Councillors don't know their owns rules

RE: Respect good, distracting chatter bad (Aug. 10)

After reading Andrew Dreschel's column on council decorum I'm left wondering how many councillors have read their own Code of Conduct Bylaw and realize the public is watching thanks to numerous live-feeds available on the Internet?

Being retired has afforded me an opportunity to do in-depth research, and gather more information that would otherwise be unavailable to the hard working Hamiltonians struggling to pay the ever increasing costs of living here. Not a year goes by without increases in property taxes, sewer, water and electricity costs, despite residents owning the Hamilton Utilities Corporation.

At least my newly elected councillor, Donna Skelly, has been doing an excellent job so far, without all the inane, distracting side chatter, and asks the questions put to her constituents she represents.

Mark-Alan Whittle, Hamilton

LETTER: Trustees must respond to their constituents

I live in a nice, quiet neighborhood in Bruleville, or “Birdland” as many streets are named after birds. We have numerous thriving schools bursting at the seams, like Cardinal Heights, and there are more children moving in, which tells me the neighborhood is thriving.
I also know there are many families without children, like older residents and empty nesters. One thing we all have in commons is the fact we all pay for public education on our property taxes.
Unfortunately, the system we use to govern our 21st century school system is about as open and transparent as a brick wall.
I have expressed concerns to both my councillor, Scott Duvall, and my trustee, Lillian Orban, by 21st century e-mail. I also sent my concerns to the chairman. To date I have not received a reply from the latter two. My councillor always replies, even when we don’t agree.
I have come to the conclusion that public school board governance is broken and a closed shop to at least 50 per cent of the population they were elected to serve.
Hopefully this letter will serve as a wake-up call to trustees, who collect over $9,000 each for a part-time job, to get with it and be more open and accountable.
They could start by answer e-mail inquiries from constituents in a timely fashion, it’s the way the 21st century rolls.

Mark-Alan Whittle
Hamilton Mountain

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Automatic shovelling tool

Re “I don’t need to watch television on my refrigerator” (Jan. 29)

Connie Woodcock is waiting for a smart, automatic device that can shovel her driveway. Don’t most husbands automatically shovel their driveways whenever their wives asks them to, thereby making most husbands “smart” appliances, and useful to have around? They can be traded in too.

Mark-Alan Whittle, Hamilton

(Glen’s a classic model, but doesn’t always respond to Connie’s voice commands)