Immediate conclusions required now' Not really!
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Unfortunately I could not attend the (town council's THI) meeting on Wednesday, May 14, however have read over the information provided in the article Public Information Meeting. The opinions of the THI board members appear to be more about defending their position taken while sitting on the board justifying the steps taken and decision to propose selling. That's fine, but not sure if this actually fit the intent or agenda of the Public Meeting.
Fortunately, the former Mayor's presentation and former Superintendent's presentation for Tillsonburg Hydro were published as well. It is refreshing to read over their opinion on the subject at hand "sell or not." Their combined knowledge has provided food for thought for the residents of Tillsonburg to consider.
For those of you that did not find the informative documents on the website, provided to me through some friends, they are at www.tillsonburg.ca/local-government/media-and-communications/news-details/articled/2391/public-meeting-tillsonburg-hydro-inc.
I personally would never have been able to navigate through the internet to the documents if it were not for the help of my friends.
It is unfortunate a summary of the presentations from the other registered public speakers could not have been published or summarized. Considering the two public speakers Cam McKnight and John Puhr who are not presently related to the THI clearly conclude that bigger is not better and selling is not an option. Perhaps the other public presentations provided a similar message. If this is the case, I believe the outcome of the upcoming Council meeting set for June 23 should echo that THI is not for sale or merger.
If the present Council members are reluctant to put to rest the idea of a sale or merger, then surely the best way for Council to get a true consensus of what residents of Tillsonburg want is to implement a simple question on the upcoming election ballot. After all the consequences of a decision now will definitely have more of an impact on the new elected Council than the existing Council.
This will also allow the voting population of Tillsonburg to know exactly where all running candidates stand on this very important subject. If you recall when asked this very question the public responses of most of the present Councillors related to the need for more information. It is apparent Councillors have now been enlightened on the details of the subject and so have we.
It is time to let the voting public of Tillsonburg virtually decide the fate of THI especially since Council and THI board members went this far to educate all residents on the details of the issue at hand. If this does not happen then the time and effort by Tillsonburg staff, THI board members and present Council will have been wasted.
Peter Bryan-Pulham