Hallelujah! We(I) Have Seen The Light

It's a funny thing about writing. Sometimes you have to read your stuff back to yourself to spot something obvious. .

In the last two posts I set down what happened at the end of Tuesday's Committee Meeting Councillor MacEachern tore apart documentation submitted by Leisure Services Director to support her intention to refer the matter elsewhere.

The material was in support of a recommendation to prepare specifications and call tenders for servicing a community park and construction of a baseball diamond as promised at the time of the last budget.

When the Councillor finished her diatribe,the Mayor picked up the theme and the issue was referred to the attention of the Chief Administrative Officer

A year ago, the night of the 2008 budget, the Baseball Association came to Council to plead for desperately needed facilities to be included in the budget. The Mayor directed Leisure Services Director to proceed with designs the very next day. There was joy and laughter and applause from the audience. They left the council chamber believing their worries were over and the Mayor was their champion.

Under the direction of Councillor Mac Eachern, the project had been eliminated from the previous budget.

The Director has done nothing but follow direction since.

But neither he nor I have understood the subliminal message. Not until I read the last Blog. Current direction is for the Chief Administrative Officer to report on the issue. On the basis of what ?

Well... of course... I have seen the light... on the basis that this council does not intend to run the gauntlet of hostile public opinion by going forward with the project after they deliberately created the false impression it was an outrageous price and would be a horrendous burden on the taxpayer.

They want a report from staff to give them an out from making a decision that might cost them support in the next election. If the Mayor can flim-flam the Baseball Association once, she can do it again.

Council must maintain their image as diligent keepers of the public purse.

In fact, the opposite is true.

If we do not spend the money .... taken from developers for the purpose ... there's a good chance, it will have to be given back. York Region has had to do that because of a miscalculation of need.

Add to that, our current round of calculations for development charges cannot be supported by the same level of service as the last. Because we failed to fulfill a need we forecast in 2003. We cannot claim a level of service that is not our level of service.

Talk about shooting ourselves in both feet.