Are elected officials not employees of the municipality ?
Because they are not hired and therefore cannot be fired. That's why.
Soon after a new Solicitor joined the Town's administration, the Mayor invited the officer to inform the Council of her status as an employee of the Municipality.
He obliged and declared it was so.
It's a tactic of the Mayor to set a staff person up to say something she wants to be said withot taking personal responsibility.
Some staff do it with less grace than others.
I declared I was unable to accept the solicitor's advice.
Signs were, the Mayor's objective was a complaint under an administrative policy that prohibits harassment of an employee.I think she was planning to complain about being harassed by me.
When I stated myself unable to accept the professional advice, the direction changed from a potential accusation of harassment, to shameful criticism of staff and Council's dire need to protect them from a pernicious assailant.
Me, Myself. Alone.
Councillor Gaertner asked the solicitor to outline how many years he had been a municipal solicitor.
As a strategy obviously it's better to be seen to be fighting to protect someone helpless to defend himself than engaging in the lowly art of politics.
It was hardly subtle.
The solicitor's opinion rested on an arrangement made with the Region of York about Regional Councillor benefits.
The base salary is around $50ks. Benefits are worth $10ks.
Councillors are not enrolled in the Region's benefit program. For some reason, they are enrolled in the municipality's program. So benefits are tacked on to the municipal salaries rather than the Region's. No doubt there is a reason. I just don't know it.
They are also entitled to severance pay when they retire or are defeated in an election.
There may be other benefits I don't know about.
In order for the benefit package to be paid, the Mayor of the day had to be classified as an employee.
An Aurora Councillor salary amount to about $22ks a year. There are no benefits. No severance pay . I noticed a rate on a pay slip once during the last term. It was $7.00 an hour. Hours were a fraction then of what they are now. But that's this Council's responsibility.
Aurora's part-time employees are paid $11.00 an hour. They don't get benefits either.
We provide full-time services with part-time workers because they are not entitled to benefits or vacations and we use them for statutory holidays so that we don't have to pay full-time employees time and a half.
It's cheap. A huge discrepancy exists between their remuneration and the people at the top.
But it's still better than a Councillor.
But I digress.
A couple of weeks ago I was informed of a comment made by the Mayor at the Farmer's Market.
A remark had been written about harassment
The Mayor said , she was glad it was understood because she had just ordered an investigation into harassment.
A innocent remark, you think
Well....... No...I don't think so.
That's why the question of whether an elected official is an employee of the municipality becomes relevant at this time.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Further Info on the Hydro Building
"Usually I would agree with you regarding the Hydro building, and you might be right. However, I also know that Aurora is projected to grow by about 40% over the next 20 years. The town will need more land and buildings as it grows.
Is it really logical to sell a useful building like this now, only to have to buy it (or another similar building) back at a higher price a few years from now?
There is also no guarantee you would get any industrial usage from that building if you did sell it, nor be able to replace the 27 lost jobs. This way at least the Town gets to keep a good building which they will certainly be able to make good use of in the future"
**********************************************************
When this Council took office, a space needs study was underway. The parks and works facilities were under pressure.The Hydro building was being used by parks for certain functions.
That became the initial focus of the study because the decision as to its disposition was pending.
The consultants, operations staff and Director of Leisure Services supported the
recommendation.
The powers that be, whoever they may be, flatly rejected the advice received.
Space needs of public works and parks are still critical.
Is it really logical to sell a useful building like this now, only to have to buy it (or another similar building) back at a higher price a few years from now?
There is also no guarantee you would get any industrial usage from that building if you did sell it, nor be able to replace the 27 lost jobs. This way at least the Town gets to keep a good building which they will certainly be able to make good use of in the future"
**********************************************************
When this Council took office, a space needs study was underway. The parks and works facilities were under pressure.The Hydro building was being used by parks for certain functions.
That became the initial focus of the study because the decision as to its disposition was pending.
