This is the second in a 2018 series of commentaries from municipal politicians which allows them to tell you, in their own words, what is important to them, what bugs them and what makes them tick. Each week will feature a member of either the Huntsville or Lake of Bays Council. As we enter an election year, this is your opportunity to get a better picture of your elected politicians. This week: Huntsville Councillor Bob Stone.
A Councillor’s Dilemma
By Bob Stone
I am often asked if I enjoy being on Town Council. Usually I reply ‘Yes, it’s always challenging and I really enjoy helping constituents with their problems.’ However, let me share with you a recent example that describes the type of difficulty that I, as a councillor, regularly face. What appears to be obvious and the right thing to do is often complicated and can’t be achieved.
Recently, I received a call from a constituent who was exasperated by the Town’s claims process. There also appeared to be a problem with a Town policy that I didn’t even know existed.
On November 19 Huntsville had a beautiful Muskoka snowfall. Right on cue, the Town snow plows took to the roads and, as always, did a great job. However, one plow that was clearing the roads downtown happened to hit a maintenance hole (manhole). The cover, and the ring that holds it, broke free. The heavy metal ring rolled down the hill, straight into this person’s car.
At this point you might say to yourself, as I did, ‘Well, accidents happen, but it is reasonable to presume that the Town’s actions caused damage to personal property, therefore the Town should pay to fix her car.’
As it turns out, the Town’s policy is to only pay for damages if the Town was “negligent” (adjective: failing to take proper care in doing something).
The woman was advised by the Town’s insurance adjuster that the Town was not negligent in this incident and she should contact her own insurance company to have her car fixed.
The damage was estimated at just over $2,000. She would probably have to pay a deductible amount of $1,000 out of her own pocket and a claim may cause her insurance premiums to increase. The repercussions of the Town’s actions are making her spend money for something that was absolutely no fault of her own.
This didn’t seem right to me, so I requested a meeting with the Mayor and Town staff to get to the bottom of this policy and hopefully help this lady. The Mayor was sympathetic and wondered if we could self-fund situations like this, knowing that our insurance company would make premiums rise even more outrageously if we included this type of situation under our policy.
At our meeting, staff explained that we get hundreds of calls from residents about a myriad of issues, and cited damage to cars from potholes and trees that fall from town property onto private property, etc. They explained that it is often heart wrenching for them to implement our policy when a resident on the phone explains their existing hardships and now has to deal with a problem that was not of their own making. I heard that if we self-funded a policy that reimburses residents for such things, we would need a qualified adjuster and additional staff requirements to evaluate and administer these claims, not to mention a significant pot of money to pay for them.
So, now I’m left with the question: Should Council consider implementing such a plan at great expense to Huntsville taxpayers or do we make this person pay for something that wasn’t her fault?
To read more in this 2018 series of commentaries from municipal politicians, click here.
This is my first Term on Town Council and I intend to run for Town & District Council in 2018.
I am currently:
Chair – Economic Development Committee
Chair – Committee of Adjustment
Chair – Property Standards
Vice-Chair – Planning Committee
Council Rep. – BIA board
I have created, owned, and operated three businesses:
Henley Creations (Stained Glass)
Amigo’s Mexican Eatery (114-seat Restaurant)
Christmas Tyme Downtown Huntsville 1995 – 2015.
I am happily married to my wife Tracey for 27 years and we have two awesome boys: Connor (Queens University–Astrophysics) & Bryan (Nipissing University–History & Philosophy).
The only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. —Sir Winston Churchill
Previous commentaries in this series:
Is equal representation at the District a pipe dream? ~Lake of Bays Mayor Bob Young
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Randy Spencer says
How does the town/district handle dying trees on municipal property that cause damage to private properties from falling limbs some in excess of 10-12” around even after the property owner has notified them of this situation numerous times
. We are living with this situation as we speak with no solution just fear for the worst
Bob Stone says
I will stop by in the next couple days and get more information Randy. Hopefully we can find a solution.
Randy Spencer says
Bob we are back on the 23rd call me then
Peggy Peterson says
This is a great venue to discuss the current situation with the Public Sidewalk on Cann Street. We are so frustrated with winter maintenance of this well used sidewalk that travels from King William to Chaffey Street as a partial one way. Bob Stone and all the Council and senior staff are well aware of our frustration with the car dealership pushing its snow across the street and piling it up and blocking our sidewalk. For weeks we have been trying to get this addressed and this practice stopped . Thank goodness they maintain the rest of the street. The Town tells us over and over that there is NO SIDEWALK on Cann Street !!! I received an email explaining that the dealership has permission to dump this snow across the street. ??? So if children walking to the school bus who have to go out on the busy street to get to the connecting sidewalk are hurt who is liable? It has been well explained many times to Officials with no satisfaction and no consideration of public safety and town liability.
James Joseph says
That’s a ludicrous policy which exempts the Town at every count. I would be suing for sure.