Initially published in the Alliston Herald on March 26, 2009

The Good: Paul Whiteside has served as the chief financial officer for the Town of New Tecumseth since its creation in 1991. He served in a similar capacity for the Town of Alliston for almost a decade prior to amalgamation. By all accounts Whiteside is hardworking, dedicated and extremely able. Over the years he acquired the reputation of being a vigilant guardian of New Tecumseth tax dollars. Sadly, at Monday's committee of the whole meeting Paul announced his resignation. He will be missed.

Council Quote of the Week: "It's one of the greatest con jobs of the 20th century." - Tottenham Coun. Jim Stone on the promotion of the use of fluoride in public water systems.

Council Quote of the Week No. 2: "You couldn't put this stuff into a dump legally in Canada" - Coun. Stone again speaking of fluoride.

The Bad: In the course of the most recent federal election campaign, Helena Guergis faced questions about the delivery of a four-page newsletter after the election had been called. Initially Guergis claimed that the newsletter had been ready several weeks prior to the election call and that it had not been possible to stop. Closer scrutiny, however, revealed the literature referred to an event that had occurred just two days prior to the election call - a fact that brought the claim of Ms. Guergis, and her credibility, into question.

In response to the scrutiny both Guergis and her campaign manager, Andy Beaudoin, emphasized that the cost of the newsletter would be paid by the Guergis campaign and not with taxpayer dollars.

Several weeks ago Ms. Guergis filed her candidate's electoral campaign return with Elections Canada. The return does not appear to include any reference to the Guergis campaign having made a payment to the Queen's Printer for the cost of the newsletter. Several members of the local media have noticed the same thing and made repeated requests of both Guergis and Beaudoin for clarification.

In particular, they have asked to be directed to the item in the campaign return that reflects payment for the newsletter. The inquiries have apparently been met with silence.

This is indeed peculiar. Surely it would be a simple matter for Guergis (or her campaign manager or Official Agent or other representative) to identify where payment for the newsletter appears on the campaign return. Silence, in this instance, is not golden.

The electorate is entitled to an answer. Has Ms. Guergis honoured her commitment to pay for the newsletter with campaign funds or have we been duped? The failure to address the issue in a direct manner is not acceptable.

The Ugly: The County of Simcoe charges each municipality a levy for waste disposal associated with the single bag of garbage we are permitted each week. New Tecumseth council has elected to collect this levy on an "assessment" basis rather than a "per-unit" basis.

The per-unit method contemplates that the levy is charged only to ratepayers that receive the service and on an equal basis.

In contrast, the assessment basis means that higher assessed homes pay more for their one bag of garbage than lower assessed homes.

Although the County of Simcoe staff has recommended the per-unit charge as being more justifiable, it is a recommendation that has been persistently ignored by New Tecumseth council much to the chagrin of Coun. Dennis Egan.

Evidently all garbage is not created equal - the Previn Court stuff is much more expensive.