Jim Abernethy
Mayor
Last year's grade: C-
This year: C+
Attendance: Council 20/20; Committee 21/21, Regional council 13/13, Regional committee 39/39
Expenses: $16,748.78 (Local), $1,367.70 (Regional)
Mayor Abernethy seems a little more comfortable as mayor this year, even if some of his comments and stances can be a little confusing. He's shown community loyalty in joining in the fight to maintain services at Bowmanville's hospital. At the same time, though, he's reached some questionable conclusions, such as a recent argument against having the Nuclear Waste Management Office provide information on its doings to council, lest it be seen as a sign Clarington might willingly accept long-term hosting of the waste. There's room for criticism in his incineration stance, as well -- he'd been quoted, again and again, as saying he would only vote in favour of it if it was safe and affordable; more recently, he's shifted responsibility for the safety side of the equation to the Ontario government.
Mary Novak
Ward 1 and 2 Regional Councillor
Last year's grade: C-
This year: C
Attendance: Council 19/20; Committee 20/21, Regional council 13/13, Regional committee 28/29
Expenses: $16,479.49 (Local), $3,792.36 (Regional)
Councillor Novak should be lauded for the restraint and diplomacy she's shown of late on the incineration issue -- when personally attacked during an anti-incineration meeting, for example, she calmly stood her ground. At the same time, her support to draw on reserves when the finance director had warned against it because it could cause a much larger tax increase next year was short sighted.
And after her oft-stated support for the zero increase, it's disappointing to see her make a show of rolling her office chair into each council or committee meeting, complaining about council's decision to cut new chairs for council chambers out of the budget. At the Region, Coun. Novak seems overwhelmed. She likes to make speeches when asking questions.
Charlie Trim
Ward 3 and 4 Regional Councillor
Last year's grade: C-
This year: D
Attendance: Council 20/20; Committee 20/21, Regional council 13/13, Regional committee 34/39
Expenses: $11,970.61 (Local), $9,087.92 (Regional)
Councillor Trim teamed up with Coun. Novak on the attempt to draw on dwindling savings accounts to save constituents from a minor tax increase. Politically popular as it might be, stewardship of Clarington's financial health must be key to budgetary decisions. He's also provided incorrect figures on the proposed incinerator -- for example, last November, he indicated the facility would cost "$150, $120 million," numbers that were based on a scenario that had already been ruled out. The winning bid was $236 million, of which Durham's share amounts to over $185 million. At the Region, Coun. Trim is quiet, even though he's chairman of the works committee, the body pushing for an incinerator in his community.
Adrian Foster
Ward 1 Local Councillor
Last year's grade: B+
This year: A-
Attendance: Council 20/20; Committee 21/21
Expenses: $8,491.76
Councillor Foster consistently demonstrates common sense. He argued against adding a councillor to the Clarington Sports Hall of Fame committee, something that had run so well without political input. He regularly calls for additional information, to ensure councillors are well informed on matters of importance to the community, such as the long-term storage of nuclear waste. He points out issues the Municipality should watch out for, like the potential for increased costs in provision of emergency services when Hwy. 407 makes its way through Clarington. He's proven he listens to constituents on an array of issues, not least of which is incineration. For all of that, he moves into 'A' territory.
Ron Hooper
Ward 2 Local Councillor
Last year's grade: C+
This year: B-
Attendance: Council 20/20; Committee 21/21
Expenses: $1,833.83
Councillor Hooper has spent much of the last year growing as a councillor. He could spend less time focussing on Bowmanville's downtown, which he represents and where he also owns a business. But he's also proven quick to act for constituents outside the immediate downtown, such as when the Goodyear siren got stuck in the 'on' position, and he jumped to action to get it stopped. He's also been reasonable about the Total Hockey artifacts, accepting that the Municipality is unlikely to recoup all costs associated with them, but also standing his ground that they shouldn't be bargained off to the first bidder. He's quick to stand up for respectfulness for his colleagues, even when he doesn't agree with their stance, as was evidenced when Councillor Gord Robinson became subject to intense personal attack after a change of heart on incineration.
Willie Woo
Ward 3 Local Councillor
Last year's grade: C+
This year: B-
Attendance: Council 20/20; Committee 20/21
Expenses: $10,420.01
Councillor Woo is a hard worker who has managed to get on top of the many significant issues impacting Clarington. This is evidenced by his ability to hold his own in both friendly and unfriendly crowds on the matter of incineration. In the last several weeks, he showed that during both an anti-incineration meeting, where he was welcomed as sharing the view of most of the crowd, and a Regional council meeting, where he appeared as a delegate to a group including some staunchly opposed to his view. He's been a strong supporter of maintaining services at Bowmanville's hospital. Some have questioned why he declared a conflict a few years ago when council rejected a controversial $2-million donation to the hospital if he can now act as an advocate, moving motions affecting the same institution. To his credit, he now says that in retrospect, he may have erred too far on the side of caution in the earlier conflict declaration.
Gord Robinson
Ward 4 Local Councillor
Last year's grade: B-
This year: C
Attendance: Council 19/20; Committee 20/21
Expenses: $7,164.08
Councillor Robinson is very concerned with representing and supporting the agricultural section of his ward. He would also do well to remember the vast majority of his constituents are urban dwellers. Over the past year, there are several examples of him putting the farming community first, not the least of which is in a motion he brought forward on the issue of complaints from urban residents abutting farms. He sometimes moves motions based on what the heart says, instead of engaging logic, as occurred in a motion to return a constituent's vehicles to him after a property standards ordered clean-up had been done. His change of heart on the issue of Clarington's willingness to host an incinerator has never been well-explained, coming after a closed-door meeting with Regional officials. It's fine to have a change of heart, but constituents deserve to know why it happened.
Note: Local expenses include committees and conservation authorities on which councillors sit.
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