> Support your fave local business, vote in Best in The West /Pg 9 > Peach Kings home for Game 4 on Friday Pg 3 > After 100 years, Merritt Funeral Home changes family hands Pg 10 > Photo discovery unearths war hero Pg 7 Thursday, April 28, 2022 Vol. 10 Issue 52
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Ombudsman-raised issue goes back to IC By Mike Williscraft NewsNow Deuces were wild at Monday night’s Grimsby council meeting called to review Ombudsman Ontario office reports deferred from April 18’s meeting. There were two reports on the table. There were two sides to the debate on each item with two distinctly differing views from the same councillors on issues with similar transparency and accountability themes. The debate lasted just over two hours. Among several moves, council voted to send one matter to the Town’s Integrity Commissioner and, on another issue, a written update from the Town’s banking institution will be requested to clear up issues when a threeweek gap in having an authorized signing authority occurred after director of finance Steven Gruninger was terminated by current CAO Harry Schlange. One report on the agenda was penned by Ombudsman Paul Dubé, dealing with five different concerns filed
with his office after a 5-4 council vote in support of the move. The topics stemmed from changes made with staff in early 2019 just after council was installed following the 2018 municipal election. Issues include: • Administrative issues at February 2019 meeting at which council opted to terminate then-CAO Derik Brandt; • During the period when the Town had no CAO, the clerk at that time, Hazel Soady Easton was offered a retirement package without council’s approval; • an allegation of a conflict of interest regarding the hiring of a lawyer, and; • concerns about billings from an external lawyer and a breach of the Town’s Code of Conduct. Dubé’s report noted none of the issues he reviewed required further investigation or review. He noted the matters he researched were nothing more than administrative matters. He suggested some procedural reviews and OMBUDSMAN, Page 4
Well played!
Dylan Pilot, 7, and brother Tyler, 10, teamed up to make a presentation to West Lincoln Twp. council last week suggesting the municipality create a Citizen and Youth Citizen of The Year award. The efforts further their goals of badges with their 1st Beamsville Scouting group. See Page 6 for details. Williscraft - Photo
25-plus years in the making
WLMH groundbreaking Saturday By Mike Williscraft NewsNow The “unsinkable” West Lincoln Memorial Hospital will record a day in its history this Saturday dreamed of for decades and one many thought would never happen – the official groundbreaking of the new rebuild. While details are being ironed out and final details are being processed, the Ministry of Health has
notified Hamilton Health Sciences it can proceed with the groundbreaking ceremony. Plans call for an invite-only crowd of about 100 to be on hand at WLMH Saturday from 10 a.m.-Noon. Aaron Levo, vice-president, communications, said the event is being planned to minimize the impact to the ongoing operation of the hospital. EllisDon Infrastructure Health-
care was awarded the construction contract in late March. When the project was first set in motion in the mid-1990s the newbuild budget was about $48 million. When the current process was started by the Ford government, the budget was projected at $180 million. It bumped up to $200-plus million at one point and, with COVID issues, the dust settled at about $278 million in total.