January 26, 2004


The Mayor
Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula

Attention: Milt McIver

(Hand Delivered at Municipal Office)


Milt,
We would like to know how best to raise any matters affecting the Stokes Bay membership... on an ongoing basis. This is assuming the Municipality does officially recognize the local ratepayer groups have a mandate within the greater community of the Peninsula.

We recognize our ability able to write memos to Council and await a response. We have done this in the past... the last time we received a response from the Clerk... which incidentally was not copied to you or Council but we did understand the reply originated nonetheless from your level. We also, I guess, have the right to appear before Council, with proper notice, etc. We could also ask you or a member of your Council to attend locally for a Q & A session.

Our issues are not many but deserve some discussion and in most cases some closure. For example, the local Ratepayers Association started over a concern with the proposed Greenough Point development, and to this day we are still in the dark over its current status. We should know what you know, other than any “in camera” information. Regarding an apparently related issue... the rebuilding of Tamarac Road, you have not taken the opportunity to update the community on the progress to date and plans and timing for completion. This morning I forwarded an email to Bill Rydall requesting a progress report for an upcoming newsletter. Other subordinate issues, still important to us, are:
  1. time allowed to respond to proposed by-laws (Friday to Monday, or so it seems).
  2. local street lighting and who pays. On this one we respectfully remind you our membership is 5-6 times that of the Stokes Bay Community Centre (Inc). This issue is very simple... can you pay for it and if so will you? If you can but won't pay, why not? $20,000. in banners will buy a lot of street lighting and safety for our citizens.
  3. free dump day... will this become an annual event as all hope it will? If so, what is the process to be?
The above are the lion’s share of current concerns. How can we quickly get these under some discussion and put them to bed? They are the reason for our past attendance at Council meetings, previous letters to you, etc., etc., etc., and finally addressing them will be very helpful for all concerned.

Look forward to hearing your suggestions Milt. Thank you for listening.


Reg Fortune
Secretary, Stokes Bay Ratepayers Association
592-5767
randcfortune@aol.com