"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 27 October 2012

I Don't Need To Ask

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "SAYONARA":

If you ask, I'm sure you'll find the insistence that employees not be considered municipal employees was most likely made by the Town's negotiators. Why would the Town want extra people on the payroll (probably at higher than present, pay equity wages), plus the responsibility of Town staff benefits packages (including an OMERS pension contribution)?

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I do not argue that point.
It's another reason the munificent ,open-ended  agreement with separate, independent, Board of Management for Church Street School  was dicey from the start.
Some centre staff  may have  left secure jobs to accept appointments at  Church Street school.
I am convinced the former Mayor wrote the agreement,without   town staff involvement.How much she had to do with the operation after that is anybody's guess.
How could that have happened?
I am not in a position to provide that information with any degree of certainty. 
Certainly, the Council directed review by  the new town solicitor produced no information. 
How many votes were garnered by the sweet deal  that reflected anything but public interest,we will never know.
I gather weeks of document-shredding went on  in the Mayor's office after the election 
No more than we will ever know what  persuaded  the Historical Society to surrender legal contract that protected their financial investment in Church Street School.  
It was at that time, the President of the Society suggested  a budget similar to the library board for the program provided by a fifty-nine member association with a board of directors and a separate  executive committee.    

8 comments:

Anonymous said...


Talking about the former mayor, I was intrigued to see in the Minutes of Council meeting dated October 23 under XII - NEW BUSINESS/GENERAL INFORMATION the following:

"Councillor Thompson said that the Town of Aurora was in the National newspaper due to Court findings from when former Mayor Morris launched her original motion, she engaged in "strategic litigation against public participation", in an action often referred to as a SLAPP suit. He advised that he would be bringing forward a Notice of Motion to address questions, costs, and to make amends to the residents of Aurora stemming from former Mayor Morris's actions."

It will be very interesting to see Councillor Thompson's Notice of Motion.

He has always struck me as a quiet, soft-spoken, intelligent individual who thinks before he speaks, and when he does he tends to do so briefly and to the point.

I can think of several fellow-councillors who would serve the public better if they would emulate Councillor Thompson more.

Anonymous said...

I think it's a good thing that your desperate, last-ditch effort to scupper the new agreement failed. Your suggestion for the Cultural Centre to be a Town-run facility would obviously cost the taxpayers more than the current model does.

Anonymous said...

Point of Information about next week's meeting, please. Am I correct in thinking that this one will simply move the Jazz matter to the following week? That nothing gets carved in stone?

Anonymous said...

2:00 PM
I wonder if you are even capable of writing a comment that does not drip malice or sarcasm, what you mistakenly term ' wit '. Such a positive force in Aurora - not.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this strange day. An unexpected roller-coaster.

Anonymous said...


To 2:00 PM

Are you a culture vulture or what? Do you prefer ballet to potting? High social tea or just the old kitchen pot variety?

The current model is broken and too expensive.

If it were run with greater efficiency the town could save $100,000/year.

And that's only after a quick look at their last budget and projections.

And as a town "owned and operated" we might be able to cash in on all the grant money that provincial and federal governments like dispensing, although a bit less so in these mean times.

Anonymous said...

7:48 PM
I will tell you who/what 2:00 PM is but it doesn't help us clear it off the Blog. The nastiness is OK, I guess, when just aimed at Evelyn & regulars who can handle it. Lately it has been hitting at new people making their first comments. All sarcastic & negative.
I believe it is a failed candidate from the last election who pretty well hates everything about this Blog and those on it. Had a Blog of its own which lapsed after the election. The main criticism on the Citizen when it ran was for' arrogance ' and, yes I think it is definitely a culture vulture.

Anonymous said...

7:48, in answer to your questions: no, no, and brown betty.

In answer to your math: no.