"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Saturday 24 September 2011

Here's The Deal

Town staff do not approve spending. Council does.

This $800Ks boondoggle is a carry over from the previous term

The comment is frequently made  we should move on. The past is past.  We should get on with the job and stop harping on about the past.

Remember the past!!! The first person out the door in the exodus was Director of Public Works. Close behind him went his associate. He was pushed aside in the Knowles Crescent debate in favour of Councillor MacEachern as the preferred go-to person. $60Ks worth of cheques to restore driveways ro former elegance were distributed in time for Christmas.

The Chief Administrator was not allowed to do his job.   He left. The Town Treasurer wasn't long after him.

The Director of Planning retired although it was not in her plans and we certainly lost an invaluable resource and the keeper of our institutional history.

The Director of Corporate  Affairs/Clerk managed to survive for two more years until he could retire with full pension benefits.He did what he had to.

The Clerk who replaced him signed a five year contract but left after eight months when she handed me the decision wrought by the Integrity Commissioner. who lasted four months less.

He was "stripped of his authority" after elaborate efforts to contrive his dismissal before his decision was " known" to Council.

Had the clerk not provided it to me  as required under the  process, I doubt the decision would ever have seen the light of day.

They would have hired Tsubouchi  sooner rather than later and completed  their evil objective.

The snow storage plan got into the ten year capital construction forecast during the  period when nothing at all was allowed that wasn't designed to promote the public persona of the presiding member and her loyal band of followers.

The entire administration was commandeered for that purpose. No person under the Town Hall roof was allowed to forget to whom they owed their job.

The plan  was started, consultant fees  were paid and a design prepared.

Staff are bound to proceed with this and other foolhardy projects until this council decides to stop it.

They must be removed from the forecast or they continue to move along like juggernauts towards completion.

The onus is now upon those you elected to turn things around and get back on a sensible track.

At budget time, a number if items were deferred until council could  spend more time considering theimplicatons. But back they came, one by one.

Huge expenditures for repairs to the Aurora Family Leisure Complex have already gotten through by sleight of hand.

The snow storage bamboozle is next on the list.

It did not get past the first barrier. We can only hope.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We have now graduated to "Through the Looking Glass."

To perpetuate flawed and faulty planning that was initiated as part of a self aggrandizement project - one that unfortunately lasted for four years - is to continue the malfeasance of the past.

The present Council needs to get its collective head out of the gopher hole, and wipe the slate clean of all the stupidly contentious and knuckle-minded plans and projects that are a continuing mill-stone on our budget.

I should like to suggest, in the most strenuous of tones, to the CAO, the other Directors, and indeed to all of our patient and capable staff, that it's time to do whatever is appropriate, or get of the pot. And if you are unable to respect the members of Council who would clean up the trash from the past four years, then you should do so for those of us in the audience who pay your quite handsome annual stipends.

And if you don't have the courage to do this, you should tender your resignation(s) forthwith.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Waste , can you fill us in on what’s going on over at the old Hydro Building, looks desolate as hell , is there some kind of top secret military think tank happening over there , have they constructed a subterranean entrance into the place , Has the Town canceled the Deal ? fill us in Please

Anonymous said...

You should get 20 copies of this week's posts and comments put into file folders and distributed to members of Council and all Department heads.

The folder should be titled: WE THE PEOPLE

Maybe someone will pay attention.