I sent a letter to The Auroran. It's my second on the budget.
Approval was given at the last Council meeting without note or comment.
It wasn't called for discussion.
Mine was the oversight.
The Auroran reaches a wider audience than Rogers Cable and wider still than my blog.
Council was not my last or only opportunity to put my position forward.
I used strong language . It would have been less emphatic in debate had there been one.
Councillors with a different perspective would have been able to rebut.
The opportunity was not provided.
Perhaps they still will.
I stated a lack of confidence in the competence or integrity of the budget. I presented a few samples to support my contention.
I was elected to take a position on matters that come before Council. The budget is most important.
A unanimous decision means the budget is approved by all. The community may take assurance from unanimity .
I am unable to provide that assurance . I have been unable to do so for seven years.
The previous Council's decisions in my estimation .were not supported by the community at large. Election results appeared to support that.
For reasons kept to themselves. there was no debate, current Council members have chosen to maintain with even more generous support than before, programs that cater to vested interests.
Council has approved double digit water rate increases every year since the one prior to the election.
I have challenged the increases. Satisfactory answers were not provided.
It's clear water does not cost more. It's a natural resource. It is ours to take.
There can only be one explanation for exorbitant increases imposed.
In my opinion, they are paying for plans to expand urbanisation within the region.
They are not transparent.
They ae sneaky and underhanded.
They are not supported by this Aurora Councillor.
ReplyDeleteYou are certainly correct on the water issue. Increases many times the rate of inflation every year. No clear explanation, no increase in service and no attempt by our Mayor who sits on regional council to do anything. But I forgot, he does not like zero based budgeting so get ready for 10% or more next year and likely thereafter.
Actually Mayor Dawe stated in one of his letters that zero-bases budgets were a ' bad ' idea. He cited instances in which those who had done that encountered later trouble. I really wish we could at least have that opportunity. I believe if you have a pre-conceived idea that something is bad, you do not consider the possibility that it might be good.
ReplyDeleteI read your previous Auroran letter. When I read it, I was disappointed that you played the "I was sick" card. Let's call a spade a spade, you dropped the ball. In your letter you used that awful word >> ASSUME. For someone that has the experience that you have, I would not expect that you would asume anything around the table.
ReplyDeleteThe reality is however, you are one voice in that room. Even if you did bring up the question, you would have been - like in previous budgets, the lone voice of nays.
I must disagree with you on the water however. It is a natural resource, but it is not ours to take. Is oil "ours to take"? or natural gas? If water was ours to take, we would not have the stupid water use bylaws that we have. Clearly there is a reason for that - could it be they don't want us to use it? Water does cost more because we have people involved in getting it to the consumer - those people get raises. Equipment must be repaired and replaced. Water costs more.
How is council sneaky and underhanded when you were "too sick" to raise a question? Sounds to me that you are feeling guilty of dropping the ball.
Evelyn,
ReplyDeleteIt was a love-in when they ok'ed the budget. A yucky mutual-admiration session of staff & council with councillor humfryes in the chair. Only councillor Thompson expressed regret that they had not done as well as he had hoped. They will not re-open the matter easily. You could hear the sigh of relief even on the streaming line.
But Mayor Dawe claims to be an expert on water. He has progressed from his initial ' Water is the Best deal Aurora Gets " to discovering that there is some water provided in taps in Canada that you cannot drink. That boy really needs to get out more often even if it only to a public school in Keswick. He sure is no water expert in my eyes. I know how much our water should be costing and we are paying far too much because the Region has told him that we must.
ReplyDeleteHazel's case is court today. I don't know if she had to go herself. John Mascarin is providing commentary for the Star as usual. Hope they only pay him for accuracy because I believe he has missed every verdict since assuming his pontificate role. That trend began with Morris' Defamation turned-SLAPP.
ReplyDelete2:48... never miss an opportunity to besmerch (sp) someone do you?
ReplyDeleteCan't let it go can you?
