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Oh. Councillor Piano Stairs. My sympathies.

Reading this, and the material on Mike's website I kind of agree with deferring it to the next council. It gives you guys some more incentive to work hard for it... get re-elected and then have the reward. I don't think you can completely remove yourselves from the process unless you look at a formula that automatically gives a raise every year indexed say to inflation or something; if that's even possible.

You can give raises to tempt me, but it isn't going to work However, if you want trim the raise and throw in some health benefits, then I might have to reconsider.

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Just to go back to this for a second, Munchito - refreshing my memory on what the term "have it in for someone" means, I really do not "have it in" for Tony. To say that would imply I mean harm to come to him. I do not. Outside council I feel bad for the guy and hope he's able to put his life together I really do. Everyone deserves that. Everyone. He deserves it, his family deserves it, his friends deserve it.

My issue with Tony has always been his ability to represent Milton competently on Regional issues (road and urban planning at the regional level, regional social services including policing, ambulance services, local health program development and delivery, social assistance and social programming, water and waste management, agriculture, regional and inter-regional transportation and co-operation), and Local issues (local development, planning and maintenance, community services delivery and development, local transit, local economic development,fire services) . There's a lot more to it than attending the occasional function for 10 minutes, shake hands and leave, poking regional staff about light timing on regional roads, making the occasional paragraph post here, and sticking your hand up to vote on agenda items at council and standing committee meetings. The only issue with the DUI debacle that stuck with me in terms of his councillor ability was the accompanying lying and misrepresentation of facts. That's hardly a way to build trust when you already don't really trust a person. I was never a fan politically of Rick Day either, another nice guy outside of council from what I've been told. Tony reminds me a lot of Rick in his political life (the later years anyways). Just not up for the job he's been elected to.

Now back on the salary issue: no-one said boo when in December Regional Council voted themselves a 3.2% pay increase for 2012. That's 44K to 47K for Tony, Colin and the Mayor (our three regional council representatives) and the other 18 members of Regional Council. To be fair I think Colin works his tail off and deserves it, and Gord Krantz too when you actually watch him run a council meeting and the questions he asks. He clearly understands the big picture. I just don't see it in Tony unfortunately and we're two years in already. I find it very inconsistent for a councillor to accept a 3.2% increase on their regional council salary (and the one that's approximately 75% higher than the municipal salary), then 6 months later decide to decline (after voting FOR the motion the day before) a similar sized increase for 3 years on the much smaller local council salary.

Was this your expression as you typed that?

No, don't think so. What is that?

I couldn't have said it any better. You would think a math major would get it, but no.

In no way did I mean to imply that you wish harm on him so I hope you don't take it that way. It was just an casual observation after reading through these threads over time.

I'm sure most (if not all) people on here feel the same way you do. Where we stand now, there really are no expectations for him to accomplish anything in his position. We just gotta cut our losses and hold out for another 2 years. While Tony bashing has evolved into a sport on these forums and is occassionally amusing, its almost like picking on the retarded kid in school at this point.

Having said that, count me in to help fight the good fight next campaign season, getting the word out to the masses that don't follow this board (assuming he is brazen enough to try and run again).

+1

This is the exact way I feel about him. I know that I regularly get on the Tony bashing bandwagon and at times I feel a tad guilty for it. Never really could figure out what was the reason until I read this. But I am still motivated to keep on the things he says, why? Because the retarded kid in the classroom, besides not being able to colour within the lines, doesn't really cause any problems. Now I am not Tony is a problem starter, but he sure doesn't fix any of them either.

Very good point, CJ... +1 here too.

Yeah, Mike, weren't you aware that we already have someone on the boards in charge of taking credit for other people's efforts? We can't have just anybody do it.

Well done, sir. [insert slow clap here]

You guys are going to convince me to change my mind.

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amazing post, my thoughts to a tee.

+1...mine as well. Seriously Rick M is the councilor on this board I respect.