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st councillors debate citizens committee tribune december 18 1991 p3 sal bommarito staff reporter councillors agree two new citizens advisory committees should be formed but they disagree about the amount of power they should wield council in committee approved the terms of reference for the creation of the citizens program evaluation committee and the kettle lake advisory board at its meeting tuesday evening but some councillors feel the terms dont go far enough in allowing committees to do their jobs effectively we have to make sure these are not cookies and tea type of groups this has the potential to put the spirit of council behind it we cant start putting roadblocks up for hot issues said ward 6 councillor ken prentice councillors also approved some new terms of reference for the existing economic development advisory committee although there was some disagreement on how many members of the public can sit on the commit tee it was finally decided the committee will consist of 12 members two members of council two members of the chamber of commerce two members of the bia three members of the public one member of the real estate community the director of planning and the town chief administra tion officer councillors also agreed to expand the committees mandate to include institutional economic growth the committee is already responsible for promoting industrial and commercial economic growth in terms of marketing the town for institutional uses there should be one common voice said prentice we must make the economic development committee a viable market ing tool said ward 5 councillor bob ancheril we need the representation of the public oh committee said ward 2 councillor stephen bellerby if you add too many members the committee becomes unwieldy said chief administration officer bob panizza the two new citizens advisory committees will consist of seven mem bers respectively two members of council and five members of the gener al public prentice argued that members of the committees should have unrestrict ed access to town records but panizza said that access is limited by the freedom of information act the freedom of information act permits public access but not in the case of personnel or litigation involving the town thecbmmittees are formed to look at effectiveness of programs and costs of those programs not personnel he said i think thats a matter for committees to decide where inefficiencies exist said prentice also under the act if a third party is involved they must be notified before any document is made public added panizza ancheril agreed the committees should be as autonomous as possible when the public doesnt have the power then were just creating com mittees for the sake of it said ancheril ancheril along with ward 1 councillor ivanka bradley believes it should be made easier for members of the general public to get on town committees some who sat on committees in the past are hurt by the application form they have to fill out to get on committees said bradley sounds ofsdss photosjoerd wmeveen the stouffville district secondary school senior band played a host of christmas favorites last wednesday at the schools annu al christmas concert here the band prepares to play another carol the concert always draws a large crowd of music lovers track chair angered by town sal bommarito staff reporter the chairman of the towns track committee has spoken out against comments stating the committee grossly overspent its budget ged stonehouse said the volun teer committee shouldnt be held responsible for what the town per ceives as a 70000 deficit when in reality a shortfall in fundraising is to blame we take the blame for the 50000 we didnt raise said stonehouse but comments the committee was somehow responsi ble for the deficit are untrue he said the issue came before the coun- wayne emmerson looks to 1994 from page 1 defeated ward 6 contender jim sanders emmerson contended emmerson also complained of unfair treatment at the hands of cable 10 classicom were not through with them yethe said adding that he intended to file a grievance with the canadian radio and television commission crtc against the station emmerson lyons and hakonson all expressed their feelings that staff had improperly trained for the han dling of the election and hoped the situation would be rectified in the future an advanced poll ballot box purchased from the same company which provides the town with its boxes was shown to be extremely easy to open from the bot tom by emmerson r lyons said he had seen one box fly open at one ward 2 polling station emmerson said he would be asking for copies of who voted along with a statement from the chief electoral officer regarding lost and destroyed ballots he said that under the municipal elections act he was legally entitled to this information 90 days after the election were not saying anything was done wrong said emmerson we just want to look into it for the good of the municipality emmerson said he was looking forward to 1994 the year of the next municipal election but felt there would be a lingering uncertainty about the vote just cast its done they denied it the request for a recount but there will always be that shadow of doubt hanging over it backroom meeting defended from page 1 parkway hotel in richmond hill the meeting which was originally scheduled to take place behind closed doors was opened to the media after some regional council lors opposed having a secret meet ing markham councillor gord lan- don who organized the meeting along with fellow regional council lor frank scarpitti said the meeting was simply an information session so new councillors could become acquainted with the candidates the three challengers along with king were given equal opportunity to out line their teasons for seeking the chairmans job thirteen out of 16 regional councillors were present at the meeting landon defended the decision to originally have the meet ing behind closed doors we tried to have a regional cau cus meet the candidates it was the opinion not to have the press there said landon but featherstonhaugh said the meeting was kind of haphazard there could have been another one or two candidates that werent aware there was a meeting the idea was good but it didnt come off cil in committee last week because of two outstanding invoices in the amount of 14537 for grading and fencing councillors reluctantly approved the payment of the invoices but stonehouse said the recession and lack of corporate donations are to blame for the deficit not any bad judgement on the part of the com mittee we were hammered on the fundraising said stonehouse adding only 15000 was raised from corporate and private dona tions the committee had budgeted for 55000 in corporate and pri vate donations he said if not for the shortfall in fundrais ing the project would have come in well under budget stonehouse said he said extras which were added to the project are to blame for some of the overspending we did extremely well its the first major construction project in town which has come in within budget he said stonehouse also blamed delays in the project caused by the school board which added 30000 to the cost of the project the gst which came in last january also added to the cost he said he said comments by some mem bers of town staff have made things look as bad as possible the comments make it look like we were trying to cheat the mmmmmmmmmmmifimmvimfmmmmmmr town said stonehouse some councillors also expressed surprise construction of the tennis courts at the facility went ahead without coming back for council approval the cost of the tennis courts was 45630 a report from the towns treasury department presented at the council in committee meeting last week states the tennis courts were con structed without the funds being in place the agreement stated that the tennis courts would not be con structed until all other components of the project were completed and enough funds raised in excess of the costs to fund the track the report states but stonehouse said the committee decided to have the tennis courts and the track builtas a whole unit because the overall cost resulted in a savings to the town the tennis courts would have cost 200000 we built it for 45000 said stonehouse the total budget for the facility was 450000 according to the treasurers report with york region board of education kicking in 125000 andihe town 149000 for the track and lights the rest of the budget consists of a contribu tion from the localsoccer club of 20000 which the town has received and 156000 from fundraising stouffville lions helping area needy stouffville lions club is hoping to make it a festive christmas season for needy families in the area dona tions of toys gifts or nonperishable food items for the clubs annual christmas donation project can be dropped off for distribution at bir- kett hasard insurance brokers ltd 6262 main st family trust real estate stouffville place mall 5710 main st markhamstouffville community credit union 6245 main street and the bank of nova scotia 6323 main st for more information call tim rochacewich chairman of the clubs health and social services committee at 640- 4588 or 3435971 kids earn extra money become a carrier today call 6402100 stouffville 8529741 uxbridge or 2948244 markham attention flyer advertisers we can deliver your flyers for as little as 4 a piece so far this year we have delivered 29863737 flyers door- todoor in markham unionville milliken stouflville i uxbridge claremont dickson hill locust hill gcrmley goodwood victoria square brougham whitevale rrs markham unionville we can deliveryour flyers on the day you want to the area you want any quantity from 5000 to 46000 call advertising at 6402100 6402874 8529741 or 2942200 distribution at 6402100 8529741 or 2948244 ummuiwwumiw inserts for wed dec 1891 bargain harolds shoppers drug mart woolco brewers retail big v pharmacy zellers aikens pharmacy john vince foods shops on steeles- selected areas 4 1 t ik j4 4mw iwgrmpr i 1 f t t ttulw t mmhivvr mrvjr ltiy j 5jw iitrb i j ju tivi j