I read Chris Watts latest post twice to be sure I understood.
It appears the town failed to file an application for assistance from the Province to cover damage from last winter's ice storm.
The deadline has been extended twice.
The application is detailed.
Only one municipality has filed an application. Not one of six Conservation authorities eligible have applied.
Municipal Affairs Minister has chosen the media to alert municipal Councils they have fallen down on the job or to alert the media municipal councils have fallen down on th job.
There does seem to be a concerted effort at the Province to alienate municipal governments .
It doesn't explain the municipal failure.
But it's not my job anymore.
According to the Mayor, it never was.
Nor his either.
He's dead set against micro-managing.
As far as I could judge, main job of the 2010//2014 Mayor and Council was social conveners ,
Buying hotly-toity stuff like arts and culture and floating crazy schemes like Disney type heritage theme parks and converting Aurora to a university town like Kingston or Guelph.
A lot of high -price personnel time and money was spent on looney tunes.
Maybe the application for financial assistance to cover ice-storm damage didn't get processed because of pressure of greater priorities.
On the other hand, the application would have been the responsibility of the Chief Financial Officer. He was never asked for financial viability advice on anything much. Consultants were retained.
That always seemed odd.
Well , maybe not. If enough stuff is odd, at what point does it become the norm?
It's not a flip question
The Town did receive the annual award for excellence from the Institute of Excellence created for the purpose of soliciting memberships and making awards to paid up members. Another one of those
NGOs whose purpose is the public good
The town did not fail to file the application that qualifies claim to excellence despite evidence to the contrary.
I write this post in the hopes it will capture attention of those who claim not to read Watts trending
Apparently the deadline for application for the grant has been extended to December 31st. There is still time to qualify.
It's not as if Provincial hot-shots didn't know about the ice storm and the damage.
Though Municipal Affairs Minister Linda Jeffrey did quit in March to run for the better-paid job of Mayor of Brampton.
Confound it ! I'm sure I heard a discussion at Council in which the top guy said that application had been filed with the province but that they expected it might take time because of how many could apply.
ReplyDeleteIs that a goof or a whopper ?
I suppose there is some consolation in knowing Aurora wasn't the only place that erred and that the dead-line has been extended. I wonder if Cllr Gaertner knows yet.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, you are going to be accused of " enabling "
ReplyDeleteMr Watts again.
12:33. I thought I heard the same. Maybe we didn't qualify for any relief money. I hope that's the case and not just another oops.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting when one does a bit of independent research.
The old council that just departed was possibly too self-satisfied with our town's reputation as being a great place to live, had wonderful facilities, and had no compunction about paying over half a million dollars a year for our culture centre, or authorizing an expenditure of more than $26,000,000 for a joint ops centre with all the bells and whistles (original best estimate was ten million less).
Our average household income is $118,223 according to the MoneySense full ranking of Canada's best places to live, 2014. This is not chicken feed. But we are only 24th on their comprehensive list. So maybe we should have swallowed some of our pride and submitted a completed claim form to the province.
Maybe council felt the town really didn't need financial assistance from the province, that there were other communities whose needs were greater than ours.
Aurora is also the best place in which to live among York Region municipalities, so possibly another reason for not having our hand out for provincial dollars.
In a Special Highlight from Mayor Dawe dated January 11, 2014, he is quoted as saying that the town will ask the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to declare Aurora a "disaster area" to apply for financial assistance through the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program to assist recovery efforts following the recent ice storm.
Right about now I'm very confused.
Can the Mayor explain why financial assistance has not been requested?
I think it was discussed in connection with the budget - that there could be money coming from the province for the ice storm expenses
ReplyDeletelost in the communications dept. ?
ReplyDeleteThe Region guy in Newmarket is running to take over the Region & the runner-up who was beaten wishes to be appointed to the job. Sounds a lot like John Gallo taking a seat at council. Gotta love politics.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI haven't analyzed the town's 2014 operating budget but I think I'm safe to say that salaries account for many millions of dollars.
Salaried personnel would include heads of departments, all of whom are easy to find on the province's sunshine list.
This being the case, how is it that the town has not completed an application for financial relief from the province in connection with damage and added operating costs arising from the ice storm?
Does someone from Queen's Park have to physically come out to Aurora and whack someone on the head as a reminder that time for claiming is fast running out?
Gotta love another theatrical performance from government. The chair has already been chosen people. It's an appointed position. In fact the position was probably chosen before the election was over. It's all BS.
ReplyDelete22:19
ReplyDeleteNot just Aurora either. Newmarket & Markham among others must have been asleep at the switch. I do know that Aurora received help during that storm from a lot of other places,
@ 00:38
ReplyDeleteDo you mean like former cllr Gallo & the Center [? ] board members ?
Now that's a decent looking day !
ReplyDeleteIt does not surprise me.
ReplyDeleteIn 2009, there was a Federal/Provincial Infrastucture grant program that the Town failed to apply for (although there was a discussion about it for the Arena).
One organization that did get a grant was the Newmarket Soccer Club.... you can see what happened to them in the last couple of years.