Weirder and Weirder

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "I Need Something":

I don't know what exactly you are looking for. I think we all know that the whole issue with the A-C blog in regards to the courts was anonymous postings. Are looking for someone to tell you who made accusations against the St. Kitts?

You profess to have a good memory, were you not there?

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I do not profess to have a good memory. How do I know if mine is better than anyone else's? It's the only one I know.

I was there. When a vote is decided, I move on to the next item of business. I take no responsibility for decisions made. Only for the vote I cast. When I've done that I have fullfilled my legal responsibility as a member of council.

It is not my job to provide leadership and guidance.

I am not the Mayor.

What I  seek  at the moment, is confirmation  there was a silent auction held at the  2009 fundraiser held at the Aurora Legion on March 27th.2009. It had been part of  previous fund-raisers but I wasn't there.So I do not know from personal experience.

My impression was the questions swirling  about at the time were related to  success of the  auction. 

It made sense that people who donated prizes would be interested in  knowing  their contributions  helped realise the objective

I did find  in the March 24th  Record of the Council Meeting , confirmation  the event was a fund-raiser.

It came from the Mayor's announcement from the chair. 

Also the record showed a resolution "for an additional $2.000 be allocated to the Canada Day Parade budget which raised  the amount to $10,000 and

That the float revenue goes back into the Canada Day Parade budget and

That the CAO ensure financial controls are in place through the appropriate departments including authorisation to raise funds and that they be properly directed "

The motion was moved by Councillor Granger, seconded by Councillor MacEachern.

On a recorded vote, the motion carried on a vote of 8 to 1.

The dissenting vote  to providing funds from the treasury was mine.

In the March 31st meeting of the Leisure Services Advisory, Canada Day Parade Sub- Committee Report, I found  reference to the town's approval of $10,000 with additional funds from parade entry float fees to be applied to the Special Canada Day Parade General Ledger with the Town of Aurora.

From the beginning,neither the Parade  nor the day-long celebration  of July 1st has been  a burden to taxpayers. Every service club and organisation and umpteen other volunteers, participated to ensure  that reality.

The beer garden, was the biggest money-maker .  It was also hard labour for service club members. They  took turns annually. Some clubs were smaller than others. Then  they realised the town's huge initiative interfered with their own missions.

Not  until  the St Kitts woman arrival , were funds in the amount of $10,000 provided from the treasury to fund the July 1st Parade.

Going back through this record was interesting

Readers may re-call my efforts, on behalf of the people asking questions, to have staff obtain an accounting for funds raised by the Canada Day Parade Sub-Committee of the Leisure Services Committee, hit a blank wall.

Somehow  the Christmas Dream Team  got into the discussion. Staff  responded,  without acknowledging  the recorded  direction  from  Council, they had no authority  to require an accounting from a private voluntary fund-raising group.

I persisted the fund-raising was done under the auspices of the town  They persisted it was done by the Christmas Dream Team.

We got lots of abuse for asking but no answers. Comes a time to set an issue aside for a bit.

The record reveals a couple of other inconsistencies. The Treasurer on staff  when Granger's resolution  passed, was on his way out.  He  submitted his resignation the day the new CAO took over.

The new Treasurer was not there when the resolution directing "the CAO  to ensure financial controls were in place through the appropriate department. including authorization to raise funds and that they are properly directed"

The  Municipal Clerk is the statutory officer responsible for ensuring Council direction is followed

The Municipal Clerk was not present at the March 24th  meeting.

The Clerk joined the Municipality in November 2008. The CAO ,at the beginning of January.

Both took vacation during the March school break.

I've got more on this particular Council meeting. Stay tuned.