Councillor Broome Plumley is taking care of (her employers') business

Over a year ago, I wrote this blog about the candidature of Ward 6 Councillor Kelly Broome-Plumley:  Click Here

The allegation was simple: Who arranged for Councillor Broome-Plumley to have a "fully funded" campaign (as others have alleged) and what did they expect to receive in return?

As far as I know, Kelly Broome-Plumley has never spoken about how much money she raised.  The sum far in away exceeded all others who ran for a ward council position.

From my observations, Councillor Broome-Plumley votes in tandem with the Mayor and Regional Councillor at every opportunity.  The evidence of her voting record can be found here:  Click Here  Newmarket Councillors will vote a dozen or more times on various items each meeting.  In approximately one year worth of voting, Councillor Broome-Plumley has been "in favour" of almost everything placed before her.  She has only voted against items on 5 occasions in total.  Even these "Opposed" votes were cast with her allies.

If the gruesome-twosome were looking for someone to rubber-stamp their agenda then the election of Kelly Broome-Plumley has been a resounding success.  In this past year, we've seen tax hikes, service cuts, user fees increase, water rates rise, and less municipal government transparency.  So while the Mayor and Regional Councillor may be "winning" with Kelly Broome-Plumely at their side, taxpayers of Newmarket have been on a crushing "losing" streak for quite some time.

Outside of Council meetings, Councillor Broome-Plumley sits on just one town committee.  This may shock residents of Ward 6 because as a candidate for election, Ms Broome-Plumley was quite critical of the half-dozen committees her predecessor participated in.  At the time, Broome-Plumley declared that was too few.

I could not find any community groups or other initiatives organized by the Councillor in the past year.

Nor could I find anywhere in the Era newspaper where she was quoted any issues relating to the town's operation or strategic plans for the future.

She has lead two initiatives in Council this term.

1)  The outdoor skating rink at Whipper Billy Watson Park located just around the corner from her home; and
2)  A walking trail connecting Yonge Street to Rita's Place

Both involved controversies.

The skating rink was given a single-sourced advertising agreement awarded to Ms. Broome Plumley's employer.  No other business or community group was allowed to bid on advertising for this rink which featured large signs being posted within the public park promoting Ms. Broome-Plumley's employer.

The walking trail she promoted will cost us almost double what was originally planned for a less accessible trail involving more destruction of trees, extensive grading, and too small for usual maintenance measures.

Want to guess the reason why we are spending approximately $630,000 on this trail as opposed to the $305,000 budgeted in 2014?

It turns out a big wig at Snap'd, which has employed Councillor Broome-Plumley's husband in the past (including these photos published in Snap'd last year:  Click Here)  owns one the homes that neighbours this proposed trail.

Oh, and did I mention that the Town of Newmarket was also going to hand over, free of charge and paying all related legal fees, a few meters of land to each of these same home owners?

And to top it all off, Councillor Broome-Plumley thanks this Snap'd big wig in her blog yesterday, for "her leadership role in speaking for her neighbours and helping us come to a plan we can all be proud of."

How does spending more than double the original planned amount and giving away public land in the process while destroying natural habitat become a plan "we can all be proud of?"

Well it's true if Councillor Broome-Plumley's definition of "we" is exclusive to her alliance with Van Bynen, Taylor, and her employers.

The taxpayers and residents of Ward 6?

We're not included within Councillor Broome-Plumley's version of "we".