WILL COUNCIL ADDRESS WOOLWICH'S VACANT SEAT THIS TUESDAY?

Well both the Waterloo Region Record (Tuesday) and the Woolwich Observer (today) have carried articles about the resignation from Woolwich Council by Scott Hahn. I am unaware of any other councillor ever having resigned from Woolwich Council allegedly due to "time constraints". I am aware of councillors outside Woolwich either having died on the job or resigning due to personal sickness or family tragedies. That said I will admit surprise a few years back that Mr. Hahn was running for Council after I learned that he had a full time job AND a very young family. He had every right to run under those circumstances nevertheless this may serve as a warning to future very young individuals who already have extremely tight family commitments.

The Observer have an Editorial today titled "Put public first in filling vacant council seat". It has several good points to make regarding the public interest and asking candidates to be public and community-minded. Their Editorial however makes it clear that they are not impressed with either the majority of the current crop on Council nor with the bureaucrats to whom they too often defer.

Scott Hahn has not done Woolwich Council any favours by resigning now. His actions may well be interpreted as immature somewhat in line with a citizen's Comment in the Observer's on-line version after their story on Scott's resignation. Others may somehow see Scott's last minute resignation as a shot at his former fellow councillors. Scott has now set up Council to fail. Thousands of votes other than for Scott and Pat Merlihan were cast in Ward 1 in 2014 and those voters obviously would like their candidate appointed. At the same time Council understandably would prefer to have a "fellow travellor" on Council with them for the rest of this term and then take their chances during the October election.

I would like Council to carefully look at both what is most appropriate as well as to which appointee will be most defensible and hence most likely not to provoke a strong backlash. This Council have been on the receiving end of serious public criticism over the last three years and heading into an election is not the time to remind the public of past errors on their part.