PelhamToday received the following letter to the editor on a range of municipal issues:
I just read the council report in Friday's PelhamToday. The non-union staff are getting a raise to 60th from the 55th percentile, whatever that amounts to. Seems the Mayor is in full agreement as this will stop a revolving door employment situation.
I also read about the arches. Another possible $25,000 (deferred) on top of the $6000 already spent to secure them and a recommendation to remove the cladding to help mitigate the possibility of the arches taking flight and crashing into Town Hall.
I then switched over to the financial news and read about the tariffs that have arrived. 25% on everything but energy at 10%. Job losses in the hundreds of thousands according to Premier Ford. GDP down 3-4% according to the banks. There are warnings of hard times from the Prime Minister as well.
After I read these two reports it became clear that the Town is being managed by people who don't seem to be aware of the world around them. They defer spending on the arches, which I personally avoid being near on a windy day. They didn't think to defer pay raises for non-union staff. Maybe they think these pending job losses don't apply to Pelham. Maybe they think people will dig a little deeper to cover wage increases for Town staff while they wait for their layoff notices.
Finally, a follow-up to my letter about snow removal. Friday's rain followed by snow then a deep freeze was not handled at all by the Town. Saturday morning the roads around Canboro, including Daleview and Strathcona, were ice rinks. Churchill was a slide.
Sunday these same roads were still ice rinks, no sanding, salting, nothing. The sidewalks were covered in uneven ice. There was no attempt made to clear this until 11:30 Sunday morning, after church services were under way.
Would the Town be more likely to respond to lawsuits from injured pedestrians or vehicle owners trying to get around without sliding into oncoming traffic? Has the Town budget been so decimated by the wage demands of the employees that there is no money left to take care of the roads after a storm?
Jim Pitt
Fonthill
Fonthill