The consultants, operations staff and Director of Leisure Services supported the
recommendation.
The powers that be, whoever they may be, flatly rejected the advice received.
Space needs of public works and parks are still critical.
Meetings and Bad Cess to us
Three this week. Two on Tuesday. I left the chamber at ten minutes past eleven that night. Councillor Gaertner was solemnly engaged with the usual constant quest for information. There was no sign of an end to it. After seven years you get a sense.
The first meeting started at 5.30pm.and ended at 7pm.Two items were on the agenda. Union negotiations and disposition of the former hydro property.
We have decided to lease the hydro building to the National Defence Department and we are spending $50.000 to install a security system for our new tenant
The rent will be $131.ks a year with a twenty year lease.
The hydro building is architect designed, the facilities and property are probably worth a couple of million dollars. It was built by Aurora Hydro.
Before Power stream vacated , there were twenty seven employees in the building. $70ks a year in potential assessment revenue.. It was an asset of considerable value and should have been sold at the same time as the hydro corporation
Two million additional dollars would have been added to the hydro reserve and earning a comfortable rate of interest all this time.
There was a election. Candidate Nigel Keane said we should use it as a youth centre. It became an election issue.
Four years later, on the eve of a new election, a decision has finally been made.
In my judgement, without the least iota of benefit to the municipality.
It was that decision the Mayor desperately wanted to exclude me from last Tuesday.
The Mayor is pleased with the deal . Her Worship has apparently had discussions with the military and "the kiddies" will be re-located from wherever they are, to a building which should have realised two million dollars to municipal coffers, produced a a minimum of $70.ks in annual tax revenues and twenty seven desperately needed new jobs in Aurora.
The building is described as a liability in the CAO's report .
We have become landlords once again.
It is not our role.
Even the Province says it's not a municipal role to own real estate surplus to our needs.
If you are looking for logic....don't even think about it.
The first meeting started at 5.30pm.and ended at 7pm.Two items were on the agenda. Union negotiations and disposition of the former hydro property.
We have decided to lease the hydro building to the National Defence Department and we are spending $50.000 to install a security system for our new tenant
The rent will be $131.ks a year with a twenty year lease.
The hydro building is architect designed, the facilities and property are probably worth a couple of million dollars. It was built by Aurora Hydro.
Before Power stream vacated , there were twenty seven employees in the building. $70ks a year in potential assessment revenue.. It was an asset of considerable value and should have been sold at the same time as the hydro corporation
Two million additional dollars would have been added to the hydro reserve and earning a comfortable rate of interest all this time.
There was a election. Candidate Nigel Keane said we should use it as a youth centre. It became an election issue.
Four years later, on the eve of a new election, a decision has finally been made.
In my judgement, without the least iota of benefit to the municipality.
It was that decision the Mayor desperately wanted to exclude me from last Tuesday.
The Mayor is pleased with the deal . Her Worship has apparently had discussions with the military and "the kiddies" will be re-located from wherever they are, to a building which should have realised two million dollars to municipal coffers, produced a a minimum of $70.ks in annual tax revenues and twenty seven desperately needed new jobs in Aurora.
The building is described as a liability in the CAO's report .
We have become landlords once again.
It is not our role.
Even the Province says it's not a municipal role to own real estate surplus to our needs.
If you are looking for logic....don't even think about it.
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Adam And Brent And Elaine.
They've been friends through school together. Brent is a couple of years younger than Adam so he just finished high school this year. He joined Adam at Able Network yesterday.
From time to time, they'll take the bus home together to Newmarket from the corner of Yonge and Church.
Brent has good language skills and is known for sharp cheeky answers. Adam is like the big brother who keeps an eye on the younger one.
Adam was at my house this morning , busy writing up his schedule.
He and Elaine are going to have dinner together at Swiss Chalet. He sent her a written invitation. Elaine has strawberry blonde hair and "beautiful eyes". She lives in a street called Evelyn Buck Lane.
