Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Am I
Qualified to Judge.":
To answer your question... no you are not
qualified.
If you (or other councillors) were qualified, why would you
hire people to do this job? After all, council is a part time job isn't it.
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If we extend the argument above to its conclusion, we would have to conclude there is no need for a Council at all whether it be part-time or full-time
No need for a Council, election. or opportunity to choose from a selection of candidates for representation.
If Council's role is to rubber stamp staff recommendations. there really is no useful role.
No need for democracy or the right to govern ourselves
Remarkably.that's fairly close to the situation we currently find ourselves.
Our current Mayor is completely content to work hand in glove with the administration.
At the last Council meeting, he presented a motion to study base level of services provided.
At the very next meeting , there's a recommendation from the CAO to retain a consultant at a cost of $60,000 to study base level of services.
A resolution from a Councillor adopted by Council .can disappear for over twelve months with the explanation no time limit was given for the undertaking.
On Tuesday, the Mayor flew into a temper tantrum that a recommendation from staff would be queried by Councillor Gaertner and myself.
That's a story in itself.
Last year about this time at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon
sponsoring the Town's First Citizen, the Mayor gave a happy guest the news the town would be providing sidewalks on both sides of the Industrial Parkway.
It seems, they came at the guest's request to the Mayor.
And so it came to be.
I can cite a number of recommendations to Council in the past few years cited as "compromises" to professional recommendations.
None of which did anything to secure my confidence in professional recommendations.
Remember when we hooked up three Canadian Tire parking lot lights to the town's street system to satisfy a completely unreasonable citizen demand.
Or when the town shifted road and utilities a metre over so a determined resident would not have a sidewalk abutting the lot line thereby increasing space he had for driveway parking and depriving the amenity of neighbours across the road.
Early in the last term, former Councillor Grace Marsh asked how could a Councillor know all that was needed to know.
I answered; "You can't know it all. You have to be able to depend on staff "
It was not long after that staff who could be relied upon were replaced
Not to have confidence in staff multiplies the responsibility ofa Councillor many times over.
Blind adherence to a principle that no longer applies means the community is not served well.
The # of Town staff continues to increase while the # of jobs done by outside 'experts' increases right along with it. The current staff claimed to be ' too busy ' to add the Aurora Birthday Party to their list. Then there was a problem with the audit because of a staffing difficulty. I have lost track of how many times that guy in his shirt sleeves has said in reply to a Councillor.
ReplyDelete" Well, no. We do not have the staff to handle that in-house. But so & so in a different place can provide that service for us."