Bill Martin has announced he will not be re-offering for another term as mayor of our city. He talks of all he has accomplished and what more he would like to finish, but has decided its time to leave.
Bill had campaigned saying he will run as mayor for one term only. This announcement is not a big surprise to many. The real surprise is what he has done as mayor. He promised openness, transparency and accountability. I was at his rallies and heard a lot of this myself, and I, for one, voted for Bill, believing Summerside would now see new change, as he promised. I can attest, in my opinion, his promises did not see the light of day.
The Hopping Report was not released in its original form as promised, and no one was held accountable, for this total mismanagement of taxpayers’ money. This followed with a bloated raise of 22-24 per cent for councillors, all behind closed doors. The former Co-Op store purchase and development, the Summerside golf course deal in Linkletter with the owner of our new resort, are just two glaring deals, mostly all in secrecy from the taxpayers.
Mayor Bill Martin blasted our previous mayor, Basil Stewart, for mismanagement in causing an extremely high debt of about $90 million. We still have councillors that were there, 25 years ago. Like Bill said "Time for Change" I honestly believe Bill went into this position lacking the necessary knowledge about what it takes to run an open government of honesty, openness and transparency of 100 per cent. This term will soon be history, and I do wish Bill good health and happiness in retirement.
David Griffin,
Summerside
