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A civics lesson
Mayor Gerri Lynn O’Connor said publicly that it was one of the best presentations to Uxbridge Council she had ever heard. And she’s heard plenty of them. We haven’t been to as many council meetings as Her Worship, but they still probably number in the hundreds, and we have to concur. The presentation was a model of what such things should be.
We’re talking about a deputation to Council Monday morning by parent Sarah Pratt, a resident of South Balsam Street. She came to talk about the possible closing of the play park on the South Balsam Trail, and why, in the opinion of many residents of the area, it wasn’t such a good idea.
The mayor began the meeting by reminding Mrs. Pratt that the Township wasn’t considering destroying the play equipment, merely moving it to another parkette closer to Brock Street. Understood, said Mrs. Pratt. And as her presentation made clear, she understood a whole lot more than that.
Theoretically, except in special circumstances, deputations to Council are supposed to take a maximum of 15 minutes - 10 minutes for the presentation and five for questions. Although we didn’t have a stop watch on her, we’re pretty sure Sarah Pratt went over her allotted time by a fair amount. But it didn’t matter. She was so organized and so focussed, it would have been a brave chair who’d have stopped her.
Here are just a few of the things Mrs. Pratt did right on Monday:
• She had a number of citizens, including the South Balsam trail captain and an abundance of parents and cute kids, there to support her. None of them said anything, but they didn’t have to.
• Her presentation was all there on PowerPoint, with great visuals including photos of kids playing in the park. It was easy to follow and strongly organized.
• She knew the history of the park backwards and forwards.
• She had already had a neighbourhood meeting with her ward councillor, Jacob Mantle. He knew exactly what she was going to say, but didn’t steal her thunder.
• She acknowledged all of the Township’s concerns about the play park, and laid out a plan to resolve them. This included an analysis of the cost to repair the equipment, and where the money or in-kind labour would come from.
• She presented a petition of more than 160 names gathered by a 10-year-old girl.
• She laid out the potential problems with the municipality’s plan to move the park.
• She said the neighbourhood was prepared to work with the town to make the park better, creating the “partnership” that is a key planning strategy for the Township in so many of its projects these days.
When Mrs. Pratt had finished, Mayor O’Connor said she had given Council lots to think about. Indeed. As the future of the South Balsam play park becomes clearer in the coming weeks and months, Mrs. Pratt and her neighbours will be involved every step of the way. No citizen can ask for more from government, and they achieved it themselves. We congratulate them, and their leader, on a job superbly done.
