In what other sector of society do the employees sequester themselves in a room and then emerge to inform their employers that they have given themselves obscene pay increases?

Mayor Adams states the information in the consultants report (how much did that cost us?) is confidential information, but anyone of us can phone or email any municipality in Ontario and find out how much they are paying the Mayor and Members of Council, so where is the confidentiality issue?

We need people to serve on Council who are genuinely interested in making our town a good place to live and work, with monetary gains of least concern.

Consider the free time given all the volunteers who helped put the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and members of Council office. This is after all a parttime job with an optional, excellent benefit package plus the extra money they can earn for every committee meeting they attend.

How many people in Orangeville make $50,000 a year in FULL time job?

Concerned Citizens of

Orangeville

- - o- -

It appears that Mayor Rob Adams and members of Council live in some sort of fantasyland. With a selfappointed 61% pay increase at a time when the global economy is heading for destruction, I have to ask "What are you thinking?"

I most certainly agree with Mayor Adams' statement that we need to attract qualified people as members of Council, individuals who will take their elected positions seriously and work to the best of their abilities in the best interest of our community. Unfortunately, those of us who did not choose to elect these current officials already know that they were not suitable candidates for these positions in the first place, and if I understand Mayor Adams' statement correctly, he thinks so too!

For those residents of Orangeville who made their way to the voting polls on November 13th, 2006 to cast your vote for our current heads of Council, you must be very proud that on January 1st, 2009, when these pay raises are implemented, your chosen elected officials are finally going to become "qualified" personnel. Perhaps we should have a ceremonial celebration, complete with graduation gowns, caps and tassels to honour our newly qualified members of Council. It also may be appropriate to have an oversized ribbon for Mayor Adams to cut, symbolizing our new and improved Mayor and Council as we move forward, leaving behind our poorly unqualified, inadequate officials. After all, Mayor Adams did quote by saying "We want to have good staff and good people on our council that can improve the Town's financial position."

I can only imagine the sheer excitement of those of you who voted for the current members of council rejoicing in jubilation as you tap dance on the kitchen floor uttering "Hallelujah - with a 61% pay increase, we are finally going to balance our books."

For those of us who did not vote for these elected officials, we have been patiently waiting for two years to see promises emerge that were issued to us back on the campaign trail. I don't recall any member of Council knocking on my door requesting my support that if elected, would increase their salary by 61% half way through their term - maybe, I missed that part!

To my knowledge, the current positions on Council are designated as Permanent Part-time positions are therefore the existing salaries are rated accordingly. Should members of Council wish to change the designation of these positions to Permanent Full-time, a responsible government would vote publicly on this issue, at a regularly scheduled Council meeting to mandate the change of these positions for the next term of Council. Then, and only then, would salaries be discussed, compared and adjusted accordingly.

I envision the exhilaration that must have filled the Council Chamber after these increases were passed by our wonderful officials as they dance freely around the Council table singing the old Trooper song "We're here for a good time . . . not a long time." What a special moment this must have been for them! Mayor Adams and members of Council, if you really want to impress the residents of Orangeville, publicly announce that your comments made were simply a little pre-Hallowe'en joke and that what you actually meant to say was that you are going to decrease our taxes by 61%! Now, that would be impressive!!

Orangeville's tax base is primarily comprised of a residential component, as we do not have industry to offset these rising costs. Anyone who lives in Orangeville can clearly see the construction of new homes, townhouses and condominiums being developed in various pockets throughout our community - but are we balancing that development with industrial development? Of course not - and why is that? It's because we no longer have adequate acreage for employment lands and therefore our residential taxes will continue to increase to support government spending.

Perhaps Mayor Adams and members of Council, now that they are officially qualified, could begin to do the job they were elected to do two years ago and creatively design a plan that would attract new business to our community, cut wasteful spending and make our government more accountable and transparent.

On a positive note, we should be very thankful that Council chose not to vote to purchase seven new personal security trucks to transport their new found riches, although this notion may be premature as it could be slated as a line item in the 2010 budget - their final term of Council.

It's time all residents of Orangeville take a stand and stop believing that these elected officials cab get away with anything they so choose to.

Making decisions behind closed doors, not producing the necessary documentation to substantiate these decisions, padding their own wallets in a time when out economy and our own Town is in financial trouble, is utterly deplorable and must be stopped!

This, my fellow residents, is political corruption at its finest! As a democratic society, we all have the right to speak out loud and clear and let these members of Council know this practice will not be tolerated.

Obviously, we have now been informed that without this pay increase, we will have incompetent Council members sitting around the table for the remaining two years. Personally, I believe that if these individuals do not feel they are suitable to retain these positions for the remainder of the term, they should step down gracefully and WE, the residents of Orangeville will elect more suitable candidates to perform these job functions - at the salary rate established back on November 13, 2006.

Mistakes can be forgiven, ignorance can not!
Julia Jordan
Orangeville