Vote…

This election in Ajax is still a mountain of boring! Are we going to have an acclamation for Mayor??

Voter turnout is very low and we have people that live in this Town and hand over their taxes for services but can not vote. At the Municipal level there are far more services used on a daily basis and these Citizens(technically Residents) have no voice.

Is this fair ? Why couldn’t a new resident be allowed to vote - in the Municipal level after residing in Canada for a set criteria of time ? I was talking with someone about this issue and I agree.

There are other people that think this way also. What do you think? Ajax is a very diverse community and perhaps the face of our council would be different with more participants in the democratic system, at the Municipal Level.

Perhaps all new residents should withhold their taxes and user fees they pay , then the Municipal sector can feel the impact.

What do you think?

Sorry to have taken so long to make my Sunshine post, here is the link (expand to full window) to the Town of Ajax list, I show the comparison to the previous year you can see it has increased by 10% and again you can see who perhaps is cashing out on Vacation time , the cash goes on the T4 as income. A few new names and some that are no longer on the list. (more…)

Email me your questions that I can incorporate into a candidate questionnaire, I won’t promise every single one but I will read them all. Send them to voicesofajax@hotmail.com , don’t post them to the blog. Thanks. I am taking questions throughout the spring and early summer.

I am not an accountant so please send in your complicated math degree needed tax questions if you want.

Regional focus questions in addition to local focus questions. Your name can go with the question if you would like it to or it can just be added to mine. (more…)

here is a new link on the right side — Durham Region Election Blog. This is a partisan group that has an environmental focus.

I will link to them throughout the election period. They have questions for candidates and a link to each Municipality for candidate responses.

If you are interested in participating on a committee with them, you can contact them through the website.

I am not the press so I can post parts of press releases if I want.

Here is one more release in regards to the quest of Kurtis to have a Youth Council established. (more…)

I was sent this in my email— I am pasting it in as received- no editing by me at all.

_____________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Ajax, ON (July 24, 2009) – Today, Interim Executive Director of the Ajax Youth Council, Kurtis McAleer met with Regional Councillor for Wards 3 & 4, Colleen Jordan at Ajax Town Hall to discuss various different issues regarding youth but mainly stuck to discussing the possibility of an Ajax Youth Council.

The meeting lasted over an hour and a half and McAleer said at some points the meeting did get a bit tense when some pressure was put on the councillor weather she would support it if it came to a recorded vote on council. Councillor Jordan advised McAleer that his best route was to either approach council with the idea which is a formal procedure or to present it to the general government committee where it’s more informal and more open for discussion.

McAleer did say that Councillor Jordan seemed very open to the idea and advised McAleer to prepare something in a letter format to make it more formal and to have something that Councillor’s and other members of the town can read and get a quick outline without having to have non-stop meetings.

McAleer and newly appointed Deputy Executive Director & Youth Engagement Committee Member, Hannah Maracle are expected to attend various town events starting with a youth open house at the Ajax Community Centre on July 27th. McAleer & Maracle are also meeting with Councillor’s Ashby, Dies & Regional Councillor Crawford as well as MPP Dickson & MP Holland. McAleer did email Councillor Brown but has yet to receive a response.

Once Ajax Youth Council Executives finish meetings with all of the Councillor’s they will proceed to meet with the Mayor and go from there weather it be presenting to council, committee or coming up with a different solution. The town currently has a youth engagement committee but the two organizations have a completely different set up, YEC is about getting youth involved with the town and town activates where the AYC is all about getting youth involved in town politics and issues effecting the youth in the town.

-30-
Kurtis McAleer
(905) 550 5371

__________________________________

I emailed the Mayor of Sarnia yesterday and had a response today! , on a holiday even I will add. Sarnia is a City of about 71,149 (2006 Census) people but the Mayor has been in place for 20 years and before that he was involved in Provincial Government, here is his Bio. Here is the final excerpt from lower down on the page. I want to be sure people understand that this Mayor has an extensive background and I don’t even live in his City but he found the time to provide me a response to my question that I was seeking the perspective from someone leading a Council. When I want to know something from a Mayor’s perspective, He seems to be the one I go to! (more…)

I had to read and re-read a report until it hit me , in my thinking, the council has approved bonuses in the range of
3% - 9% however just maybe if you are a citizen reading this report or maybe even a councillor you could have been under the impression that this bonus was only for the Fire Fighters Association. In the report that I link to in the previous post. http://www.townofajax.com/AssetFactory.aspx?did=4770 are the following paragraphs. (more…)

I loved this letter to the editor agreeing with Mr. Baker.

I wonder which way it really goes though, some town’s question the need for a CAO if they have a real hands on Mayor , I think this happened in Brock or some area in North Durham or York.

Does Ajax maybe have a condition of Staff doing what the Mayor wants ?

Do we have a CAO that is under the Mayor’s thumb or do we have a council under the CAO’s thumb ? (more…)

I have been sold to Ward 3 along with Scott Crawford. Option 4A is the preferred plan that Staff had and at the GGC voted for it — I doubt anyone voted no.

I wanted at Large as you know but my second choice was east west split of two wards.

We paid a consultant $5,000 dollars to have the Town go with the choice they more then likely wanted right from the start.

And I was right in my prediction– no one cared since we were not getting a new politician out of the deal.

Joanne and Colleen may want to pay Rennick to take me back?