Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The
Road To Perdition":
In October of last year Council asked the
Town Solicitor to review the Cultural Services agreement between the Town and
the Centre, the one that was essentially written by the then mayor and a legal
student, and report back to Council.
The Town Solicitor handed in a
report that identified a handful of problem areas, all of which could have been
dealt with quite easily and expeditiously.
However, the Motion to
Terminate the existing agreement seemed to roil the very depths of the cultural
literati, who oozed out of every crack and fissure for miles around, demanding
their barrel of blood.
It was stated and admitted by Mayor Dawe that he
had attended several Board Meetings of the Centre, but because the subject
matter was totally confidential - effectively closed session - he was unable to
convey to members of Council or the public any of the matters
discussed.
After the most childish, willful, nasty and moronic behaviour
on the part of just about everyone, it was decided to establish a committee to
study the issues. But first an agenda had to be prepared, and this, in its own
right, was ludicrous in the extreme. Ultimately an ad hoc negotiating team was
formed, later changed to group, and discussions were set to commence in the
spring.
The discussions of this ad hoc bunch of mutts were to remain
secret, originally even from members of Council. It is now nearly winter and a
"final" draft of both a services agreement and a lease are shortly to be
presented to Council for discussion and approval.
This matter has been so
badly mangled and mismanaged with two members of Council sitting on the Centre
Board as permitted, with no right to vote due to potential conflicts of interest
- the separate subject of a request to the Superior Court of Justice for a
ruling, now scheduled for end February and a decision possible within a period
of potentially several months - that in my personal opinion as an arbiter with
some personal legal experience the entire subject should be put on hold, no new
agreements or leases should be signed. This draft is an
abomination!
Instead, the Town of Aurora should unilaterally terminate
the existing agreement and lease and should take physical possession of the
building and shut it down for three months. During that period the town through
its duly elected Council should revisit the Town Solicitor's report of last
December and use it as the basis for preparing a new agreement and lease. The
town should advertise for and hire those persons who have the knowledge and
proven experience at managing a cultural/historical facility and have them
prepare for the re-opening of the Centre by June 1, 2013.
Both the CAO
and the Director of Parks and Recreation have failed the town of Aurora very
badly as members of the negotiating team. If they wish to remain in their
positions they should demonstrate this by acting in accordance with the desires
of a majority of the town's residents and their elected Council - all nine -
including the bird brains who usually simply take up space and talk rubbish.
********************
The post above is obviously written by someone who has paid close attention since the beginning of this episode. Some information may have been supplied by this blog. There are a couple of inaccuracies I feel honour bound to correct.
I do not edit. Neither do I publish comments critical of staff This post I choose to correct rather than delete.
The original Culture Board had legal counsel to negotiate an agreement.
The town did not.
The town paid for the Board's legal counsel.
A vacancy was the explanation offered in the solicitor's report for the town not having counsel
That's what he was told. It's a crock.
The town annually appoints a roster of legal firms .
No legal student. was involved in negotiations.
A competent law clerk was directed by the former Mayor.
Morris style, is/was always to make sure someone else takes responsibility.
Elected officials have no authority to direct staff It's the responsibility of administration to ensure it doesn't happen.
The report assigning responsibility for the debacle to the law clerk was inaccurate.
Readers may recall the current Mayor's reluctance to have the solicitor report.
He was concerned about wasted time/
He had. I believe, started attending the board's secret meetings by then.Didn't confide in Council. May even have developed a sense of conflicting loyalty.
It didn't end there.
Notice of motion and Motion presented to Council to terminate the agreement was moved by Councillor Abel , seconded by Councillor Pirrie after extensive consultation with staff and consideration of all objections.
It took this Council a year to get to that point.
The debate had Councillors and the Mayor, speaking in support.
When the time arrived to take the vote, the Mayor did not.
Sure enough, an amendment came forward that changed the nature of the motion,
It was out of order but won the day.
Once again. Council had been successfully manipulated.
The Director of Leisure Services was directed by Council to carry out negotiations for a new agreement..
Terms of reference were approved by Council.
In my judgment no outcome would have been acceptable.
I believe the facility should be managed by the town.
That a space that size could ever be self-sufficient for the purpose
outlined is completely without merit.
It was my feeling at the time it was proposed and experience had done nothing to alter my opinion. .
Annual funding provided by the town, with a built in 3% increase made it clear to the board, if not to the Council, self-sufficieny was never an expectation or the intention.
The draft of a new agreement has been presented to Council. It will not be dealt with until mid January.
The only thing to stop it now, is a strong response from the community to convince Council there is no acceptance. within the majority, of the principle to collect taxes to purchase an arbitrary choice of culture by a self-appointed board
It is not necessary for the facility to be closed.
The change needed is governance. .
Thursday 13 December 2012
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8 comments:
Didn't you hear the kudos being directed to Staff and the Board at Tuesday's GC meeting?
I admire your dogged determination, if not your aims, but you're Sisyphus on this one.
What about the correction re: the total cost to the taxpayers of the Seniors' Centre?
"Some of the information may have been supplied by this blog."
I'd say almost all of it. It's just someone parroting you, Watts, and Maddocks.
I am not sure if this has any relevance.
According to the Income Tax Act, groups that declare themselves to be non-profit or charitable organizations can lose that status for " engaging in partisan political activities."
I believe that the Centre has been doing exactly that when they mob Aurora's Town Hall with their supporters and threaten individual councillors who might disagree with their agenda.
This is not something for me to decide but it is worth consideration.
Same commenter having a hissy-fit. It really must learn some self-control and let a few more minutes pass between the nasties. It must have a bell that rings whenever a new post goes up.
11:50 AM
The e-mail deluge and phone calls were also highly partisan. We later discovered that the e-mail list had been culled of non-supporters.
"The e-mail deluge and phone calls were also highly partisan."
Partisan like the phone calls Cllr Buck is now instructing her followers to make to Council members?
This may or may not be the most correct Latin phraseology but it is close enough:
Carpe Edificium
It is the only sound solution at the moment.
Carpe Diem
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