I have not voiced my views on this subject, given the amount of support the harbour master and staff have recieved these past few weeks.   I assumed clearer heads would prevail and a solution would be found to this dilemma.

I have been working professionally in this area for twenty years plus and I have not seen a better harbour master in Port Elgin yet.  As people managers ourselves, we know people are not perfect. We need to mold them to fit the situation that is at hand.

I am pretty sure that it was not in Peter's job description, when we were both trying to re-float the docks early last spring and when Peter has called us after hours (12:00 a.m.) to help with sinking boats, that would have closed the harbour potentially for  weeks due to an environmental impact - costing unknown amounts of money and inconvenience for all involved.

This is not a small matter, as we have just returned from the Toronto boat show, and I personally had conversations with people from the Ottawa area to Cleveland, Ohio asking "What is going on up there?" Boating is a very close knit community and boaters communicate on a year round basis and plan their trips months and even years ahead.

I can speak personally about the efforts that go into being a harbour master as my father had the position in Southampton years ago.   Every task is handled on a personal basis!

With this all said, I can only hope that you make the correct decision and we can get back to the job that needs doing and that is - customer service.  After all, we all are customes at some point.