Feature Article November 20, 2003
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeRecount in Ward One, Addington Highlands Council, Nov. 17, 2003
Monday nights meeting was held in Denbigh, with councilors Cuddy, Grant, Hook and Berger, and Reeve Henry Hogg in attendance.
Municipal candidate Teresa Madigan has requested a recount of the ballots, as she was defeated by only four votes. Councilors Grant and Berger declared a conflict of interest and left the room while the motion to allow the recount was debated. Councilor and Reeve-Elect Hook pointed out that in fact, only two votes needed to have been miscounted. The motion passed unanimously, and the recount will take place next week.
Denbigh resident Bill Brown addressed council about frequent hydro outages in the area. He counted 14 in three weeks, and had contacted Hydro One about the problem, but had difficulty connecting with local hydro officials. After finally reaching an official in Bancroft, he was told that some of the outages were planned and that residents should have been notified. Brown asked council to request that someone from Hydro One attend a council meeting and explain the problem to them.
Bill Brown was also concerned because in a recent storm, some residents in the northern area were without telephones as well as hydro. He asked council if there was a plan in place to contact isolated seniors in such a situation. He was told that an attempt to compile a list of vulnerable seniors had been started, but that the onus really was on the individuals themselves to make sure they had emergency plans in place.
Council agreed to send a letter to Hydro One, with a copy to the new minister of Energy, and Councilor Hook will bring up the problem with MPP Leona Dombrowsky at an upcoming meeting of the Business Development Committee.
This was the last meeting of the old council, and outgoing councilor Ibra Cuddy and Reeve Hogg were acknowledged. Lorraine Berger said that it had been a great pleasure to work with Reeve Hogg for the last years, and he was visibly moved by applause from the council and audience.
