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•Th e IFP• H alton H ills, Thursday, O ctober 16, 2014 7 HEATING COOLING BOILERS RADIANT HEAT GAS LINES WATER HEATERS WWW.BROOKS HEATING AND AIR.CA Don't be left in the Cold Install a new Furnace & AC now for only $119/month* and don't pay until Spring 2015 *price based OAC • Truck Accessories • Upholstery • Heavy Equipment Glass •Window Tinting 354 Guelph Street, Georgetown 905-873-1655 We handle all insurance work. Time to Move? Call Derek CallDerek.ca 905-877-8262 Derek Dunphy Sales Representative 7 COMMENT The way we were Knox Presbyterian Church in Georgetown was gutted by fire in 1901. The 1885 church was rebuilt on the corner of Main St. and Church St. File photo A loss for the community Dave Merchant sent in this photo of the Credit River near Norval. Merchant is a retired RCMP officer who enjoys photography and marvels at how pictur- esque our town and sur- roundings are. Got a photo you want to share? Email cgamble@theifp.ca NATURE'S GLORY From our readers Fill issues cross borders It was heartening to see the good turnout at the Thursday, Oct. 2 Bal- linafad Meet the Candidates Night, sponsored by two grassroot groups, Neighbourhood Connections and Citizens Against Fill-Dumping. Im- portant global issues of concern to all residents in the Town of Erin as well as specific issues to rural constituents were clearly defined for all the candi- dates this night. Questions posed by the public at Meet the Candidates Nights have a very important role in exposing issues that not all citizens are aware of. One of the issues that has been heatedly debated throughout this term is conflict of interest regarding council and staff. One that continues to draw attention involves Erin Town Planner Sally Stull and fill. Council's legal counsel advised that there was no conflict of interest despite a strong public perception to the contrary. Le- gally, conflict of interest is fiduciary based. Stull has met that fiduciary criteria. However, by the very na- ture of the term "conflict of interest" it should not and must not only be bound by fiduciary criteria. Integrity must also be a compo- nent governing any conflict of inter- est. Council should define and es- tablish a broader conflict of interest policy for Erin council and staff. As part of the election coverage, I was surprised and shocked to read in the Georgetown Independent and Free Press (Oct. 2, 2014 IFP) an article doc- umenting Halton Hills mayoral can- didate, Sally Stull's interest, efforts and actions to infill on her property in Halton Hills. It is very troubling to read in the IFP, that Erin's Town Planner and the staff responsible for the Town of Erin's Site Alteration Bylaw, Stull has contravened Halton Hills's Site Alter- ation bylaw by importing fill into her property without proper permitting. In November 2012, a Ontario Supe- rior Court of Justice ruled that impor- tation of fill or any other material to the property be stopped until further notice. Only then did Stull's company apply for a variance to the Site Altera- tion Committee in Dec. 2012. In total, Stull has attempted two times, unsuc- cessfully, to acquire a permit. She is to be back in court on this matter in March 2015. Should Stull be responsible for regulating Erin's Site Alteration By- Law? Under the current Erin Site Al- teration Bylaw, she is the "director" delegated with the responsibility to permit, at her discretion, the allow- ance of up to 200 loads of fill into town jurisdiction without council approval. She constantly touts that there has been little use for our Site Alteration Bylaw because no one ap- plies for one and that enforcement is the issue. Like others who sat on the Erin Ad Hoc Committee on Fill, I was very frustrated that our efforts to es- tablish a Site Alteration Committee had little support from Stull or the Committee support staff. She definitely seemed to have a bi- ased view on the effectiveness of such a committee. Transparency, accountability and integrity are crucial characteristics voters must demand of the next Town of Erin council. These attributes must extend to the staff. Erin needs a Code of Conduct that applies to council and staff. Erin needs a Conflict of Interest policy based on fiduciary and integ- rity criteria that is clear, precise and applicable to council and staff. We don't need an integrity officer. Anna Spiteri More letters to the editor