Retaining lead staff and governing practices were not the only surprisesof Mayor Dawe's first term, considering the reason for his election .
The previous term had been tortuous with numerous personnel biting the dust along the trail. Almost without exception, replacements were individuals who knew what was expected of them and the
wellbeing of the municipality was not it.
The clerk's position was an exception. The Municipal Act spells out responsibility of the clerk'soffice and requires legal conformity. Certification is required.
Replacements of questionable fit,repeated re-organizations and increased dependence on consultants became the critical norm within the Dawe administration as with the previous council. With few exceptions, staff could no longer be depended upon to keep the municipality operating on an even keel.
Now I have a confession to make. I have been paying scant attention to town affairs since I
stopped writing the blog.
I learned of termination of the Director of Environment and Infrastructure by phone last week. The news prompted a post
To-night I started reading The Auroran on line to catch up and learned a final report on the Joint Centre had been presented and concerns were raised. One of the items removed from the contract with Council approval is included in 2017 budget. Numbers and explanations do not co-ordinate.
The greenhouse floor is also missing, as well as the green roof on the building . The Gold Standard.
But we awarded a contract with all of these items included in the price. Every last fol-de-rol was was included in the project. No expense was spared.
Then came news of the Director's termination. It made sense. It would have made more sense if a person of adequate credentials had been appointed to the Director's position in the first place.
That was true of so many.
But what is also true is the Mayor chaired an financial oversight committee of the Joint Centre build.
A management consultant was hired to supervise. How many people are needed to create an
almighty mess.
Watching the appointment process of President of the Good Old USA to his cabinet has a similar surreal quality of familiarity and foreboding.
A long list of comings and goings and shifts about over the last ten years has never bode well for the municipality's interest.
Every one has a story.
All of it bizarre.
The tax bill arrived in the mail today.
Without doubt it is twice as much as it needs to be for half as much value.
Councillor Kim posted on Facebook of proposing the addition of an Economic Development Board similar to Aurora Library Board and Aurora Cultural Centre Board .That means another budget item in
the millions.
Oh Lordy Lordy
An economic development department with at least two persons is already on the payroll.
The CAO's office has a planner for "Special projects"
The Historical Society has a budget hand-out of thousands to spend as they will to promote town heritage with negligible results.
A minimal museum program and two curators are on the payroll .
The planning department includes a heritage planner to protect heritage.
Aurora Arboretum has authority to spend hundreds of thousands of tax dollars.
Nigh on a million dollars is about to be dropped into a hole in the ground under Leslie Street.
And If I'm going to keep posting ,I have homework to catch up on.
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3 comments:
Wonder why they took that stupid green roof/floor off the list for the building? Where they worried about over bugeting? LMAO! And why does government justify the spending of tax payers money for Gold,Silver or bronze Leeds designations? So that they can all pat themselves on the back for a certificate the they can frame and put on a wall? Does the average tax payers really give a shit about that crap? I wonder what the tax payer would say if a bugeting was given for a Leeds designation and one without, which would they choose?
All organizations, be they business, education, health, government, goods or services, require people to perform work of one sort or another.
There are usually various levels of management tasked with interviewing and hiring these people.
There is usually a process that looks at education, past experience, present employment. There is occasionally a written test, and one or more interviews conducted by "management." The way a potential employee talks and sits and manner of clothing are all taken into account in forming an opinion of suitability for the job. Appearance, personality, does the person look the interviewer in the eye. These intangibles also influence an impression and an opinion.
It helps if the person conducting the interview has experience in the area for which the other is being considered. It not only helps, it is crucial.
It appears that those of the town's staff conducting interviews of potential employees don't know very much about the job requirement and so they are sometimes - often - boondoggled by something or other in the interviewee that influences them into making the wrong choice, and a wing-nut is hired instead of a spanner.
This will eventually surface, sometimes fairly quickly, at others over a longer period.
The mayor and certain other senior town staff seem regularly unable to choose the spanner, and hire the wing-nut.
This often has very costly consequences.
22:25
There is usually a number of interviews starting with staff that filter all the applicants then pass them on to the department that's hiring for further reviews and interviews. That's usually the process, but as we all know the processes, and procedures can be just an exercise in order to uphold policies. I'm sure that there have been many times that the position needed had already been selected before a the post for the position even goes out.
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