Jan 3 - Local News + A Letter on Fiscal Responsibility

Plus: Over a dozen local events happening in the next few days

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The MV Oakglen was the last Great Lakes freighter to enter the port of Owen Sound for this year on Dec. 31, 2024. The ship will spend her 2024-25 winter layover season deep in the inner harbour behind the Miller Group cement silos on the east harbour wall. Photo and text: David Strutt

Owen Sounders,

The City of Owen Sound will hold its Public Budget Meeting on January 27. Despite resident complaints and Council’s acknowledgement that there wasn’t enough time in the last budget cycle for meaningful consideration of public input, we seem destined to relive the same performative process this year.

With no Council meetings between that Public Meeting on January 27 and the final Budget Review on February 10, there’s no opportunity for elected representatives to take public input away, consider it, and implement any changes at all.

We’re told the public was already consulted earlier in this budget cycle. The budget went to Committees. The City conducted its Vision 2050 survey and gathered feedback from 1,000 people! It wasn’t budget-specific, and you aren’t allowed to see the results of those survey questions, of course. The outcomes of an $80,000 public consultation expenditure are apparently confidential and proprietary. That decision to change the way this City’s public surveys are conducted was made by staff and a consultant without a bylaw from Council.

This City Council has proven particularly averse to any public discussion about the decisions they are making and seems to expect residents to “take their word for it” on everything from budgets to multi-million projects to our own feedback. However, the data and information we do have access to suggest there is much room for improvement.

In this new letter to the editor, Jim Hutton puts the Mayor’s recent claims of fiscal responsibility and financial savings to the test.

Public Notices

• The River District Board meets on Wednesday, January 8, at 5:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall.

• Regular meetings of Owen Sound City Council resume on Monday, January 13, at 5:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall.

Local News

Keep reading for local events and our original reporting + curated local news updates. Today, you’ll find info on impaired charges laid on local roads over the holidays, Grey Bruce’s first baby of the year, an upcoming Polar Plunge fundraiser, resident talk on local grocery delivery and airport transportation options, and a lot more.

~ Miranda Miller, Editor

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