A Perfect Illustration

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Bedtime Story....Not":

I'd like to know how you can sleep at night when you publicly criticize staff like this.

First off, you're obviously waging a public campaign to have the CAO fire. You've written non-stop recently about him and what a terrible job he's doing. It's beneath contempt for an elected official to behave this way.

Second, you publicly criticize bylaw staff using a "source." So you have no first-hand knowledge if staff is doing what the source accuses them of. Perhaps the source has an axe to grind against the bylaw officers.

Either way, I can't believe your new colleagues haven't taken you to task over your continued public abuse of staff.

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My first inclination was to delete this comment. Then I thought...no.  It  serves to  illustrate a couple of points I have been trying to make but I'm not sure are understood. 

Use of the social media has been front and centre lately.Generally it's considered a good thing. I failed to convince Council they  should know and authorise  how it might  be used by staff. The  majority  clearly believe there need be no parameters.

The question comes down simply to how we govern ourselves. Do we elect a Council to  govern. Or is the elected body just a tool of the administration and subject to staff authority.

Call me old-fashioned.  I  believe we  are elected  to govern. It means each member of council exercises  authority as best we can  using whatever tools are available to expedite the task.

Until now, I have never known municipal staff  to have trouble with the concept.

On Monday evening ,struggling to make inroads on a budget which I cannot justify, I suggested town departments be asked for input  as to savings they might identify in their level of operations.

The CAO responded that staff were confident the budget presented   was defensible. I did not choose to challenge the statement. Budget deliberations this year, with predominantly new councillors, have been lengthy. some might say tedious, could easily become fractuous, but I would argue are necessary because those  at the table are accountable to the people who sent them there.

I did not   react  to the CAO's comment. I let it pass. It was not  however a missed opportunity.Friction between a veteran Councillor and the CAO would have detracted from  the process.

Nevertheless, my request for input from staff at the lower level was not frivolous.  I do not acknowledge the authority of the CAO to summarily dismiss a proposal by an elected representative.

Though it was not the time to engage on the question, there was  nothing  to indicate it would not subsequently be engaged.

The social  media which council believes staff  should have free rein, means  the argument  can be taken  up at any point without wasting  precious time at the council table and risking  frayed tempers and whatever else might happen in the heat of the moment.

A councillor receives many confidences. We are the ears as well as the voice of the people. The issue of not renewing a particular  contract and how it was accomplished, happened months ago. It disturbed me. I did not keep my concern to myself. Being powerless to correct what I perceived to be an injustice and cowardly incompetence, I  was obliged to publicly hold my peace.

I did not forget. I watched. I was further informed.

My job is not simply to strive to keep the cash grab in taxes at a reasonable level, it is also to make sure the service we pay for is the service we receive.

When the CAO responded  negatively to my suggestion staff at the lower level be invited to make input into possible budget savings, he sought to close that door firmly in my face. He  opened another at the same time.

By declaring  administrative confidence in the budget, he provoked a political declaration that I am not.

My confidence takes precedence.

He crossed the line.

He is in my territory.

Whatever tools are there, are mine to use.

I am not satisfied we are getting what we are paying for from the  Bylaw Department. I do not accept adding a full-time bylaw officer at a cost of $85 a year as the  answer to the problem of low productivity.

At the height of a controversy last year, failure to call for proposals  when the OHSC contract was due for renewal, an  incomplete  report  in January of this year, giving inaccurate information to the new Council with the recommendation to extend the contract, months after it's termination,is just another example of why I believe  we are  not well served .

Now does any other brave anonymous person who may or may not be a  member of staff , feel the  need to defend the  defenceless administration from the no mind, no account, two bit politician,  want to tell me  what I may or may not say on behalf of the people who  pay the bills and  elected me to  keep an eye on the store ?