It’s been a few weeks since Don Rennick was barred from making a public presentation at city council, for refusing to apologize for comments he had made in May. Rennick stands by what he says, and doesn’t believe the comments were offensive.
Rennick knows about the changes to the procedural bylaw about public presentations on Monday. He says the changes were made to silence the public. Rennick believes the words added to the bylaw are meant to control the message, and make it more difficult to present. He says he won’t be returning to City Council to present until he receives an apology from the Mayor for comments made about him.
Mayor Al McDonald has remained steadfast in saying that until Rennick apologizes, he won’t be allowed to speak. McDonald believes Rennick violated the code of conduct for presenting in council chambers. This feud has been ongoing since May, when the initial comments about City staff were made. With Rennick refusing to show up at council, the message the North Bay Taxpayers Association is trying to present gets muddier.
However, Rennick says there’s still a way to get the association’s message out there. He says the answer is to get the people involved, and showing up in council chambers. When the Energy East issue is on the discussion or when council are talking about changing a bus route, lots of people turn out. Rennick believes the reason the turnout isn’t similar for taxes is because most people just don’t understand, or don’t have the will or the time to put into the issue. Rennick believes based on the numbers, the current path the city is going down will lead to big financial trouble in the future.
