Debate Continues on the Phone Logs

Anonymous said...
Councilor Buck, I agree with you there shouldn't be a problem with monitoring outgoing or incoming calls to prevent abuse. Where we part company is in your definition of abuse. The abuse you refer to originating from the Councilors Town hall phones amounted to about $35 over a period of 2 years for all 8 phone lines.

I see that all reports and comments on this matter refer to "the former Mayor". There can only be one "the former Mayor" at this time, so let's call it as it is - the former Mayor Tim Jones took it upon himself to instruct staff to provide him with a log of all incoming and outgoing phone calls from the Councilor's phones. If determining the source of this rampant abuse was the only factor, me thinks the former Mayor Tim Jones should have consulted his fellow councilors before beginning his surveillance.

Is this an invasion of privacy? Apparently not. Should it be. I would say yes. Police require a warrant before they install a number recorder on a phone. I don't see this as any different. What distinguishes surveillance from routine office administration is the purpose for which it was carried out.

I believe a communication begins the moment a number is dialed. Vital information can be gathered from this data - who's calling who and when. The courts and police recognize this as well. Do you think maybe the former Mayor Tim Jones saw the same opportunity? Some will have you believe the former Mayor only did this for 2 years because he wanted to save $35.

PS. Wasn't it during this time that staff had determined that about $500K of repairs to the ARC were required? Did the former Mayor know about any of this? Maybe not, he was hot on the trail of $35 worth of unauthorized long distance calls.



Thanks for providing your perspective on the issue of phone log monitoring. A couple of other things were going on at the time that contribute to my own slant on the matter.

It was apparent the Councillors' rooms were barely used and therefore to my mind a waste of space. We have young staff in Aurora. Some starting families and others with pre-school children.

Because we are small, we have difficulty competing with the salaries of larger municipalities. It occurred to me, providing space for child care would encourage our employees to stay with us. At the time, there was talk of government support for outfitting child care centres by employers.

I think staff are the most valuable asset of any organisation.Continually replacing and training young professionals is not conducive to a productive workplace. We were in effect providing a training centre for our neighbours.

I moved a motion that council consider the possibility of changing the use of the councillors' rooms and staff investigate the possibility of creating a child care service. I was not aware of the phone monitoring but apparently it proved my point the rooms were not being used . The motion failed for lack of support..

On another occasion,I became aware of a circumstance with potential for abuse. I alerted the Mayor and apparently because of phone monitoring, it proved not to be a concern. No more needed to be said then or now.

You noted phone abuse amounted to $35, I did not know that. You draw a comparison to thousands of dollars of repairs needed to the Aurora Recreation Complex and suggest the Mayor failed in his responsibility. The two are not comparable.

I note the cost of phone monitoring was not measurable. Yet it did establish certain facts.

On the other hand, legal costs as yet undisclosed, to pursue a political vendetta against a defeated rival will no doubt be considerable . As seen in the "reporting out" nothing was accomplished.

I respectfully advised the Mayor from the beginning this action would be seen for what it was and using town resources to pursue a personal vendetta would not be well-received by the taxpaying public. Nor should it.

years ago,as a brand new politician, I myself received a reproachful admonition;

"When you throw mud... some of it always sticks"

You may be right and I may not. Time will tell.