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Volume 73, Number 18 GST Included $1.25 Wednesday May 5, 2010 Newcastle Town Hall Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 Agreement No. 40012366 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 Round two: Jim vs. Jim Mayor Jim Abernethy says he will not be apologizing to Jim Richards for cutting short his delegation at last Monday's public meeting. Last week when Richards referred to the current Regional Chair as a "bully," the Mayor cut him off and asked him to rescind the comment. When Richards refused, the Mayor would not let him finish his presentation. As the Mayor, Abernethy is the person charged with upholding Clarington's Procedural By-law, he said, so he could not allow anyone to speak disrespectfully of any person in the council chambers. Two year ago, Richards was banned from speaking at council meetings for using the same word to describe Regional Chair Roger Anderson. He was later re-instated following a letter sent to Council from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association which said citizens should not be sanctioned for criticizing the way officials discharge their duties, or for the use of terms such as "bully." At this week's committee meeting, Richards said that shutting him down for expressing his opinion that the current Chair is a bully is contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. "You may not like the message, but you cannot interpret the law to suit your own purposes," Richards told the Mayor. Richards explained his definition of a "bully" as when one person or group exerts their authority over persons they deem to be of lesser stature. "When that happens repeatedly, that is bullying." Councillor Adrian Foster said he recognized the need to maintain decorum in the council chambers, but speculated on the need for some flexibility. "I wonder if we need to pick our line in the sand a little more carefully," he said. Foster suggested that he would not be cut short if he had called the leader of North Korea or Stalin a bully in the council chambers. In discussing Richards' presentation, most Councillors took the view that the Mayor was within his rights to shut him down last week because he had strayed from the topic of his delegation. The public meeting was held to seek input on the proposed referendum question for this fall's APOLOGY see page 3 Jeff Woodbeck says a sharp kitchen knife works the best, as he pulls dandelions on the corner of Church and Emily Street in Newcastle on Friday morning. Many residents are resorting to manual weed control now that the cosmetic use of pesticides has been banned. What's Inside Clarington to appoint Compliance Audit Committee Clarington is in the process of establishing a Compliance Audit Committee in time for this fall's municipal election. Compliance audits have been a contentious issue for this current council. Following the 2006 municipal election, compliance audits were requested for the campaign expense reports of Mayor Jim Abernethy and defeated Mayor John Mutton. The appointment of an Audit Committee will remove audit requests from the political arena, where councillors are often required to sit in judgment of their peers. As in the past, requests for a compliance audit shall be made to the Municipal Clerk in writing and shall set out the reasons for the elector's belief that the candidate has contravened the Municipal Elections Act. Rather than having council deal with the request, the clerk will now be required to forward the request to the Audit Committee. The Committee has 30 days to make a decision on whether or not an audit should be granted or not. If the request is approved, it will then be up to the committee to appoint an auditor to conduct the compliance audit. Within 10 days of receiving the auditor's report, the Committee shall commence legal proceedings if the candidate appears to have contravened the Municipal Elections Act relating to campaign finances. COMPLIANCE see page 3 See page 5.