Port Hope's Tourism Industry looks to be thriving in new video

We've been busy!

The Port Hope Ratepayers have been busy of late! It's been a different year for us as most of the work we are doing has moved to behind the scenes. Nevertheless, we continue to provide a watchful eye for the citizens of Port Hope in all things dealing with municiple governance.

Some of what we've been up to:
  • We have been regularly attending town council meetings and posing questions on behalf of members;
    • We have met with Mayor Sanderson personally about recording town council meetings and distributing those recordings online (an important step forward for democratic transparency!);
  • We have been attending county council to ensure accountability in governance. And, we've been in communication with Mayor Sanderson about his role on the county council;
  • We have been researching and reviewing the town bus schedule to provide feedback to councillors as our local service is retooled;
  • We continue to attend Area Rating committee meetings; and
  • We have been working with several other ratepayers groups in the area to discuss best practices ratepayers and to help other communities set up ratepayers' associations.
Video
Mayor Sanderson delivering his "state of the union" speech. Click to watch video.

Port Hope Council's inaugural meeting showed a council  serious about change. 

New Council seatingNew Council Seating
Town members were greeted with a new seating arrangement for council and staff. Council now faces those they represent, and senior staff no longer sit higher than council. We hope this signals a more open, approachable council. 

The meeting started with a moment of quiet reflection. After some congratulatory letters to the new council, Mayor Sanderson made his inaugural address (video is available here, note that there is a gap of about two minutes after the 6:46 point that showed a slide show of Port Hope with music that YouTube would not allow due to copyright regulations). 

The following appointments were made 
  • Greg Burns - Deputy Mayor and Chair. Protection to Persons and Property
  • Les Andrews - Chair, General Government and Finance 
  • Louise Ferrie-Blecher - Chair, Planning and Development
  • Terry Hickey - Chair, Works and Engineering
  • Jeff Lees - Chair, Parks, Recreation and Culture
  • Robert Polutnik - Chair, Economic Development and Tourism

This council has tremendous talent, intellect, and experience. While the challenges facing Port Hope remain substantial, we look forward to collaborating and finding solutions together.

Welcome to the PHRA website!

Check out our blog. The latest posts are listed below.  

Do you have a question that you would like to ask of council? Just use the Contact form to send your question to the PHRA and we will ask on your behalf. 

Members of the PHRA board attend virtually every council meeting.  Members and potential members are welcome to join us.
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TOPICS ON OUR BLOG

Under the Clock

  • Council/COW - first and third Tuesdays of the month @ 6:30 pm
"Split decisions"
See the 2015-2016 voting record.
Agendas and minutes are available here. 

PHRA in the Media

MUNICIPAL MATTERS: COGECO FEB. 28, 2014

PORT HOPE COUNCIL QUESTION PERIOD:  MARCH 5, 2014

CHEX NEWS REPORTS ON PORT HOPE COUNCIL REJECTION OF REM.