Letter to the Editor
Editor,
I am not in the least surprised that the council has voted to keep in control of the dispensation of Community Grants. The selection of recipients is often quite irrational, and has continued potential for favouritism and abuse, as you pointed out in your recent editorial.
However, as is the case with most small towns (and indeed most municipalities), there is a rich history of preferential awarding of Pork from the public storehouse to recipients whose ‘eligibility’ is highly questionable. Meaford council had a chance to cleanse itself, and do the right thing, but chose to retain the control and looks all the worse for doing so.
The only other repugnant 150-year habit that is endemic here, is the practice of nepotism (or similar, less obvious forms of preferential treatment) in hiring municipal employees, another problem rampant in municipalities of all sizes.
It would be logical to believe that both of these practices would have disappeared over the past 40-50 years but this is not the case. More’s the pity.
Mike Robertson, Meaford