Adam phoned on his cell phone one day, on the way to help at the church, to tell Mum about Elaine's beautiful eyes.
They will all go bowling together now the Fall season has begun.
Adam will be swimming again with the Master Ducks. Elaine swims as well.
Fall is always a time of excitement with young people around. Everything starts anew.
New books. New Clothes. New teachers.New schools.
Meghan starts at Williams High this year. Her Mum and Dad's old school .
Aaron started at George Brown College downtown. He took a year to decide.Had that amazing fifty-seven day adventure in Europe and another in Jamaica. in the year between.
Robyn starts her second high school year. There's a trip to France to look forward to.
That's Robyn's third year in high school. Dammit!
Adam, Brent and Elaine have a host of things to look forward to as well.
Life is good.
From time to time, they'll take the bus home together to Newmarket from the corner of Yonge and Church.
Brent has good language skills and is known for sharp cheeky answers. Adam is like the big brother who keeps an eye on the younger one.
Adam was at my house this morning , busy writing up his schedule.
He and Elaine are going to have dinner together at Swiss Chalet. He sent her a written invitation. Elaine has strawberry blonde hair and "beautiful eyes". She lives in a street called Evelyn Buck Lane.
Adam phoned on his cell phone one day, on the way to help at the church, to tell Mum about Elaine's beautiful eyes.
They will all go bowling together now the Fall season has begun.
Adam will be swimming again with the Master Ducks. Elaine swims as well.
Fall is always a time of excitement with young people around. Everything starts anew.
New books. New Clothes. New teachers.New schools.
Meghan starts at Williams High this year. Her Mum and Dad's old school .
Aaron started at George Brown College downtown. He took a year to decide.Had that amazing fifty-seven day adventure in Europe and another in Jamaica. in the year between.
Robyn starts her second high school year. There's a trip to France to look forward to.
That's Robyn's third year in high school. Dammit!
Adam, Brent and Elaine have a host of things to look forward to as well.
Life is good.
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Toronto City Council's Last Meeting
Was last week. No more opportunities exist for Councillors to exploit city business for political advantage in the upcoming election.
Councils past in Aurora have made no substantive decisions after candidate nominations close.Unless the matter was critical.
It was never formally adopted but the common understanding , after nominations closed no assumptions could be made about who would form the next Council.
An outgoing Council, could not saddle an incoming Council with decisions they had no part in making and might very well not support.
We received a memorandum from Town Solicitor last week explaining that if 75% of the incumbent council has registered as candidates, they have all the power they need to bind the Corporation to decisions.
Council is in the process of rushing through the 2c Secondary Plan ,the Fol de Rol Promenade Study and the Five Year Official Plan Review.
The 2C Secondary Plan as drafted so far, is already being challenged at the Ontario Municipal Board.It has to be included in the Five Year Official Plan Review which should have been completed months ago. Richmond Hill finished theirs last year and East Gwillimbury in May of this year.
Watching the election unfold in Toronto, I pick up bits and pieces of how they operate down there.
The Mayor does not preside at meetings. Council chooses a presiding member from among their number.
The Mayor appoints the Deputy- Mayor. That makes sense. Councillors are elected in wards. Highest vote count would not be relevant. But is that like appointing a successor?
The Mayor appoints his own executive committee. They have to vote with the Mayor or be replaced. I heard the executive committee is a majority of Council. Then I heard it isn't.
George Rust D'Eye told Aurora Council, we could appoint an executive committee composed of all but one Council member. And I suppose they could ,if they didn't have to explain it to the community. Anyway, they didn't. They adopted a prohibition bylaw instead.
Some Toronto Councillors have been quoted as saying it doesn't matter if Rob Ford gets elected.
They will find a way around him.
The most interesting aspect of the race though is that Rob Ford still has a comfortable two digit lead (15%) over the nearest competitor. Doesn't seem to matter how much the chattering class deplores the situation. However much mud they sling, people still seem to be responding to his message.
