w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER W e dn es da y, Ja nu ar y 12 , 2 01 1 6 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 Open 9-5 weekdays, 5-7 for calls only Wed. to Friday, Closed weekends The Oakville Beaver Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. OPINION & LETTERS Letters to the editor The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakville- beaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. On Friday The Oakville Beaver published a front- page story, Mayor and Council office renovations cost $250,000. The story was based on a Freedom of Information request filed by The Oakville Beaver for detailed costs of the renovation of the mayors office and cost of relat- ed furniture for the period 2006-10. Information provided by the Towns Freedom of Information office revealed the Town spent nearly $250,000 during that period most of it in 2007 on those items. Among the more eyebrow-raising expenses were $34,500 to create four pieces of office furniture, $12,430 for roller blinds and $11,348.62 for the mayors board room table. The Beaver first learned of these expenses when it was shown the results of a similar Freedom of Information request after the Oct. 25 municipal elec- tion. That request had been filed prior to the election, but the results were not available until after the elec- tion. Since the person who filed the original request did not want to be named, we chose to file our own request. When we did, the Towns Freedom of Information Office answered the request that day, since the informa- tion was already on file. We are not going to argue the merits or value of the office renovations. We will leave that up to our readers to debate. We published the story because we believe taxpayers have the right to know how their tax money is being spent, especially when politicians are spending it upon themselves. According to Mayor Rob Burton the mayors suite renovations were approved as part of the building budget. Whether intended or not, we believe this allowed the expenses to be approved with little public scrutiny. This was wrong. We believe the mayors suite renovations and office expenses should have been presented to Town Council for approval with a staff report on why they were necessary. Admittedly, this leaves the mayor and councillors open to criticism. There are those in town who begrudge every tax dollar (or penny) elected officials spend, especially on themselves. If their argument is sound, it should withstand any public criticism. As for the politicians, they should be used to criticism it comes with the job. We believe politicians should be prepared to defend their expenditures before they occur, rather than explain themselves two years afterwards. NEIL OLIVER Vice President and Group Publisher of Metroland West DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone 416-340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the con- dition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Letter to the editorBe up front THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: ATHENAAward THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIALMEDIASPONSOR FOR: Recognized for Excellence by Canadian CirculationAudit Board Member Canadian CommunityNewspapers AssociationOntario CommunityNewspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America Catholic board should change policy The Oakville Beaver is a division of Mayors office expenses are trivial ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager SARAH MCSWEENEY Circulation Manager DANIEL COLEMAN Regional Online Sales Manager Editors note: This letter was addressed to Alice Anne LeMay, chair of the Halton District Catholic School board and Oakville trustee. Im saddened to hear that you feel that students do not have the right to form Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) Clubs in your school board. GSAs represent and support students, who face discrimination and harassment based on their perceived or actual sexual identity through peer support and advoca- cy by both straight allies and LGTB youth. They also provide leadership develop- ment and training for students to work towards a more inclusive, discrimination free school system. I was a student in the Halton Catholic District School board my entire primary, intermediate and secondary school years. I know several students who struggled to fit in and faced severe mental health issues because of the stigma associated with not fitting the heterosexual box, who have since come out and are living fulfill- ing lives and are much happier than they were when they were closeted. I truly believe that had an association such as this existed while I was in school at St. Matthew's and Loyola, my peers would have been happier people, with greater comfort in their being, and far more progressive. Not allowing students to provide sup- port for one another, and allowing a club that works to combat bullying and dis- crimination is disgusting and quite frankly, bigoted. Get with the times. JENNIFER BECKER, OTTAWA Your screaming headline about the mayor and council spending $250,000 on office renovations (Oakville Beaver, Jan. 7, 2011) prompts me to voice my opinion on the matter. The Beaver has been well rec- ognized as a leading community paper bluntly, to resort to the Freedom of Information Act to find that, among other things, $31,000 was spent in an 18-month period on architecture fees and furniture suggests that you are trying to make a huge four-page mountain out of something relatively trivial. To compound this by delving into former mayor Ann Mulvale's actions almost 10 years ago is not appropriate. One Freedom of Information item, however, shows a more than $3,500 charge for two barrel chairs for the mayors office when Mulvale was mayor. As you quoted Mayor Burton: If its a story now, why wasnt it a story before? Only one councillor, Ward 5 Councillor Jeff Knoll, is quoted as having any concern about the issue. At a time when Oakville is going to be spending hundreds of mil- lions of dollars on a new hospital, surely we can give council some credit to update premises within established guidelines as it sees fit have you checked out what some businesses pay to ensure their chief executives are in prem- ises that appropriately support their position? Mayor Burton was voted back last October as a sign of the confi- dence of this town. Personally, for you to spend the time and energy to try to look like a big city newspaper on an item as trivial as this makes the Beaver and Oakville look petty. JOHN SPENCER, OAKVILLE