The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Pomeroy doled out Halton Region rings to councillors who won‘t be returning including Oakville councillor Fred Oliver â€" a former Oakville police chief and personal friend â€"whom Pomeroy called a "teddy bear" under a gruff exterior. Pomeroy said Halton is about the only Ontario community to successfully secure a landfill site under the provincial Environmental Act â€" through the Halton Urban Structure Plan â€" is the best planned community in Ontario, and noted council had the courage to implement regionâ€"wide market value assessâ€" ment (MVA). He said he took the majority of council‘s reâ€"election personally as a vote of public confidence in the local regional government‘s effectiveness. "And so it‘s time to go," he said. Halton regional chair Peter Pomeroy looked back on what he called "an incredible journey" and predicted he‘d return, as he officially took leave of his job, Wednesday. Poking fun at retirement, and noting many of 140 employees who received long service or retirement awards at Wednesday‘s meeting had wanted him to make the presentations, Pomeroy looked back over the major accomplishments of the Region during his 11 years as chair. "The time comes along when you‘ve got to move on. I‘m sure.I‘ll be in another career of some sort after this term of counicil, and if you keep watching, you may see me back before you in some capacity over the next couple of years. I don‘t know how or why, but now it‘s time to move on," he said. Regional reps now know where they stand By ANGELA BLACKBURN Special to the Beaver privilege of working with almost every one of you," he told fellow regional "A lot of what should be said has already been said. I want to say in all sincerity, I‘m happy to have had the By ANGELA BLACKBURN Special to the Beaver The bylaw, first passed last June, saw regional chair Peter Pomeroy claim $28,800 in legal fees on crimiâ€" nal charges, before the process exploded in public controversy. In the wake of that tumult, the bylaw was slated for public review and payments under it were frozen. Council stopped short of asking Pomeroy to repay the money already spent, but two weeks ago, setâ€"up an ad hoc committee to explore the risk of litigation against the Region due to the bylaw review. Council wanted the matter cleaned up before the new regional council takes office next week. Pomeroy vacated the chair Wednesday â€" his last meeting as regional chair â€" with a conflict on the issue. Council then moved behind closed doors, but shortly afterwards, four councillors trudged outside, having been advised to declare a conflict by the committee. The councillors were Milton Mayor Gord Krantz; Oakville‘s Amid confusion and a hint of legal action against five Halton regional councillors, council passed a new legal fees compensation bylaw Wednesday at its last meetâ€" ing. Bewilderment was the order of the day, however, as five councillors were quickly advised to declare a conflict based on potential litigation and get out of what became a lengthy closed door debate on the Region‘s compensation bylaw. Halton Regional Chairman says goodbye Peter Pomeroy leaves post but says he could return Paul Buckley oakumLE‘s #7 pistrisuror or ruvens Pizza °/ Hut# * ANY DAY OF THE WEEK AS LOW AS $35 PER THOUSAND Call ALLAN R 845â€"9742 or 845â€" Robson â€" who was a member of the ad hoc committee, which advised the councillors of the potenâ€" tial for litigation â€" left regional headquarters almost immediately while the others remained late into the afternoon as council continued behind closed doors. Several of the five people named had questioned the previous bylaw‘s use for compensation in regard to criminal charges, but Krantz said, he wasn‘t sure what common link the five shared and wouldn‘t speculate on it publicly. "Other than being elected people, four of us coming back and one not, I wouldn‘t have a clue. I don‘t know of any common thread that would link the five of us in possible litigaâ€" tion, other than being directors of the (Halton regional) corporation," said Krantz. ""No one had to declare a conflict, but given the information we were given of the possibility of us being named to some future charges, we did," said Krantz. Bonnette admitted he was "stunned" at the turn of events, while Bird was equally taken aback, acknowledging he hadn‘t expected it when he arrived for Wednesday‘s council meeting. Krantz said the advice on potenâ€" Robson, both of Halton Hills. tial conflict came from the ad hoc Halton Hills councillor Pam committee. However, Pomeroy said Johnston was also named; however, _ yesterday, "I have no lawsuit against the councillor â€" who isn‘t returning â€" anybody at this point in time." for another term â€" wasn‘t present. Pomeroy said he had done nothâ€" â€" THE O/ Pomeroy said he had done nothâ€" ing that would have resulted in the five regional councillors having to declare a conflict. The regional chair said he was unaware of the outcome of Wednesday‘s meeting, of the new compensation bylaw, or how it might be applied to his case. Oakville‘s Liz Behrens, who chaired the committee under which the previous bylaw had passed, and then came under fire as councillors claimed they hadn‘t been aware of its full ramifications, said she supâ€" ported the new bylaw‘s content, but not the quick way it was passed. AKVILLE pLACF 8:30 p.m. til closing. Pick up your FREE gift* anytime after 8:30pm and enjoy shopping until 11:30pm! Free gift wrapping from It‘s our gift to you! to reward you for shopping Moonlight Madness this Saturday. We‘ll give you delightful, ceramic "Gingerbread Junction" Card Holder FREE, beautifully handpainted from Schmid, with a purchase of only $25 or more. * AP » Grand Toy* « Biway * The Bay(Hardgoods) * Cashway* * Fortinos* * AP (Super Fresh)* * Longo‘s (Look Book)*.+ Sears (Xmas Digest) » LOEB* * Hy Zels » Oakville Sewing Centre* « Home Depot * Nevada Bob (Xmas Flyer) «IGA* «Alsten Jewellers*® * Food City * Canadlan Tire (#349) * Partial Delivery