Hold on there cowboy – you missed one. Or did you just decide this wasn’t something you wanted to talk about?

By Pepper Parr

July 1,  2104

BURLINGTON, ON.

Hold on there cowboy – you missed one.  Or did you just decide this wasn’t something you wanted to talk about?

Councillor Jack Dennison has served as a member of city council for more than 20 years.

In his summer Newsletter Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison listed all the things he had something to say about.  They included:

Castleguard Crescent
Creeks
Fairview Street
Guelph Line and Fairview Street
Lakeshore Road
Lakeview Avenue
New Street
Washburn Reservoir
Wards 4/5 CAR-FREE STREET FESTIVAL
CITY-WIDE NEWS
Brant Street Pier
City Talk
Election 2014 – Voters’ List
Emerald Ash Borer
New Parking Rules
Online Service Requests
Snow Clearing
REGION OF HALTON
Compost Give Away
Online Tools – Waste Management
Special Waste Drop-off Days
NEWS of INTEREST
Art Gallery of Burlington
Union Gas – Dawn Parkway System Expansion
Summer Fun
Construction in Ward 4
Lakeshore Road – Ward 2 (at Ward 4 boundary)
Snow Clearing – Approval of Additional Services
Waste Management
Burlington Beach – To Swim or Not to Swim
Burlington Fire Department Safety Tips
Barbecuing on Balconies
Outdoor Water Use Program
West Nile Virus

THAT is an impressive list – makes one think that the member of Council is worth the $50,000 plus he gets paid for the city part of his job.  Council members get an additional $50,000 (approximately) for the work they do at the Regional level..

Dennison’s home on Lakeshore Road; a property he wants to sever a slice off of the east side to build a second residence.

BUT – there is an item of pressing importance that you left off the list  Councillor Dennison – that Ontario Municipal Board hearing related to the severance you couldn’t get at city council; the one that was turned down by the Committee of Adjustment – whose ruling you have appealed – which is your right.

Committee of Adjustment members, who decided against a request from Councillor Jack Dennison to sever his Lakeshore Road property.

It is a little awkward, when as a Council member you are appealing a city bylaw that you swore to uphold, when you were sworn in back in 2010.You appealed the Committee of Adjustment decision and somehow managed to get a date so far forward – May 29, 2014, that many wondered how you managed that – but the process of tribunals has a pace of its own.The members of the Roseland Community Association weren’t happy with the delay but at least the hearing was going to take place well enough before the October election that a decision would be available, before voters went to the polls.

Holy Hannah – what a stunner of a shock to those gathered in the city hall committee room on May 29,  waiting for the hearing to begin,  when someone from the Clerk’s office walked in to say that the hearing would not take place.  The stunned audience asked why not?  They were told that a witness was ill.  Whose witness, they demanded to know?  You guessed it – a Jack Dennison witness was not able to attend to testify.

There would appear to be an abuse of process here.  Surely the OMB Commissioner would have been aware of and sensitive to the nature of the impact the hearing would have on the fall election.  The Commissioner didn’t even show up – he just advised the city clerk that the hearing was delayed.  Delayed to when?  At this point we don’t know – but surely it will take place far enough before the election for the ruling of the commissioner to be available to the public? Maybe surely wasn’t the right word?

Background links:

Council member appeals Committee of adjustment decision.

Council member declares a conflict of interest.

Public doesn’t like the smell of a Committee of adjustment hearing

Dennison Committee of adjustment hearing cancelled – yet to be rescheduled