Original Post Date: 2011-03-03 12:01:09
Dear Editor:
Until the Wingham Free Press threw it’s support behind Bernie Bailey, I didn’t even know he was running for council. The stories, letters and comments on the Free Press persuaded me to vote for Mr. Bailey over Archie.
I told everyone I knew that Bernie was running for council. That was always met with something like “His Mother did an excellent jobâ€, “He’ll get our taxes under control†and more often than not “There is an election coming up?â€.
I am very disappointed with the Wingham Free Press and Mr. Bailey. Your site seems to have given Bernie Bailey a free pass. Bernie has not lived up to his Family name, and has let Wingham down. Recently you posted on your site that the Town Council does not do press releases. Virtually every other Council/Organization jumps at the opportunity to get their message out for free.
It seems that council is against the free flow of information and ideas. The latest thing that has rubbed me the wrong way was the meeting on February 24. I just got my property tax bill on Tuesday, several days after the meeting. In the envelope was a flyer that mentioned that there was a meeting on the 24th of February, it was now March.
Town Council likes to keep people in the dark until the last minute, when it is too late to influence any potential outcome. They only like to tells us what happened, not what is going to happen. I assume this makes their job much easier since there is no debate or public input before a decision is made.
Your site ran an Avner Cartoon that portrayed Mr. Bailey as a super hero that was ready to bring in much needed cuts and sanity to Council. This led to a mini uproar at town hall and Mr. Bailey writing a letter to the Advance Times and the Free Press denying any association with Mr. Bailey. At least that is my understanding of how things progressed.
Since then the Free Press has not held Mr. Bailey accountable for his inaction on Council. Many think that Bernie is too concerned about making $70+/hour fixing appliances than worrying about running our town in an efficient manner.
At the “all candidates meeting†it seemed like every candidate said that communication was one the most important issues. I was unable to attend the meeting, but got to see the hidden camera video of the meeting when it was floating around before the election. I just wish someone had put it on youtube, as I can’t find it now. If anyone has a copy, please put it online so we can count how many times “communication†was mentioned. I remember Bernie running out of time, back then he liked getting his message out.
Now, one rumour flying around town is that we in for a 15% increase in property taxes. If this is true, then Bernie has failed us on a MASSIVE scale. Our council’s level of accountability is just as pathetic as before your site existed. You have the technology, why aren’t you using it? You need to get these councilors on video, especially when they use the foul language they all joked about when they had their inaugural meeting. I thought it was very disrespectful considering the circumstances.
I hope your site will start covering the town hall meetings, I am tired of finding out about things after the fact. If you don’t hold Town Council accountable, then you are as much to blame as the councilor you help get elected.
Judy L.
Wingham