Through the summer months, council meets much less frequently with only one meeting in July and one meeting in August. Monday’s meeting had only 4 members in attendance (Mayor Williams and Councillors Garisto and Campbell were absent). The meeting was chaired by Deputy Mayor Maycock in the Mayor’s absence.
When Deputy Mayor chairs a meeting, you can quickly see which Councillors have come to the meeting unprepared. Councillor Kidd was unable to keep up with the agenda and lost his place several times before abruptly picking up his laptop and storming out of council chambers mumbling that the Deputy Mayor will just have to wait until he gets his laptop caught up. This instantly halted the meeting – without Councillor Kidd in chambers, council didn’t have quorum to continue.
The Never-Ending Piano Saga
If council could put as much time and effort into bringing new business to Town or finding ways to reduce the tax burden on residents as they do on things like pianos and backyard fires, Orangeville could be a very different place.
Remove the piano. Keep the piano. Leave it as it is until it causes a problem. Remove it again. No, keep it. But only have it out for 1-2 weeks before Blues & Jazz and 1-2 after.
At Monday’s meeting, they did vote to keep the piano (again)…for now (again)….with the provision that a bylaw addressing community pianos will be in the making. Councillor Don Kidd was the only one to vote against that motion stating that he didn’t support the piano from the get-go and he won’t start now. “I don’t think anyone will miss the piano” he stated exclaiming that he is downtown everyday and never sees it in use.
Councillor Wilson is {somewhat} in favour of the piano staying, but he would like a restriction on the length of time it can stay suggesting that just a few weeks around Blues & Jazz Festival would be appropriate but that having it from June to Sept is excessive.
So, the piano stays…for now. (again)
Here is my humble opinion about the piano. I think the piano is one of many creative ways that Orangeville could show its support for the arts. Let’s promote music, visual art, poetry, culinary arts and celebrate culture in a creative (INEXPENSIVE) way! When you have a business owner willing to put a piano outside his store for the Town to enjoy and he is willing to take the responsibility of maintenance and liability (AT A COST OF ZERO DOLLARS)…..let him! Rules? Sure. Allow the piano to be there from May to October. More rules? Not needed – he has already assumed the responsibility. We are a community full of talented artists, musicians, chefs, writers & dancers…we need to celebrate that!
Next Meeting
The next meeting of Council is scheduled for Monday, September 11th and at that time, Council will resume it’s regular bi-weekly meeting schedule.