collingwood. In 1995, Mr. Tathum, a private sector engineering consultant, performed an Environmental Study Review for the Town on its sewage treatment needs. The Ministry of Environment had earlier commissioned a study on the assimilative capacity of the Nottawasaga River. In other words, how much treated human waste can be dumped back into the river stream while still maintaining acceptable levels of water quality. The Ministry conclusions were never properly scrutinized by many outside of the Ministry of Environment. In the meantime, Mr. Tathum set what today is considered an impossible level of treatment to achieve in his study. That's why Mr. Tathum is named in the $15 million lawsuit New Tecumseth launched against Maple Engineering, the consortium that built the plant. The Town's position is that Mr. Tathum set unrealistic markers on the river and as a result it has and will continue to cost New Tecumseth millions of dollars to engineer a treatment solution. In the meantime, Stantec Consulting, acting on behalf of a desperate municipality, was going back often to the drawing board trying to not only fix the problem, but expand the plant at the same time, more than $3 million later, it seems they were working under the impression that money was no object, just fix the problem. Wrong it turned out. Cost public works director George Degroot his job too and left way too many questions unanswered. Though his landing will be soft as his exit package will probably top $100,000 to go away quietly. Trouble is, the Town still needs a sewage plant to work, one big enough to handle Tottenham and Beeton waste too as the Ministry of Environment wants Tottenham's plant decommissioned. The cost is in the millions just for that fix. Stantec was pulled from the job, but only temporarily it turns out. They have all the information and hiring a new firm now would mean starting from scratch. That would set the Town back a couple of years; a couple of years New Tecumseth can't afford to squander if its to meet its growth targets. Ward 4 councillor Richard Norcross suggested seriously Monday night that Stantec should perform the study modifications for free. "They have been paid a considerable amount of money," he said. It cost $10 million to build a regional plant in 1998 that has never worked properly. More than $3 million has been spent since then on engineering consultants to develop solutions, plus legal costs, and an estimated $2 million on further engineering is estimated. Here's the insult to injury found in a report to council Monday night: "(...) it may actually be more cost effective and efficient to construct a new plant and demolish the existing one." What the f**k, it's only money. |