Before you vote below, please read the entire article.
The Mayor’s duty is to oversee the operation of the corporation of
North Huron, and to uphold the ideals of democracy.
What criteria should be used to determine who the Best or Worst
Mayor in Ontario is?
WFP has picked 5 areas that should be considered when trying to rate
Mayors. Tax rate, efficiency of services delivered, accountability,
transparency and level of professionalism.
Tax Rate:
A low rate means the Mayor is running the corporation
efficiently.
A higher tax rate means the corporation is not being run as
efficiently as other municipalities.
Wingham has the highest, or one of the highest, tax rates in
Ontario. This shows that our Municipality is one of the least
efficient in the entire province. Wingham’s tax rate is double
that of many areas, which means you are paying two times the
property tax you would, if the town was run as efficiently as
surrounding areas.
Efficiency of Services Delivered:
Obviously if we have the highest tax rate in Ontario, we have some
major inefficiencies. Comparing MPMP results clearly shows
which services and departments are to blame. Failure of the
Mayor to address these problems, which would bring our tax rate
inline with the rest of Ontario, shows a lack of leadership and
initiative.
Accountability:
Council, under Neil Vincent’s leadership, abandoned the Code Of
Conduct. Vincent did not demand that Deputy Reeve David Riach
apologize to Mr. Knott for his abuse of power. These two items
clearly show the lack of accountability our council currently
enjoys.
Transparency:
Council attempted to get rid of Press and Public Gallery questions
at Council meetings, and it took about 8 months to get them to
release their email addresses to public. Vincent is now trying
to limit people to two verbal questions per council meeting.
Council has been opposed to broadcasting council meetings online,
and posting the agenda package” on the North Huron website.
It is apparent that increased transparency is not a priority under
Vincent’s leadership.
Level of Professionalism:
Neil Vincent’s yelling at the public
