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UR READERS WRITE Thea A case of personal attacks Dear Editor: I find it necessary to respond to the comments attributed to Mayor Gord Krantz and Councillor Wally Hunter in your article of December 18 con- ceming, in my opinion, the abuse by Milton coun- cil of in-camera sessions. I am disturbed with the fact that the mayor and Councillor Hunter were informed in advance of s dmy comments and given the opportunity to respond to thoae comments, but I was not afforded the same courtesy. I was not informed of their statements or allowed to respond in the same arti- cie to their personal attacks againat me. It is a common practice among certain types of politicians that when you cannot defend your posi- tion on an issue you revert to personal attacks against your opponents. That is what Mayor Krantz and Councillor Hunter have chosen to do on this occasion, as did Councillor Challinor in his attacks against Pat Kelly of the Milton Ratepayers Association as reported in the same issue of The Champion. As for this m-camera incident, ail I am trying to do is to get this council to adhere to the Municipal Act pertaining to confidential issues. The act is very clear and the item I raised at council did not meet the criteria as outlined in the act. That is why I brought forward the motion to move this item into open council. Had any mem- ber of council had the guts to second that motion we could have debated my position and those members of council who disagreed with me could have put their arguments forward and debated me in open council. The fact that no one did indicates to me that they knew what we were doing was not correct and they wished to avoid a public debate. If I am wrong and they are ail right as the mayor contested then why did not one of them stand up - ~'~*~I1 b ~1IL/ and debate me in open council on the issue. As for putting the onus on the town clerk, as Mayor Krantz tried to do, the decision on what issues go in camera rests with the chair - in this case the mayor, with the final decision; if contested, to be made by council. The issue which is now public information was not as reported in your article appointments to a committee but radier how much should the munic- ipality pay the citizens who sit on the committee of adjustment. Recently council approved increas- ing the size of the committee as well as more than doubling the amount to be paid each member per meeting. I am not afraid to state in public that I voted against that increase. The taxpayers of Milton have a right to know how the other mem- bers of council voted on this issue and why. I am ready to publicly announce how I have voted on every issue that council has dealt with in camera. I am not afraid to be held accountable by the ratepayers. Are my colleagues ready to do the same? Councillor Hunter has once again accused me of grandstanding, this coming from the councillor who in April brought forward a motion that coun- cillors should agree to take a 30 per cent pay cut. Councillor Hunter knew full well that his motion had no chance of passing yet he brought it forward anyway - now that is grandstanding. As to his reference about dealing with major issues, in Councillor Hunter's view major issues are the Town's reserve fund and 10-year capital budget. As important as these issues are they are not the issues that concem the citizens of Milton on a day-to-day basis. What concems the citizens of Milton are increasing taxes and the continuing decrease in the level of services, increased user fees which are causing many of our citizens to be denied access to town facilities and services, and Miltonians are also concemed about the quality of police, ambulance and fire services. Those are the issues that people speak to me about. Those are the issues I am working on. As for his references to the $100 million pipeline, I do not understand what he meant by that. The pipe is coming. It has been approved unanimously by both the regional and local councils. Councillor Hunter voted in favour of the growth plan the same as I did, so I don't know why he raised that issue. As for Mayor Krantz's reference to my contribu- tion to council, or lack of, let me respond by say- ing, that in order to be a contributing member of council in the mayor's eyes you must first become a member of the 'old boys club' ready to vote the party line regardless of your own opinion. I have no intention of doing that. I will not become sim- ply a rubber stamp for the mayor or any other member of council. For too long this council has gone unchecked and has not been held account- able. That is how we ended up with the Milton Leisure Centre, which loses $500,000 a year, a transit system that loses $300,000 a year, a costly fountain and pond at the High Point Industrial Park that we cannot use, and let us not forget the Martin Street controversy, the fire truck fiasco of last year, and the Mill Pond mess of this year, to name just a few. Rick Malboeuf Halton Regional and Milton councillor Editor's note: We could go back andforthforev- er seeking comment from each party about state- ments of their perceived antagonists. Mr. Malboeufsaid what he said, the others responded. As to his next complaint regarding coverage, the manner in which lie explained the issue at hand to our reporter was as a committee appointment con- troversy. 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