> West Lincoln Fire Dept. hosts drive-thru food drive Saturday /Pg 4 > Grimsby votes provide accountability: Ombudsman Pg 5 > Lincoln Rotary comes through for CCWN Pg 6 > WL roundabout/Leisureplex vandalized Pg 7 Thursday, December 10, 2020 Vol. 9 Issue 34
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No silent night here!
Nobody knew how it would go or what to expect, but they do now. Grimsby’s attempt to continue a 60-plus year tradition with a “reverse” parade went off seamlessly on Saturday. It entertained thousands, got
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Santa out of the house and the Grimsby firefighters’ food drive for Grimsby Benevolent Fund had its biggest year by far. Please turn to Pages 8-9 for more coverage. Williscraft - Photo
Grimsby IC complaint process referred to staff By Mike Williscraft NewsNow A change to Grimsby council’s code of conduct intended to stifle frivolous Integrity Commissioner complaints got sidetracked Monday night. Coun. John Dunstall, who initially voted in favour of Coun. Lianne Vardy’s motion at Committee of the Whole, had second thoughts on the motion which would have made the names of complainants public. With this council’s tenure at the two-year mark, the only complaints received by the IC have been levied by members of council. Zero complaints have come from the public.
On this matter, Dunstall broke from his regular voting group - as has been noted by IC Charles Harnick. Monday he introduced an amendment which would have allowed the names of members of the public to remain confidential, should they choose. Vardy’s view was simple, in any court, the name of an accuser is public knowledge and IC complaints should not be any different. Generally, many members of council agreed that a councillor’s name should be public if they file a complaint against another councillor. Instead of supporting the initial mo-
tion or the amended version, council opted to refer it to staff to have its impact on the Town’s code of conduct assessed with a report pending. Coun. Kevin Ritchie, who wanted no part of names being attached to complaints, called the Town’s code of conduct a working document when it was first approved early in 2020, but he was reluctant to approve any changes now. While Ritchie noted a review and changes were just done in October, he said council should not be changing directions given by Harnick, who conducted that review. Mayor Jeff Jordan said tinker-
ing with administrative bylaws is not uncommon and pointed out to Ritchie that council did exactly that - tailoring Harnick’s recommendations to suit its needs during the meeting at which they were passed. The issues with council turmoil are serious, accusations of lying and bullying are common and - as Coun. Reg Freake noted, some could be considered criminal - they have all on edge. At one point Monday, Ritchie raised a point of order and objected to Vardy making accusations. However, Vardy had not named any councillor in her comments.