Last NIght And The NIght Before

I didn't sleep much.The night before. it was contemplation of the mega-million dollar budget.

Last night, it was the after effect  of a frustrating day of budget discussion  A La Dawe et Garbe.

They are a team.

Morning started off with  yet another presentation on behalf of  the St Kitts Jazz  Festival.

The delegate informed us she had  met with The Mayor and CAO  who assured her of their support and great value to the town  of the Jazz Festival. The request was  for waiver of  user fees for town facilities to be included in the budget. 

We  probably  spent half an hour of our tightly scheduled day on the issue. 

No doubt the Mayor and CAO  felt it  was something to make  council  feel useful.

As an administrative process, it had nothing whatsoever to do with the  budget.

After a relatively sleepless night, I bestirred  this morning with the image of something learned early in my  career dancing like a sugar plum in my head.

I  watched  a  particularly glib veteran councillor converse with a resident and  realised  his effectiveness came, not from what he knew, but from what the other fellow didn't.

Jimmy could have said  the sky was purple  and the guy would have walked away thinking his eyesight had failed overnight. 

People believe  essentially what they want. Those in the  know , don't have to be  intelligent or well-informed or even possessed of integrity. Just sly enough to know when to take advantage but not always smart enough to know when there's a  difference.

Willingness to believe without thinking is the grease that keeps  economic engines  smooth and slippery.

It allows town  budgets to climb by the millions without any real effort at control. 

The Occupy movement has yet to realise  Wall Street predators and other scam artists are able to freely indulge their  greed, because  people with life savings are only too eager to share the spoils.They are gullible but willing partners .

 Here's how  the budget has gone so far.  The CAO and  half the directors  made presentations of  goals and objectives  and outlined what they need to accomplish  department objectives for 2012

Then the Mayor asked if there were  any GENERAL, comments or questions  of the directors. That portion  concluded,  discussion of particular items was invited.

A recommendation was prepared for us in two parts.  first  was to receive the presentation;  second  to approve the budget as is.

Most department budgets were  approved  as is. I asked for the clauses to be voted on separately.  But it's hard to keep track of how the votes went.

I understand the session was taped. I think it could be and should be.shown on the town's web site.

Certainly Councillor Gallo doesn't think he has had his last opportunity to make a difference.

I think that's what's intended.

In 2011, it was agreed to put $50,000 extra in council's  budget  for a curator capable of organising a museum and providing  guidance and leadership  to volunteers. The Director of Leisure Services was directed to report on terms of reference for the position The report is ready to be presented.

Yesterday the funds were dropped  from the 2012 budget.

The CAO and the Mayor have held meetings with the Historical Society's business manager. Reference  was made to  the question of ownership of the  museum collection. Subsequently, despite a public debate and a vote of council in support of the direction, the money was removed from the budget and  the project effectively  discarded.

No concern was expressed by council about the new direction decided by the Mayor and CAO.

The CAO's  department budget came forward. An item referring to a program from an  Institute for Excellence.

I asked about that. Turns out to be something bearing the  imprimatur of the Lieutenant Governor. Membership  is $10,000. It's the town's  second year of  membership which  means we  shall have spent $20,000 of town revenues. 

Membership.provides individuals to come to the town hall to train staff to function better.

No previous reports indicated they were not functioning well.

Awards are presented upon completion. We got one of the thingies last year. A dignitary we never heard of came to Council-in-Committee and made the presentation. It wasn't done on camera. That's why you didn't notice.

I asked  if the taxpayers would see  direct  benefit from the program. The CAO said no but  in the long run , they would receive better service.

It's not how I see it. The institute, like many others,  has likely been created to create jobs for friends of people in positions of sufficient influence to be able to pull that kind of mullarkey.  Quite possibly  campaign workers or contributors or the children of such, graduates from universities unable to find employment. 

In small town Aurora, the  Executive Leadership Team , less the Mayor, are among one per cent of Canadians who possess all the wealth in the country.

We hire staff  and pay them commensurate with the skills they need for the job.They are not poorly paid.

Benefits are humungous. Worth as much as  annual earnings for some people.

Twice as much as income of a  pensioner eligible for the guaranteed annual income supplement.

Value of the benefits increased again this year by more than a Canada pension increase of several years.

I expect staff to be capable of doing the job they were hired to do.  If not, the guy who does the hiring isn't.

At the salaries we pay  directors, I expect them to have all the skills of a so- called trainers of excellence.

Willy-nilly awards in the name of the governor -general to whatever sucker municipality willing to hand over $10,000 for  annual membership do not excite me.

That's you and me folks. Courtesy of your elected council.

I failed to have the item removed from the budget.