Taxes are too heavy. Councillors are shamelessly extravagant. People are hurting.
There are only four more days for a new Mayoralty candidate to come forward.
It's not likely.
People say David Miller could be re-elected. He thinks so too. But when he held a press conference last year, and declared he would not be a candidate for Mayor again, he sounded like a man who had been run over by a steam-roller.
Garbage stacked in the parks all summer was hard to ignore. The union contract settlement was not a victory. The pressure of those summer months must have been horrendous.
Etobicoke didn't have a garbage strike. They have a private contract. They managed that when Councillor Doug Holyday was Mayor . Rob Ford is an Etobicoke Councillor.
Etobicoke was a borough. Former Metro boroughs have long-standing grievances with Toronto.
Melding former boroughs and the city into a single community has been the challenge for whoever became or becomes the City's Mayor.
Whether or not it's possible to achieve still remains a question.
Mel Lastman barely made a dent. David Miller, the intellectual elite, didn't do much better. The computer scandal happened during his watch.
How did he come through that without a smirch.
If voters give Rob Ford a chance, how he rises to the challenge will be fascinating to watch.
Of course, I'm watching from a distance. I don't really know what I'm talking about. But... it's better than watching television.
Councils past in Aurora have made no substantive decisions after candidate nominations close.Unless the matter was critical.
It was never formally adopted but the common understanding , after nominations closed no assumptions could be made about who would form the next Council.
An outgoing Council, could not saddle an incoming Council with decisions they had no part in making and might very well not support.
We received a memorandum from Town Solicitor last week explaining that if 75% of the incumbent council has registered as candidates, they have all the power they need to bind the Corporation to decisions.
Council is in the process of rushing through the 2c Secondary Plan ,the Fol de Rol Promenade Study and the Five Year Official Plan Review.
The 2C Secondary Plan as drafted so far, is already being challenged at the Ontario Municipal Board.It has to be included in the Five Year Official Plan Review which should have been completed months ago. Richmond Hill finished theirs last year and East Gwillimbury in May of this year.
Watching the election unfold in Toronto, I pick up bits and pieces of how they operate down there.
The Mayor does not preside at meetings. Council chooses a presiding member from among their number.
The Mayor appoints the Deputy- Mayor. That makes sense. Councillors are elected in wards. Highest vote count would not be relevant. But is that like appointing a successor?
The Mayor appoints his own executive committee. They have to vote with the Mayor or be replaced. I heard the executive committee is a majority of Council. Then I heard it isn't.
George Rust D'Eye told Aurora Council, we could appoint an executive committee composed of all but one Council member. And I suppose they could ,if they didn't have to explain it to the community. Anyway, they didn't. They adopted a prohibition bylaw instead.
Some Toronto Councillors have been quoted as saying it doesn't matter if Rob Ford gets elected.
They will find a way around him.
The most interesting aspect of the race though is that Rob Ford still has a comfortable two digit lead (15%) over the nearest competitor. Doesn't seem to matter how much the chattering class deplores the situation. However much mud they sling, people still seem to be responding to his message.
Taxes are too heavy. Councillors are shamelessly extravagant. People are hurting.
There are only four more days for a new Mayoralty candidate to come forward.
It's not likely.
People say David Miller could be re-elected. He thinks so too. But when he held a press conference last year, and declared he would not be a candidate for Mayor again, he sounded like a man who had been run over by a steam-roller.
Garbage stacked in the parks all summer was hard to ignore. The union contract settlement was not a victory. The pressure of those summer months must have been horrendous.
Etobicoke didn't have a garbage strike. They have a private contract. They managed that when Councillor Doug Holyday was Mayor . Rob Ford is an Etobicoke Councillor.
Etobicoke was a borough. Former Metro boroughs have long-standing grievances with Toronto.
Melding former boroughs and the city into a single community has been the challenge for whoever became or becomes the City's Mayor.
Whether or not it's possible to achieve still remains a question.
