Condensed Council

North Bay Mayor Vic Fedeli arranges four former city mayors for a photograph. They are (r-l) Jack Burrows, Stan Lawlor, Jack Smylie and Bruce Goulet. Photo by Phil Novak, BayToday.ca.

Four former North Bay mayors have launched a petition to try to spur the province into approving the North Bay Regional Health Centre for tender.

Stan Lawlor, Jack Burrows, Jack Smylie and Bruce Goulet appeared at Monday night's meeting to brief city council about the petition.

Lawlor, acting as spokesman for the group, said he believes the new hospital will be built but added it's "now or never."
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City council has approved a program which will allow certain homeowners to defer part of their property taxes.

The program, aimed primarily at seniors and lower income people, would allow them to defer any annual tax increases of $100 or more until they either sell their houses or die.

The defered taxes would then be paid out of the proceeds of the sale or through the estate of the deceased.
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Coun. Tom Mason had his wrists slapped by Mayor Vic Fedeli Monday night.

Mason was about to declare a conflict of interest on a motion involving a tourism initiative by the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce.

But before he declared his conflict, Mason, to quote Fedeli, began "speechifying" and saying how good he believed the motion was.

Fedeli said councilors have been warned before to just get right down to declaring their conflicts without any preambles.

More on these and other stories later this morning on BayToday.ca.