Letter to the Editor: Bombardment of negativism

By PAT JONES Orangeville City Council

Dear Editor,
As a member of the Orangeville City Council, I wanted to address the bombardment of negativism directed toward the city.
As an elected official for approximately 20 years, I have not seen the dissention and negativism as I have the last couple of years. We as elected officials make decisions based on the good of the whole community. Often individuals feel that those decisions are a direct attack on them personally. We know that we can never make those decisions where all concerned will be happy. That’s just the nature of the beast. Many of those final decisions are a result of state or federal mandates. Those who think otherwise have not been involved in government enough to know. But this I do know that decisions we make are influenced by either the fact that is a mandated decision, or it is in the best interest of the community.
Occasionally, we find that because of different circumstances surrounding an ordinance or law, it can be taken out of its original intent and sometimes create a situation that’s not conducive with the ordinance or within the scope of the intent. If and when that happens, we make every effort to change the ordinance and correct the problem. We have all experienced the uncomfortable situation of having to live within the boundaries of rules. Most of the time if we sit back and analyze the “whys” we will find ourselves in agreement.
Be it lack of trust, dislike for the elected officials, or a protest of law and order, we have had a few citizens in the town who try their best to make life miserable for themselves and the city officials and employees. I find it somewhat amusing that there is so much effort to thwart progress, that they often snip their own nose. (Case in point) The attack on the volunteer water schedule in town would only help those people who are attacking it the most. Some of their rebuttals are not given enough thought.
Orangeville is a great place to live, we have good people here. People that care about their neighbor and the welfare of others. We have a beautiful park, cemetery, streets, sidewalks, curb and gutter, and a modern state of the art water system and waste handling system. We have secondary water with no meters. We have streetlights in most parts of town. We have ordinances and laws to help us grow in an orderly manner and believe it or not, protect us from ourselves. We have a plan in place for the future to see that it continues that way. We sure wouldn’t want to live in an environment without them. We have volunteer committees that serve faithfully for the good of others and the community. We have a great volunteer fire department that would be there if you had an emergency or fire, and they serve faithfully.
Orangeville is a great place to live.
Through the efforts of great people serving the community over the years since Orangeville’s inception, and the love of the town, we have many things to be thankful for. My appreciation goes out to those who helped make Orangeville what it is. It has certainly been the effort of many. Sacrifice and willingness to serve are inherent in most people here.
Think positive, serve positive, work positive, and go forward. Negative effort will never accomplish anything. Positive thinking and effort will produce everything.