It's about Accountability

Council turned down the recommendation  to install a lighting plan costing  over $300,000 and opted for the one  at  $33,000.
 $9,000  were added for L.E.D. lights.

 60% less energy is required  and fixtures last considerably longer. .It's said so often no-one doubts it. My problem is how to prove it. The energy bill for street lights is not likely to be separate, street by street.

The Mayor assures me  the town inly has one standard for lighting. I think  since lighting is for pedestrians, there should be a different standard for a different level of pedestrian traffic. 

 I am also concerned  that  engineering staff assume "most" streets in  town are the same. They are not. An inventory of assets  should identify  differences. 

If its  purpose is  efficient maintenance  for assets , I don't see how that can be accomplished without  understanding level and nature  of traffic. . 

An estate lot might have one house on an average of three acres. 
An urban neighbourhood would have twenty-seven houses on three acres. . There would certainly be a different level of wear and tear on the roads.

If  inventory of assets doesn't provide that  information, I really don't know it's purpose. 

Remember $440,000 software program was spent fifteen months ago. It   isn't  running and  continues to  soak  up  additional resources .
 
 I voted against it. Council  approved the spending because  it was obviously "the way to go".   
.At the rate  we're going  and software goes, the program may be obsolete before it has even been utilised. 

It may  have been the  wrong way to go ..

I tell you this for a reason.

A new Council, without experience, puts  faith in  staff  advice. It ought to be O.K.

But that's not  a Councillor's  job. 

The job is to ruthlessly scrutinise  recommendations.

When the vote is cast, it becomes a Council  decision .

Accountability  does not rest with staff. 

Staff do not account  to the electorate. Councillors do

Each and every one.