THE MORE THINGS CHANGE ??THE MORE THEY REMAIN THE SAME

A  relevant comment received to yesterday's post is not

published. 

It takes the focus from where it belongs. 

Council has final responsibility for decisions made. Staff are accountable to Council for advice provided. 

Professional advice submitted to Council in writing should be debated and accepted or      rejected.

Council is no place for a tug-of-war with staff.
Although it has been happening out-of-order for year this stand-off is particularly enlightening. 

Mayor Dawe's fetish against "micromanagement "

does not extend to his own conduct.

The Mayor recently surrendered the gavel to his trusty sidekick, to place a motion before Council for a traffic plan of his design to be reviewed by staff. 

Traffic division is part of Infrastructure and Environment.  Staff complement includes a traffic engineer. A traffic advisory committee may still be in place. Function is to plan for safe and efficient movement of traffic.Budget is likely several hundred thousand dollars. Maybe as much as the purchase of culture. 

The Mayor's motion passed without controversy. A more direct hand in management is unlikely to be seen To what purpose you may ask? 

It happens regularly and makes for  an interesting juxtaposition. 

During the Mormac era staff were replaced,Directors responsibilities shifted under the pretext of re-organizing and recruiting requirements of the Municipal Act  routinely ignored. 

New hires were undoubtedly apprised of the source of all power. She Who Must Be Obeyed exercised unlimited control under cover of receiving advice from professional staff. 

Clumsy,ugly,inept and destined to fail, it did but at great expense. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were expended totally unrelated either to public service or authority under The Act. 

The year after it ended no budget savings were noted. Budgets have continued to climb substantially ever since. 

Reckless spending is not the only thing that didn't change.