"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

Thursday 9 April 2009

After Hours

I left the council chamber at ten-minutes to eleven on Tuesday evening. Councillor Mac Eachern had spent the previous twenty minutes excoriating Director Al Downey for documentation he submitted in support of a recommendation to prepare specifications and call tenders for the construction of a baseball diamond. He did so in response to council direction.

The project is included in the capital budget. The funds are derived from development charge levies. They are not part of the tax levy. They cannot be used for any other purpose. If not used for the purpose taken, they may very well have to be returned from whence they came. To the developers.

The diamond has been in the Needs Forecast for five years.That's how it came to be included in the development charge levy. It is desperately needed. Two years ago, the Director recommended a purchase of a suitable site. Funds to pay for it were available in the Cash in Lieu of Parks Reserve Account. The account currently has a balance in excess of ten million dollars.

Council rejected the recommendation. Councillor MacEachern argued; "why should we buy land when we have land adjacent to the new rec centre"

Much of the estimate cost of building a diamond on that site is directly attributable to the nature of the land and servicing the site for multiple uses. Only the tender process will determine a precise cost for the project.

The rational for using development charge funds and the consequences of not using them for the purpose they were taken has been repeated to Council by staff many times. To no avail. Refusal to accept the professional advice is beyond comprehension.

Councillor MacEachern stated at Tuesday's meeting she had been reading the background documentation accompanying the director's report until 3a.m. Tuesday morning. She proceeded to critique the language of the documents and itemise her perception of errors ommissions and contradictions at length.

After twenty minutes of angry page flipping, no end of the harangue in sight, less sign of town business being accomplished and twenty minutes after the hour of adjournment, I took my leave.

To be a silent witness is to be a participant.To raise a point of order in this council is to be held responsible for the resulting mayhem.

I understand the Mayor took over when the Councillor left off . Much of the criticism was repeated a second time and a final decision was made to refer the matter to the Chief Administrative Officer for a further report.

Councillor Granger sublimely presided over the shameful display without intervention.










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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a shameful display by a councillor with an obvious chip on her shoulder. She seems to know everything about municipal affairs so perhaps we should fire all senior admin staff and replace them with the superior intelligent Ms Mceachern. We can save money and we would have the "best person" and most knowledgeble person and besides we would save a bucket of money. Right Mr. Wilson?
Only in Aurora.............

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Heather said...

Sorry...I was making some changes to the layout and added some html code as a comment instead of in the blogger window, so I've erased it...

That ought to make the people squeal! Sorry.

Anonymous said...

Is the Chair the person is who is in charge of the meeting? Isn't His job to stop such a display? This just speaks about the lack of respect Mr. Grainger has for the Directors of the town. He allowed McEachern and the Mayor to do what they did. Shame on you Councillor Grainger.

Anonymous said...

Councillor Granger is so obviously a political eunuch that nothing that man says or does contributes to the greater good of this town.
He knows the wrath of Morris so I wouldn't expect anything else from him.
And I'll be avoiding the Farmers Market because I can't bear to see him making a nuisance of himself.