I heard something horrifying yasterday. Grossly unjust. I can't believe it happened in our town.
Last night I asked for an item to be added to the in -camera agenda and it was.
I am responsible to protect the privacy of the individual so I can't provide details. But I also needed
to double check the facts.
Surprisingly that proved to be problematic. Asking for the facts might be perceived as "micro-managing"
Perish that thought.
The job of a twenty-sixyear employee with an unblemished record is said to have been wiped out
and taken away in re-organising for the customer service plan.
"Isn't that what you wanted ...for jobs to be reduced" I was asked.
I ended up swearing at a Councillor.
He asked "What do you want us to do? Storm the Bastille. ?"
"Damned right" I said. " and I will storm the F...... Bastille if I something so f.....unfair is going on"
When I calmed down, I thought about their reaction.
The administration is the Bastille? A No Go for Councillors?
The role of Councillor is nothing more than social convener.
Concerts, Sports Hall of Fame, entertaining the crowd ,building a teen centre and financing high -brow culture with hundreds of thousands of tax dollars.
When told the poor were rioting because they had no bread, Marie Antoinette said:
"Let them eat cake"
The old bait and switcheroo technique at work here . Now he's for it then he's not. With luck, if someone tries to recall which side he was on, they can easily be convinced he was always on the side of the angels. Whichever that happened to be.
BTW I haven't finished with the Level of Services study yet.
The consultants deemed recreation programs discretionary". They could be eliminated to save money.
Budget for recreation programs is $5 million.
Revenues recovered is $5 million.
Even Steven
No other municipality recovers costs as we do. And it's not all in user fees. Staff actively solicit sponsorships from local business to keep costs down.
There's irony for you Recreation staff ask tax paying employers to contribute to programs for families . And they do so generously.
Then politicians put their hands into the same pockets and take money to hand over to private operations.
Council is currently contemplating delineating an area of downtown to be eligible for grants and loans to spruce up their properties. The largesse to come out of taxpayers pockets.
The idea came from the back room boys.
You don't know who they are.
If I told you, you still wouldn't know.
"...and financing high -brow culture"
ReplyDeleteWrong again, Councillor. No-brow or any-brow, maybe, but you persist in flogging some non-existent 'elitist' horse. If you actually set foot in the place, you could see the full spectrum of citizenry, both young and old.
But no, you just clutch onto your misplaced prejudices and bloody-minded biases.
ReplyDeleteFirst order of business - stop hiring consultants at big dollars to provide reports that can be endlessly debated. Plenty of staff here and at the Region. Projects like customer centers have been tested at numerous other municipal governments.
It is clear to me that we need representation by ward. All these councillors at large are a drag to town business - nobody knows who is doing what and some are doing nothing except talking in circles. No one has ownership of anything. Yes, there are some negatives to ward representation but nothing could be worse than what we have.
A strong Mayor (not this one)can thrive in a ward system where councillors have ownership of specific issues. You have to be prepared to give and take to advance your concerns. Not so in our current system where you can pool your ignorance bi-weekly with impunity.
I would certainly like to hear what others have to say about moving to a ward system.
They seem to have contacted a case of " Fortress Mentality ". Really glad we have that meeting on tape because no one would believe it otherwise.
ReplyDeleteCouncil believe that they are in charge of the care of those lonely trees. What happens when a branch needs to be removed. Are we on the hook for that ?
ReplyDeleteTwo lawyers cautioned the councillors on the current by-law and their ability to give orders, It was useless. When, and if this gets to court, the owner is going to clobber the town and we will have to stop talking abut it because of legal implications'
For 3 trees on a man's property ?