A seat at the table – updated
Note: This story has been updated to correct the amount the The County’s waterworks department will spend in 2015. It is going to be a busy year, so let’s get right to it. Council is set to approve about $75 million in spending this week. About 76 per cent ($57.2 million) will be used to […]
Arc
My dad worries. He can’t help himself. Long after such an emotion would serve a useful purpose, he continues to worry. There is no good in it now. Yet he worries anyway. I want him to be satisfied. To be at peace with his life. With his family. His friends. I want him to know […]
Face to face
It was a good week. Real questions needing real answers. Honest suggestions. Genuine compromises. Real debate. Budget deliberations tend to make easy soapboxes and easy politics. It’s much harder to do the studious work of reading, absorbing and reflecting upon the eye-watering number of numbers that make up the County budget. That council did so […]
Shine a light
Early last month, two senior administrators of the McFarland Memorial Home were escorted from their offices and out of the building. They were fired two weeks later. “These administrative changes are a result of allegations that were recently raised respecting the general administrative oversight of the H.J. McFarland Memorial Home,” wrote the County’s chief administrative […]
In mourning
It was terribly sad week in Wellington and far beyond. The village had no sooner said farewell to history keeper Reg Bishop when news came that Richard Karlo had passed away. And then Drew MacCandlish. Each of these individuals were immensely passionate about their community. Each worked diligently to preserve and protect it. Their passing […]
The QHC way
And so it begins. Again. Quinte Health Care (QHC) has dug itself another financial hole. And whenever this happens (and, sadly, it happens often) Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital and Trenton Memorial are sacrificed. Limbs are amputated at PECMH and TMH to spare Belleville General Hospital. Eventually, of course, there will be nothing left to […]
A full year
An earthquake rocked the town of Los Andes, Chile on Sunday night. Buildings shook 80 kilometres to the south in San Bernardo. It was the tenth earthquake of at least a 4.2 magnitude to shake central Chile since my daughter, Grace, arrived for a year-long exchange in August. The place is riven with fault lines, […]
Hard truth #2
The issue is trust. It used to be about the appropriate size of council for Prince Edward County. But when nine councillors chose to defy the expressed will of the people and then ignore the recommendation of 23 citizens in the fall of 2013, they fractured the bond between ordinary residents and their elected representatives. […]
Hard truths
There is a new bridge in Demorestville. It is a handsome piece of infrastructure. Smooth, supportive and flat. Smooth, that is, until it rejoins County Road 14. I hadn’t noticed how badly the road between Demorestville and Crofton had deteriorated until I crossed over the smooth, flat surface of the Demorestville bridge. Some places provide […]
Surveying the wreckage
A good friend of mine runs a business in the County. He has done so for 40 years. He showed me his electricity bill last week. In December, he spent $770 on electricity. It was one of the least expensive lines on his bill. The global adjustment charge was $4,267.32. There was also a delivery […]