"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

Saturday 8 October 2011

First Comment To The Last Post

Councillors are entitled to receive   information  they  request. Everything  at the town hall is  public business except  employees are entitled to the same privacy as all others.

The last Council was a complete aberration from the norm. By the end nothing was functioning  as it should

Normally. the political and administrative are separate authorities.  Professional staff provide expertise. The elected body makes decisions that provide  direction for staff to follow. Not the other way about.When an elected official is intent on exercising all authority, that's not hard to set up with a majority block of votes and compliant staff.

The current Mayor only knows how it was left. I daresay it looks like something he can handle.  He has yet to discover how wrong that  is. 

Church Street School is a town facility like any other. The building has always been shared, The museum  was managed  by a curator .Members of the Historical Society gave countless hours of their time. Like Theatre Aurora, having their own space meant everything to them.

General care and management of the facility was  under  the Leisure Services Department.It worked well  until a noisy member of the Historical Society decided  since they were raising  funds for the renovation,  they should be in  full charge of the building. The Director of  Leisure Services should butt out.

That's where the cookie started to crumble. They got what they wanted. Then the  haughty one disappeared from sight and sound. No-one of equal independence and determination  took her place. It can and does happen in a volunteer organisation. Sort of like Wind in the Willows.Not a good path for an elected body to follow.

What had been a good working relationship for twenty-five years, broke like Humpty-Dumpty into a million pieces and all the Queen's Horses and All the Queen's men  have had no inclination to put Humpty together again.

The Director was further marginalised in the consultant led  staff  re-organisation. His responsibilities were reduced by half and transferred to another without  expertise. And if anyone thinks that was the consultant's idea ,they are out of their tree. It gave the elected C.E.O. power unknown before. Same thing happened with the Director of Corporate and Customer Services.

So, along with other problems created, we find ourselves with a loosy-goosy agreement capable of being interpreted  every which way but up and a new council determined there must be logic where there isn't. What I have to relate is not credible. You have to have been there to know the truth of it.

It has taken time to arrive at this point. When we are past it, I am certain the pace will quicken.

Council asked for a staff review of the agreement. What they got was an audit of agreement compliance. It's not what was requested. They don't have to look far to understand why.

We are still dealing with residuals.


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Most major multi-national corporations have been finding during the past three years of financial and economic turmoil that the tradition of having one person as both Chairperson of the Board and Chief Executive Officer has come under severe criticism.

They have, in some cases reluctantly, agreed to separate these two functions.

What I suggest is that the mayor be Chairperson of the Board and that a proven and fully experienced individual be hired by the town to be Chief Executive Officer.

All the departments heads should stay where they, responsible for the efficient operation of their areas of the town's business.

Councillors would be members of the Board of Directors.

Council (Board) meetings should always be chaired by the Board Chairman. No more of this stupidity of revolving chairs at General Committee meetings. All this does is waste time and add to an already confusing landscape, and the so-called "experience" factor is ridiculous.

Aurora has a budget of more than $50,000,000. This money has to be spent productively and wisely in the best interests of all our residents. This isn't about "Our Town and Its Business." This is about "Our Town is a Business." Let's start treating it that way.

Anonymous said...

To those unfamiliar with the terminology, the Board of Directors is responsible for policy and long-range planning.

The Chief Executive Officer runs the business with all positions junior reporting to him.

Really quite simple.