3:48 PM
ReplyDeleteI read that comment. Where are you finding your
" besmerchment " ? Is there anything untrue there ? Mascarin did write an article supporting Morris' case. It might have been the only one which could be why I remember it.
wow 12:48 is quick to jump to conclusions , playing the you dropped the ball card, Geesh lets find a little more compassion for the veteran councilor who has brought more gravity and common sense to the table than anyone can remember
ReplyDeleteTo 3:48 PM
ReplyDeletePlease elucidate what we are supposed to be releasing. If you are referring to the damage done by the former council & a couple of members on the current one, perhaps you have come to the wrong address? There is still a bit of work to be done.
As the writer at 3:48, I will try to explain my comment for those that cannot read between the lines.......
ReplyDelete2:48 makes a comment that puts down John Mascarin and his accuracy and that it is somehow linked to Morris' suit.
People here never let a change to slag Morris, anyone that she hired, anyone that she knows/knew, anyone that passed her on the street and said hello, etc. The vile hatred of this woman on this board is so disgusting. Meanwhile, the sitting Mayor's campaign team is being found as co-conspiritors in a plan to nail her to the wall again... and they have been found out.
8:05 AM
ReplyDeleteThat is malarkey. There was no conspiracy except in paranoid heads. Which is why the outburst the councillor Ballard predicted did not materialize. Anyone knowing the individuals named just sighed with disbelief. It didn't happen.
I see we have an early morning conspiracy buff on site..Perhaps it should be directed towards the REAL conspiracy in Aurora. That would be the concentrated effort of a few self-righteous nut-bars to destroy a sitting councillor & to prevent her from carrying on the job for which she was elected. Let's get our priorities straight here, please.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAsk the many staff whose lives were ruined by this mis-begotten creature.
Nailing to a wall is too good.
Sorry, 8:05 AM. The electorate saw from whence cometh the conspiracies and voted accordingly. You cannot re-write history.
ReplyDeleteA lot of conjecture. Brought to you by the good folks who announced that the sacking of the 1st Integrity Commish was a co-incidence!
ReplyDeleteTo 8:05.
ReplyDeleteI certainly don’t want the public to forget the political legacy of Phyllis Morris and her political supporters. No way, no how. If given half a chance history will be turned on its head by people that seem to think that the past Council did no wrong and it sounds to me like you could be one of those people. That’s your right.
I am ready willing and able to remind you and the town as often as may be required that it was Morris who was found by the courts to have commenced a strategic lawsuit intended to silence people from sharing their political views. If that is not enough to warrant your concern, Morris used a council motion in order to access public money in order to fund her PRIVATE lawsuit, despite the fact that the Charter of Rights says that governments can’t sue for defamation. What she and her council did may have been technically legal, but I hope that you see the apparent disconnect here. Of course the town funding a private defamation lawsuit is not the only thing that occurred last council term that should never be forgotten, but it sure is a doozy.
It sounds like you think that the past council “set the gold standard” but all I can hope for is that “Joe Public” considers the opinions expressed by past members of council including but not limited to, Grace Marsh, Tim Jones, Dick Illingworth, Allison Collins-Mrakas, Bob McRoberts, or alternatively does a search of the following papers: The Toronto Star, The Globe & Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Sun, The Ottawa Citizen, The London Free Press and a couple of papers out west. Apparently there are a few independent views of our past Mayor and Council that seem to come to many of the same conclusions.
On a closing note two sayings spring to mind: 1. Don’t expect to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result, and 2 "Those who ignore history are bound (or doomed) to repeat it".
I plan to ensure that we don’t make the same mistakes as we have in the past as a result of forgetting history. That is my democratic right even if you and others don’t respect it.
To 3:37 PM
ReplyDeleteWelcome aboard the rocky vessel upon which we ride. I believed you might be a new voice. All I can add to your comment is one of my own.
There is a danger is slipping backwards & we are trying not to do such a thing. Right now, the third of the lawsuits - unless I have missed a couple - is winding it's way through the court system. If you can help with that, please do so.