> Grimsby DIA/Town team for Digital Main Street grant /Pg 5 > WLMH has first positive for COVID among staff 3 > Lincoln advances museum board Pg 6 > Main E. Heritage District Study gets support Pg 7 Thursday, October 22, 2020 Vol. 9 Issue 26
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WLMH’s OBS continues erosion With births redirected into January, at least, midwives announce exodus if “24/7 coverage” not re-started
By Mike Williscraft NewsNow While the provincial government has repeated its commitment to have all services restored to full capacity at West Lincoln Memorial Hospital, problems with delays in restoring 24/7 obstetrics services (OBS) are jeopardizing that service, say local officials. At a steering committee meeting last Wednesday, Pilar Chapman of Lincoln Community Midwives an-
nounced via an email her organization would be forced to relocate its service if OBS is not fully restored in January. OBS had been shut down for about a year to allow for operating rooms to be renovated at WLMH, with some level of services coming back online in September. At that time, HHS officials announced OBS would not return at least until January due to nursing shortages. See MIDWIVES, Page 3
Brick Shack of Notre Dame
Jaimie Roser, owner and purveyor of Grimsby’s Brick Shack, has undertaken the tremendous task of building a Lego replica of the world-famous Notre Dame Cathedral. Pictured here is only the first of 10 sections, which weighs 78 lbs. When done, the Lego monument will consist of over 63,000 bricks. Roser is being careful, with all that weight he doesn’t want to be turned into a hunchback. Please see full story on Page 13. Marks - Photo
Coady resigns West Lincoln council seat But council, by virtue of deadlock, refuses to accept, leaving status in limbo By Tristan Marks NewsNow West Lincoln Coun. Christopher Coady resigned his seat last week, but half of the remaining council didn’t want to hear it In the end - by virtue of a 3-3 tie vote - council failed to agree on any direction, voting down a resolution to accept the resignation and a second motion brought by Administration/Finance/Fire Committee chair Coun. Mike Rehner to ask Coady to withdraw his resignation. Coady, who represented Ward 2, tendered his resignation from West Lincoln Council last week. He stated
in his letter that he and his wife decided they would not be returning to Ontario from British Columbia along with apologies for “the additional work” his decision would cause. Rehner opened the discussion for the first resolution by noting that the Township had to deal with a by-election in the previous term. He said it cost West Lincoln a lot to run the byelection, an unexpected cost he would prefer to avoid this time around. “Couldn’t we ask the mayor to contact Councillor Coady and see if he can participate through Zoom?” Rehner asked, later noting that
councillors do not need to be present with the Township’s current operating procedures. Coun. Jason Trombetta asked what the next steps should be in the occurrence of a mid-term resignation from council. Clerk Joanne Scime explained that the town has two main options to filling Coady’s vacancy: • a byelection, which would require a bylaw to be passed within 60 days to initiate the process, or; • by appointment. “The legislation is silent towards appointment,” said Scime referring to the lack of guidelines in the mu-
nicipal act for that option. Coun. William Reilly returned to Coun. Rehner’s suggestion of finding out if Coady was willing to participate in Zoom calls and suggested introducing a motion to do so. He also asked if Bylsma had tried to reach out to Coady. Bylsma answered no, and when asked said he’d rather, “let it be”. “A representative needs to be there for his constituents,” Bylsma said. “It’s paramount to me.” Coun. Rehner had staff confirm that Coady would be able to continue serving, so long as he owned See COADY, Page 4