Mel Lastman barely made a dent. David Miller, the intellectual elite, didn't do much better. The computer scandal happened during his watch.
How did he come through that without a smirch.
If voters give Rob Ford a chance, how he rises to the challenge will be fascinating to watch.
Of course, I'm watching from a distance. I don't really know what I'm talking about. But... it's better than watching television.
The Race Goes To The Swift
Politics in Aurora today have a different flavour. It may be inevitable.
Civility doesn't go out of style but stuff happens and politics is about reacting and responding to events as they happen.
This Blog is part of the change in our town. Since it started, two others have emerged; The Aurora Citizen and Temporary Insanity. If there are others, I don't know about them.
People have participated with comments and questions.
Blogs are not newspapers. The discipline is not the same. Circulation is not the same. The common denominator is news. The media no longer has a controlling monopoly .They no longer decide what, if, and how much information you will receive.
I make a regular contribution to The Auroran for the benefit of residents who are not on line.
That pleases some and infuriates others. I wonder why the nasties don't choose to exercise the same freedom and publish their own blog.
It doesn't cost money. All it takes is time.And of course courage to be honest with people.
I didn't start writing the Blog until it became obvious, I had no hope of being allowed to participate in the role to which I had been elected. It was August of 2007.
Of course, I couldn't be still and quiet for that. The Blog came out of the need to be heard.
Close to a thousand political posts have been published since.
Readership growth indicates the posts are well, if not joyfully, received .
With three blogs on town affairs, one can hardly argue the concept has caught like wildfire,but it's three more than were abroad during any previous term of office.
This election may be the first to be influenced, however slightly, by the new form of news circulation.It remains to be seen.
For example, on the Citizen Blog , people keep asking about the new candidates.
Does anyone know anything about them?
It seems nobody on line does.
But Citizen Blog is a perfect opportunity for new candidates to make themselves known.
Why don't they ?
Are they not on line? That will be a serious handicap.
All communication between the town and elected representatives is by internet.
Do they have nothing to say? That's hardly likely.
Residents with problems circulate their concerns to all Members of Council. Not being on line, could be a serious disadvantage.
If new candidates are reading this blog now, I suggest you take advantage of the Citizen Blog . People clearly want to know about you . They need to know. No opportunity should be missed to respond to their interest.
The Aurora Banner will tell them..... Nothing... Nada...Nil...Zilch and Zero...except of course if they get paid.
The field though is wide open. You are registered as a candidate. Serious intent is established.The time was yesterday to make yourself known.
Start your own Blog.
Let's talk.
The race is on.
Civility doesn't go out of style but stuff happens and politics is about reacting and responding to events as they happen.
This Blog is part of the change in our town. Since it started, two others have emerged; The Aurora Citizen and Temporary Insanity. If there are others, I don't know about them.
People have participated with comments and questions.
Blogs are not newspapers. The discipline is not the same. Circulation is not the same. The common denominator is news. The media no longer has a controlling monopoly .They no longer decide what, if, and how much information you will receive.
I make a regular contribution to The Auroran for the benefit of residents who are not on line.
That pleases some and infuriates others. I wonder why the nasties don't choose to exercise the same freedom and publish their own blog.
It doesn't cost money. All it takes is time.And of course courage to be honest with people.
I didn't start writing the Blog until it became obvious, I had no hope of being allowed to participate in the role to which I had been elected. It was August of 2007.
Of course, I couldn't be still and quiet for that. The Blog came out of the need to be heard.
Close to a thousand political posts have been published since.
Readership growth indicates the posts are well, if not joyfully, received .
With three blogs on town affairs, one can hardly argue the concept has caught like wildfire,but it's three more than were abroad during any previous term of office.
This election may be the first to be influenced, however slightly, by the new form of news circulation.It remains to be seen.
For example, on the Citizen Blog , people keep asking about the new candidates.
Does anyone know anything about them?
It seems nobody on line does.
