"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

Friday 10 January 2014

A Tortuous Process Unravelled

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Budget Quibbles":

Evelyn. I enjoy a food fight as much as the next person. In this instance it is going to be frightfully one sided. The electioneering has begun & councillors seem determined to purchase town votes with town money. I just don't think you can stop them. It is now all about what they want instead of about what Aurora really needs.

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It may look like that but it's not as cut and dried as one might think. 

Council is between a couple of big boulders and a slippery slope. 

In 2013, all systems were a-go for an addition and renovations to the town hall. 

I didn't see the need. We are approaching build-out. I think we should be  looking at the possibility of less staff  needing  less space rather than more. 

But Council did exercise their authority. They gave  the green light to proceed every step of the way.

Members  consult  extensively and privately with staff. They fail to  realize the influence they subject themselves to  .... how  much it tilts  their judgement .

Perhaps not unreasonably ,they depend  on staff  advice and  presume responsibility is shared 

It's not. 

Council alone is accountable. 

It's hard to criticize when  Councillors put everything they  feel they ought into making sound decisions. 

Nothing is that simple. 

Months of staff time, consultant studies , architect services ,estimates .

 $300,000 later, Council nixed the town  hall  renovation project.

I believe  that decision was unanimous. 

 It passed without much notice. 

Weeks later, the exercise  is being repeated with a second project three times as costly. 

Last Tuesday, Councillor Gallo, affirming his support for the project from the start, read from reports to indicate why he was re-thinking his position. 

Councillor Pirri appeared  to be expressing reluctance 

Councillor Abel  expressed complete confidence in expert advice  received. and suggested  anyone without his courage  doesn't belong  at the table. 

Councillor Thompson spoke of  need for forward planning and vision 

Next Tuesday, we will discover  the final vote.

Council is faced with a serious dilemma. 

A site has been purchased.  Staff now report "upward cost pressures" created by problems  the site presents .

Original estimates  of $12 million were for a buildable site.

It's hard to keep track of  the figures. 

The  second tab was $14 million.

Following calculations  for building a shelf  into the ravine sufficient  to support the project, estimates  for the complete project became 20  million. 

A  paring  exercise reduced  that to $19 million. 

Council is  currently contemplating that figure.

I am no more able to depend on it than I was the first.

I   now have the right to shout out with glee

 J'accuse !!!!!!!!

Did I not say....but oh no...you  did not listen....such foolishness.....you had to do it your way... make  like big shots you are not..... spending millions of their own money, every day of their lives..... now look at the mess you've got us into Stanley!!!!

But the situation is not  a joke.

The problem  is ours. 

We purchased that site.  

Negotiated to sell existing site. 

Banked on sale of other lands that didn't happen. 

No funding  plan  is in place .

Millions have  already been spent in the process.  The complete tally, we know not.

How can a Council change direction without acknowledging  serious and costly mis-calculation. 

Which way do they turn?

According to the  tone of  discussion  on Tuesday , the vote may be split with Mayor Dawe breaking the tie in favor of proceeding. 

My own advice:

First  ....be upfront  and acknowledge the problem.  It  was well-intentioneed but it can't be swept under the rug. 

Second,  the  whole Council  is  needed to engage in  the  resolution. 

It's no time for a pissing contest between  factions.

A split decision will do nothing to assure the taxpayers.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

And meanwhile the site of the former old Library just sits. And it was one of the first things this Council announced that would tackle. It is going to be difficult for this term to point to achievements. Still, perhaps that is better than previous groups who created mostly negatives.

Anonymous said...

I know that this will rub some the wrong way, but... why do we not look to save money and go into these sorts of projects with a partner (ie. Newmarket or Richmond Hill)? Even thought there is a budgetary bickering, the CYFS experiment has not been a failure.

Anonymous said...


The only thing that can compete with this brouhaha is a good sex scandal.

In France it is the media's practice to turn a blind eye to presidential love affairs. Actually the French media faces strict privacy laws. Former President Francois Mitterrand had a daughter with his lover that the French media knew about but never revealed, until the president himself appeared publicly with his daughter coming out of a restaurant.

The tradition of keeping private lives private has been chipped away since Nicolas Sarkozy divorced his wife Cecilia, who was having an affair, and remarried model and singer Carla Bruni.

For over 30 years, Hollande's partner was fellow Socialist politician Segolene Royal, with whom he had four children. A month after Royals' defeat in the French presidential election of 2007, the couple announced they were separating. Within months of this a French website published details of a relationship between Hollande and French journalist Valerie Trierweiler. She has since moved into the Elysee palace with Hollande when he became president and accompanies him on official travel. But she is not considered to be the country's official First Lady. Apparently this requires marriage.

The tabloid Closer published images Friday showing a bodyguard and a helmeted man it says is Hollande visiting the apartment of Julie Gayet, a moderately known French actress who appeared in a clip for his 2012 presidential campaign. This is a breaking story and the rumours will no doubt result in the usual threats to sue.

Pierre Trudeau said famously that the government has no place in the bedrooms of the nation. He certainly knew what he was talking about.

Aurora needs a pinch or two of pepper to spice up the dull politics that its citizens are forced to swallow, week after boring week after boring week.

Can we not start rumours of hanky-panky, cut and paste photos, anything to breaks the tedium of our dull councillors repeating themselves over and over while changing their opinions as they do this? And then repeating the whole exercise.

Anonymous said...

You might be able to pull Councillor Abel back from the brink - after his swinging on the tree removal, I believe that it is important to be the last person to whom he listens before a vote. That sounds cynical but this is a more costly exercise.

Anonymous said...

14:13 Your funny. But if you’re looking for some excitement…check out Newmarket council. Don’t think they have that type of pepper and spice that you’re looking for….but they definitely have fireworks.

Anonymous said...

Don’t really see that much of a dilemma. Put that property back up for sale, and take back the building from the Rangers. Now that would be the best for the Town and its residents. I guess a little “courage” might be required. You would have Councillor Abel’s vote.

Anonymous said...

There should be agreement over funding the storm clean-up. Surely that can come from the Hydro Fund without any problem.
Any of the other major items simply have not been given the public scrutiny they deserve before spending so much money. Public in-put has been sorely lacking with close votes on too many occasions.
Mayor Dawe claim to lead through consensus. I see no consensus.

Anonymous said...

I think we had enough scandal with the former council thank you very much!

Anonymous said...

14:13
Not in Aurora. It would be against the Code of Something.

Anonymous said...

@16:43
Cllr Ballard would throw a fit if you threatened ' his ' Rangers

Anonymous said...

Bundle up tomorrow, Lady E. This weird weather can be deceptive.

Anonymous said...

If I can translate Ballard's Twits right, it looks like the Banner network is losing yet another writer. Really good re-cycling there.