"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 13 December 2012

Corrections Are In Order

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.
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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.       

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

What about the correction re: the total cost to the taxpayers of the Seniors' Centre?

Anonymous said...

"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.

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

"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?

Anonymous said...


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