"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 5 October 2013

The Path Not Chosen

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Various Degrees of Conundrum":

It sounds as though you have been marginalized in this report. I find it difficult to understand why the consultants did not just phone you with their questions. It is not as if you are off the rada

Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 5 October 2013 20:15

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I had the opportunity to offer  input to  the study. Staff let me know when the consultants would be talking to Councillors. It  was o be my call to make  an appointment.

The Mayor  was disappointed  that I did not. 

I didn't choose to .  The consultants probably didn;t know I existed. 

I didn't vote in favour of another consultant study.

When politicians want something  said and don't want to be the ones to say it, ta consultant  is retained, or a solicitor  or whoever else they can pay to say it.  It's a modern practise.Now that we are not a small town and have a $52 million budget. 

Once , many years ao, we had an officer whose advice was always  sound and honest. But he had a serious problem getting things done. He was well liked and valued for his strengths . But his weakness was a serious liability to the corporation. 

A consultant  was  retained to  discover the problem that we knew full well and recommend a solution. 

He advised  the position of Chief Administrative Officer  would entail making sure things got done in  a timely manner. 

Recruitment was set in motion. Applications were received.

The person with the problem was appointed to the office with  the necessary advance in salary and responsibility.

The  story ending was not happy ever after.

Consultant reports can  paper over  a variety of problems.

With a willing buyer and a willing seller.

I am neither .

My input was unlikely to  see the light of day . The clients would have found it unacceptable.

Like  any other discordant notes  and I'm sure there were some that didn't survive the final edit, it would not have fit the desired outcome

Council has  now approved the content.

The  final report will be written  and presented in December.

To  be used   for reference henceforth to influence any  and all decisions that need to be made.

Particularly at budget.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...


Possibly the Executive Management Team can do something useful for a change.

It, in conjunction with its staff could prepare a questionnaire ranking a number of services from 1 to 10, or from poor to excellent. The draft questionnaire should then be run by councillors for additions, deletions

The questionnaire should also ask if the respondent knows the cost to the town for a given service and whether fees for services are too high or not high enough. After all, you get out what you put in.

The final questionnaire should be mailed out either with water bills or with property tax notices.

Emphasis should be made that "since this is your town, you should take the trouble to answer and return the questionnaire by the date specified."

Anonymous said...

But don't bother sending one to 26 Holman Cr., 11:54.