Anne Carson

365

Hospital governance shake-up alarms Orillia community leaders

OrilliaMatters

Interesting that Orillia's mayor questions the transparency of the hospital board given his recent actions. Pot, meet kettle.

- Anne Carson

'Deeply saddened': Suspended without answers, baseball coach Jack White confronts old shadows

OrilliaMatters

Wow what a back story this gentleman has. Talk about facing up to and seemingly conquering a lot of challenges in his early life. What a shame to be going through this at this stage in his life. I hope he is able to get back to coaching very soon.

- Anne Carson

CAO fired by Orillia mayor before starting his job 'bewildered' by unexpected termination

OrilliaMatters

Chances are that Amanpreet Singh Sidhu was one of the candidates in the initial recruitment process. I feel bad for him as well, as he will be taking this position under a cloud if distrust and general public feeling that he wasn't the preferred candidate for a very important job.

- Anne Carson

'Vindictive' ban by 'woke' local library follows book club remark

OrilliaMatters

Wow, one assumes staff of a library of all places would understand the importance of free speech. Apparently not in Midland.

- Anne Carson

'He seemed so legitimate': Senior scammed by fake bylaw officer

OrilliaMatters

So, are you suggesting her councillor should not have helped her?

- Anne Carson

COLUMN: Outage leaves thousands feeling powerless 7 days after storm

OrilliaMatters

Read the room Duncan, this is not the time.

- Anne Carson

DELETED

City councillors force special meeting to deal with McIsaac's use of strong mayor powers

OrilliaMatters

The mayor is an agent for the city -- meaning the lawsuit will be against the city, not the mayor personally. Too bad.

- Anne Carson

COLUMN: Outage leaves thousands feeling powerless 7 days after storm

OrilliaMatters

They don't call her PhotoOp Dunlop for nothing!

- Anne Carson

Petition launched to reinstate Trevor Lee as Orillia's CAO

OrilliaMatters

I doubt Lee would be interested in working for Orillia after what happened. He'd still have to work with the mayor for at least the rest of this council's term and also with Amanpreet Singh Sidhu, who has also been put in an unenviable position. Hopefully he gets a LOT of money for this mess, and hopefully the electors remember that the next time they vote, as the mayor is making Orillia look like hillbilly heaven up here.

- Anne Carson

City Hall shakeup aims to save money, improve service: CAO

OrilliaMatters

They just amalgamated a number of departments. That means less staff doing more. Might look good on paper and to get votes but it is actually not necessarily great management -- but hey it's also about votes and good headlines, right? You really think they are going to take on anything else without incurring extra costs for consultants and subject matter experts? Really?

- Anne Carson

CAO fired by Orillia mayor before starting his job 'bewildered' by unexpected termination

OrilliaMatters

It won't be. It will be subject to a confidentiality agreement. They will probably get Lee to sign a non-disclosure agreement in return for a fair payment.

- Anne Carson

Ramara calls on province to rescind 'easy to abuse' strong mayor powers

OrilliaMatters

There should be no SMPs. Municipalities have Multi member councils for a reason. Taxpayers elect the people they deem to be the best representatives in a democratic process. Giving one member of council, even if they are the head of council, stronger powers takes away from the rest of council, and more importantly, it undermines the democratic process. SMPs are nothing more than a vehicle to bypass the democratic process when the mayor cannot get what he or she wants through the proper channels.

- Anne Carson

Local couple says Hydro One delay left them without power for months

OrilliaMatters

Kind of surprised Hydro would suggest someone start a major project when they had just been hit with one of the largest disruptions in this area's history. I wonder who recommended they go underground and whether they gave them any idea of timelines. We have found with ANY utility in this area, that head office will tell you one thing, and the people on actual front lines will actually tell you something completely different in terms of availability and timelines.

- Anne Carson

Petition launched to reinstate Trevor Lee as Orillia's CAO

OrilliaMatters

Or better yet, just get rid of the mayor!

- Anne Carson

Mom of special-needs student calls out public board's 'systemic failures'

OrilliaMatters

We had a child with multiple disabilities who attended school in a different jurisdiction. He required the support of a vision teacher due to cortical blindness. After a couple of years, the school withdrew that support. While the board gave no reason, the teacher told us it was because the priorities of the vision teacher(s) is to teach/work with students who have the cognitive ability to learn Braille. My son did not have that abilitiy so the service was withdrawn. We also encountered the same issues around forms and check boxes, etc., It was ridiculous when your child didn't meet the check box descriptions on the gov't form and you were turned down for support because of that. Our son passed away 12 years ago, in his final year of high school. I would have hoped there would have been some improvements in Ontario's education system when it comes to supporting differently abled children since that time, but sadly it seems that is not the case.

- Anne Carson

Bench policy, downtown parking fees on city council's agenda Monday

OrilliaMatters

I think if a store is worth shopping at, people will be willing to pay to park.

- Anne Carson

Frustrated merchants call for more police presence in downtown Orillia

OrilliaMatters

Time for an Orillia version of the Guardian Angels?

- Anne Carson

CAO fired by Orillia mayor before starting his job 'bewildered' by unexpected termination

OrilliaMatters

Basically equivalent to city manager. It's a big job even in a small municipality.