Looking for Logic in all the wrong places

Council did not adjourn until 11.30p.m. again on Tuesday. 

To  answer a previous question, no, we did not get much town business done. 

We had four presentations about accessible transit. 

 First was about  mobility transit provided by the Region whose authority it is to provide it. 

Then we heard from a representative of a Spinal Cord Injury Organisation.  he told us how important it is for municipalities to be progressive.

We received a sales pitch from the makers of a newly designed  forward thinking accessible vehicle. .
When I asked if we were in the market for accessible vehicles, the Mayor explained it was  all abut our direction to staff to review the taxi bylaw.

Then we heard from  the owner of a Bracebridge taxi company.

We received a lot of information. Not all of it useful.

Bracebridge isn't in a Region. They are  part of the Muskoka District Council. They do not have a public transit system.

Taxi service is a private operation.  There are two companies in Aurora. Our only responsibility is to issue license  under the terms of the Municipal Bylaw.

We learned  Regional accessible transit provides door to door service. The fare is the same as regular transit fares. The cost is $40.00 a ride.

I think at certain hours and on certain routes we could probably provide door to door service to everyone who uses transit for that price .

We learned  meter rates  are the same for accessibility rides. Accessible licenses are available ,one for every ten thousand population. That's five licenses. Only two are issued. That's all that have been applied for. Because there isn't the demand for more service than the need for two licenses.

We could have learned all that from a staff report.

The Region is the authority in the business of public transit.

We don't operate taxi services.

So we spent a lot of time listening to a lot of stuff that was of no use to us.

We had a many - clause resolution from Councillor Abel about making applications for music grants.

It's a new initiative of the provincial government. One of many, it seems , in preparation for e
potential election.

Details of the plan haven't been worked out yet so no application can be processed.

I made a point ,in speaking to the resolution , on the irony of school boards having to contemplate elimination of music from the curriculum while the government contemplates giving  away money for music to municipalities.

The Mayor said I was out of order.  It may well have been so.

But  since there is no formula for a  grant process, the entire resolution  was redundant and therefore out of order.

Since we have no authority in public transit, a presentation  from the maker of an accessible vehicle
was not relevant to town business . So it had no place on a business agenda.
That wasn't relevant . For  town business, it had no place on the agenda.

Since we do not operate taxi service, a presentation from a Bracebridge taxi owner was not pertinent to town business .  The information presented was  equally irrelevant to town business.

How did they get onto the town's business agenda?

It's twelve months  until  our  next election.

It  sure looks like the Boys for Fun and Frivolity and  the new Puritanism are  all set and ready to go.

Imagination  knows no bounds.