OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to an article about land annexation, published Feb. 4.
Congratulations to Mayor Don McIsaac and his team from Orillia for their efforts to date in negotiating a land annexation with Oro-Medonte and Severn townships.
Annexations are always fraught with angst on all sides. The party applying for the annexation needs the land. The party whose land is being annexed doesn’t want to lose it. The negotiations are delicate. Above all, the parties have to be fair and respect each other.
Mayor Mike Burkett of Severn Township is quoted as saying: “In all fairness, Orillia has been great to work with.” Oro-Medonte Mayor Randy Greenlaw says: “They have been very professional and respectful in finding some sort of solution that the province will agree with.”
Contrast the Orillia approach with that of Barrie in the annexation taking place to the south of us.
Keep up the good work, Orillia.
Doug Lewis
Orillia
