E-Mails Are Better

This has been a busy week with lengthy e-mails flying back and forth seeking enlightenment from staff. on problems  brought to my attention by residents.
It's  more convenient than the phone. .
I don't have to wait for a call back. I don't have to get exasperated by a voice message five or six times and still not   speak to a human being.
I know it's not reasonable to expect Directors to be waiting for the phone to ring.  To interrupt whatever they are doing to respond.
 At the same time the image that comes to my mind is of a town hall completely vacant  except for the telephones.
With e-mail, staff can read  the  inquiry, respond to it when
time is available and that usually  happens before the day is out.
I circulate my e-mails to Councillors and the CAO  so that everyone is aware of the questions and answers. 
So that's what's Ive been doing this week
And not writing blogs. 
I'm going out to a barbecue at the Region  to kick- off fund-raising for  the Special Olympics Team that won gold in Alberta last  Spring. 
They are going to Korea next Spring to represent Canada .
They won gold because they scored the most goals, blocked the most goals and displayed the most sportsmanlike conduct.
I  like to think the last was the reason their team twas selected to represent Canada.
I am very proud.
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On Tuesday's agenda, we had a report for information about where 
funds  might come from to pay $16million cash for the  joint centre planned for public works and parks departments.
It's not a done deal.
You may be interested in one of the figures; $1.3 million from water and sewer rates reserve.
The Region is responsible for supply and storage of water and transport / treatment of waste water at a Lake Ontario treatment plant that serves Durham and York. They  buy 75% of  the water we use from Toronto and Peel Region. 
The town is responsible for treatment and distribution of water and collection of sewage and delivery to .The Big Pipe.
Water rates charged to consumers  produce the revenue to pay  the region's bill. 
We found in the past, they paid for more than that.We got that changed.  
Huge increases have been imposed  in the past three years and more are anticipated in the next two.It is not clear why.
Now,here's the  current conundrum; why would we  have collected sufficient funds from  water and sewer rates to have over a million dollars to spare for  infrastructure that has nothing to do with treatment and distribution of water and collection of sewage. 
That infrastructure is in the ground.
We have been spending an average of a million dollars a year inserting plastic liners into sewer pipes to prevent ground water from seeping in and  thereby reduce  the flow of waste water to be treated and paid for. Also to allow more  capacity for new development.
We've been doing that for about ten years. Apparently a way to determine if  the practice works is yet to be determined..
I asked this year and was told the region is planning to spend millions to come up with a methodology.
Now I ask you. I am sitting at a Council table with eight other people hearing that.We spend millions on a scheme to reduce infiltration of ground water to mix with waste water  and ten yeasr after the fact we are plannin to spend additional millions to see if it works.  
How do you  calculate  how much water there is in the ground and how much managed to seep into the sewer pipes in the past  and how much isn't seeping in  now because of  a flexible  plastic liner    threaded through the pipes. .
Even when  ground water exists, how would a liner inside the pipe stop it from getting in at the joints and joining the gravity flow to  trickle merrily on down into the trunk sewer.
If anybody comes up with a sensible answer to that question, I look forward  to hearing  it. In the meantime, we spend millions hoping it's doing what I don't believe  it is.  
There are other figures in the list of likely sources to pay for the $16 million  joint facility. that might interest you. 
Why today's  taxpayers  should  pay cash for a facility to serve the community for the next fifty years is another  question that might bear examination. .
Gotta Go now.