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8 + WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, March 5, 2008 Peter WINKLER PUBLISHER Bob VRBANAC EDITOR ext. 229 editorial@ waterloochronicle.ca sports @ waterloochronicle.ca EDITORIAL jormston@waterloochronicle.ca Jennifer ORMSTON REPORTER ext. 203 Greg MACDONALD REPORTER ext. 215 gdmacdonald@ waterloochronicle.ca SALES REPRESENTATIVES Norma CYCA ext. 223 ncyca@waterloochronicle.ca Jackie HAMILTON ext. 228 jhamilton@waterloochronicle.ca Carly GIBBS ext. 222 cgibbs @waterloochronicle.ca Gerry MATTICE ext. 230 RETAIL SALES MANAGER sales@ waterloochronicle.ca bsokolowski @ waterloochronicle.ca CLASSIFIED $19â€"895â€"5230 CIRCULATION $19â€"886â€"2830 ext. 213 Canadian Publications Mail Sales Publication Agreement Number 40050478 International Standard Serial Num ber ASSN 0832â€"3410 Audited Circulation: 31,292 ADVERTISING Brenda SOKOLOWSKI ext. 202 each Wednesday by Metroland Media Group Ltd. The Waterloo Chronicle is published ONTARIO PRESS COUNCIL The Waterloo Chronicle is a member of The Ontario Press Council, which considers complaints against memâ€" ber newspapers. Any complaint about news, opinions advertising or conduct should first be taken to the newspaper. Unresolved complaints can be brought to: Ontario Press Council, 2 Carlton Street, Suite 1706, Toronto, ON., MSB 113. COPYRIGHT The contents of this newspaper are protected by copyright and may be used only for personal nonâ€"commerâ€" cial purposes. All other rights are reserved and commercial use is proâ€" hibited. To make any use of this material you must {\rst obtain the permission of the owner of the copyâ€" right. For further information conâ€" tact Bob Vrbanac, Editor, Waterloo Chronicle, 279 Weber St. N., Suite 20. Waterloo, Ontario N2J 3H8. LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor must contain the writer‘s full name, signature, address and telephone number. Addresses and telephone numbers are used only for verification purposes and will not be published. Names will not be withâ€" held. We reserve the right to edit, conâ€" dense or reject any contribution for brevity or legal purposes. Letters may be submitted by fax to 519â€"886â€"9383 or by email to editorial@waterâ€" loochronicle.ca or by mail or delivâ€" ered to Waterloo Chronicle, 279 Weber St. N., Suite 20, Waterloo, Ontario N2J 3H8. WATERLOO CHRONICLE 279 Weber St. N., Suite 20 Waterioo, Ontano N2J 3H8 519â€"886â€"2830 Fax: 519â€"886â€"9383 ww w. waterloochronicle.ca FAX 519â€"886â€"9383 EMAIL editorial@ waterloochronicle.ca wire q fter almost four years of hanging over the city like a ark, threatening cloud the $8.3â€"million lawsuit regarding former CAO Bob Robertson is finally settled. See ya later Bob, we hardly knew you after only being in the job a couple of days. But that didn‘t stop him from filing a wrongful dismissal suit against the city and seekâ€" ing damages for defamation. The whole sad, sordid mess started when the city hired Robertson to replace the disgraced former CAO Tom Stockieâ€" he of the RIM Park affair. The goal was to replace him with someone who was above board, had an impeccable reputation and would restore the lustre of Waterloo‘s tarnished city hall. _ Unfortunately, the simplest thing of Googling Bob Robertson before he was named as Stockie‘s replacement wasn‘t done. It was found that he didn‘t reveal all that he should have about his employment history, and he was dismissed on those grounds. That started the legal quagmire that the city has found itself in over the last four years regarding their CAO for a day, but at least it was supposed to teach city hall a lot about doing their due diligence and achieving the transparency that all citizens want. And it was an expensive lesson to learn, costing the city $120,000 to settle the case and pay for all the legal fees involved, with another $50,000 coming from the search firm that also dropped the ball. But did the city really learn the lessons about transâ€" parency that this case was supposed to teach them? _ How do you explain council delaying the discussion of the settlement until the end of their meeting Monday night? Why bury it? Shouldn‘t the city have told public this was coming an perhaps suggest why the settlement was a good route to take with their lawyers in tow? At least one councillor suggested we shouldn‘t have paid Roberston a thing. And if the city had a case, why settle at all? Those questions were never answered with the way the city handled the news of this settlement. CAOh! VIEWPOINT see that I wasn‘t the only Ione bent out of shape over the state of our roads after my most recent column about potholes. More than $600 later and I‘m still fuming. That‘s what it cost me to fix the right front spring of my car after it embedded itself in my brand new snow tire. Luckily, when that spring sprung it didn‘t happen while I had the baby in the back seat. But I‘m sure he would have bounced out of it when I hit that pothole on Bearinger Road almost two weeks ago. Since then I‘ve mused about filing a claim against the city, and asked if anyone else has had a similar experiâ€" ence. I heard from a coworker about a line of cars at the new GTO gas station at the corner of King and Weber Streets with half a dozen driver all checking out their newly bent rims. I‘ve heard from readers about the moonscapes that they normally travel. The describe the streetscape as if their were peppered with meteor rocks. At least on a lunar landâ€" scape the low gravity would let you bounce over these litâ€" tle minefields. Back here on earth the rules of physics apply where a moving object â€" your car â€" hits an infmovable object â€"a manâ€"sized crater â€" and something‘s got to give. In my case it was the front susâ€" The tow truck drivers and local mechanics I‘ve talked to say it‘s been a bumper I even had a city councilâ€" lor commiserate with me. But there‘s not much they can do as the city fights a losing battle just to keep up with the freeze, thaw cycle we‘ve been in this winter. It has to be submitted within 10 days to the clerk of the municipality with responsibility for the road. Remember that some roads are the city‘s responsibility, and some are regional roads like University Avenue. And according to the number of claims filed against local municipalities it is more than bumpers that are out of joint this year. So far in 2008, 101 claims have been made against the Municipal Insurance Pool that indemnifies local municipalities. So what can you do? File That‘s up from 13 claims filed up to this point last year. Insurance officials are calling it an unusual year. No kidding, just unusual? There‘s a lot more descriptive language that people are ‘using for the obstacle courses they‘re runâ€" ning on local roads. But don‘t hold your breath that your claim will be paid. Only 13 per cent of claims made last year were accepted. That means that more than 90 of 104 total claims made were rejected. All the municipality has to prove is that it met the minimum standard in mainâ€" taining and repairing the road. And those standards are very exacting giving municipalities up to four days to fix major roads, and 30 days for side streets. So what are some of the worst roads out there? Well, the major arterial roads aren‘t fairing well according to my unscientific survey. And I‘ve had votes for almost every street in the city. I leave the last word to reader Claire Nabrotzky who came up with a Top 10 list of why municipalities aren‘t quick to fill the holes. In addition to making good bird feeders, potholes also provide traffic calming. Potholes can induce labour in pregnant women and are a great study in eroâ€" sion for local students. Nabrotzky‘s conclusion, tongue firmly planted in cheek, is that we need more