By the people for the people

With due respect to Abraham Lincoln and his Gettysburg address, “by the people for the people” is one of the most re-quoted phrases when it comes to government and its relationship with citizens.

In recent times, as citizens push politicians to make the most of their finances, user fees for municipal facility rentals have become commonplace. The idea was that a nominal fee would impress upon the renter that the facility has value - meaning nothing is for free. We get that, but latterly, the fee was raised to cover most or all of the cost of the facility’s use.

Early Tuesday we were approached by a friend of a convenor who was hosting a candidate night on behalf of a service club. The subject of the user fee came up and it gave us pause to think. There should really be a better way, perhaps a policy that would exempt such charges for service clubs or groups providing such a forum.

Then we read about Puslinch’s short-circuited attempt to waive fees for the candidate night to be hosted there by the Puslinch Optimist Club. In a senseless turn of events, four of five councillors felt compelled to declare a conflict of interest on the item because they are running in the election. Council lost its quorum, and along with it the fee-waiving effort.

Rules are rules, particularly during election season, but we don’t suspect voters would be too disgruntled with council for trying to do the right thing.

It would be sensible for councils across Wellington, once new councils are sworn in, to review their policies for rentals that most of us consider community service pursuits. Surely, everyone will jump on board for free rent, but we can think of no other matter so urgent or critical as that of making way for free speech and promoting democracy at the local level.

Personal thanks

Our Newspaper this week speaks volumes about our staff.

Over the past several weeks considerable time has been spent pulling together candidate information for election races across Wellington County. As the reporters pulled that information together, our designers developed a great looking section.

In all, there are 72 pages in our Newspaper this week.

We point out as well, the businesses and organizations that see the value of print and recognize a strong local press makes for a strong community. Thanks Wellington.