But Citizen Blog is a perfect opportunity for new candidates to make themselves known.
Why don't they ?
Are they not on line? That will be a serious handicap.
All communication between the town and elected representatives is by internet.
Do they have nothing to say? That's hardly likely.
Residents with problems circulate their concerns to all Members of Council. Not being on line, could be a serious disadvantage.
If new candidates are reading this blog now, I suggest you take advantage of the Citizen Blog . People clearly want to know about you . They need to know. No opportunity should be missed to respond to their interest.
The Aurora Banner will tell them..... Nothing... Nada...Nil...Zilch and Zero...except of course if they get paid.
The field though is wide open. You are registered as a candidate. Serious intent is established.The time was yesterday to make yourself known.
Start your own Blog.
Let's talk.
The race is on.
Monday, 6 September 2010
For Those Who Believe
For those who believe, no proof is necessary
For those who do not believe, no proof is possible.
The quote was sent to me with the author's name; Stuart Chase.
I don't like to use a quote unless I know something of the circumstances of how it came to be. Chase was an economist and an engineer who switched from financial accounting to social accountability and wrote several books, one of which was entitled, The New Deal.
President Roosevelt read it at the time of The Great Depression. Chase's ideas about government's social responsibilities became the root of the program known as The New Deal.
I found that and more on Google. At my fingertips.
One of the nasties accused me of plagiarism the other day because I used a biblical phrase. It was in quotes to signify it wasn't mine. I think John F. Kennedy used it in the speech (Inaugural?) where he said; "Ask not what your Country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"
The quote was "to those whom much is given, much is expected"
Whoever wrote their speeches, the Kennedy brothers knew how to deliver them with flair and conviction. They had Mojo.
I wrote a post the other day about the comment from an unnamed Liberal that the party had re-discovered their Mojo I didn't think it was a word until I checked the dictionary. Among other things, the word means "magic spell".
Now I know the word is real , I just don't believe the Liberal claim .
In terms of Mojo, I think of Winston Churchill, Pierre Trudeau, Tommy Douglas, David Lewis, Dalton Camp, Keith, the Rainmaker, Davey and yes, Rene Levesque.
Call me traitor to English Canada if you like, I do believe Rene, the man, had Mojo.
I don't see anybody with Mojo in government to-day. Which is not to say ,they're not out there somewhere.
History demonstrates, it is monumental challenge that brings out the mettle of the man or woman in a position of authority.
I believe our Town's political situation has deteriorated to the point, recovery represents a monumental challenge. As huge as I have ever seen.
I believe nothing less than a change in the Mayor's chair is necessary to change the course.It took four years to get us where we are.
We have a hard row ahead of us . We need a strong coach to take us forward. Whether he has mojo will be revealed if he is given the challenge.
I believe Geoff Dawe is the man.
But elections are won by one vote cast at a time.
Enough of you have to believe also.
You have the time and the opportunity. This challenge is yours.
For those who do not believe, no proof is possible.
The quote was sent to me with the author's name; Stuart Chase.
I don't like to use a quote unless I know something of the circumstances of how it came to be. Chase was an economist and an engineer who switched from financial accounting to social accountability and wrote several books, one of which was entitled, The New Deal.
President Roosevelt read it at the time of The Great Depression. Chase's ideas about government's social responsibilities became the root of the program known as The New Deal.
I found that and more on Google. At my fingertips.
One of the nasties accused me of plagiarism the other day because I used a biblical phrase. It was in quotes to signify it wasn't mine. I think John F. Kennedy used it in the speech (Inaugural?) where he said; "Ask not what your Country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"
The quote was "to those whom much is given, much is expected"
Whoever wrote their speeches, the Kennedy brothers knew how to deliver them with flair and conviction. They had Mojo.
I wrote a post the other day about the comment from an unnamed Liberal that the party had re-discovered their Mojo I didn't think it was a word until I checked the dictionary. Among other things, the word means "magic spell".
Now I know the word is real , I just don't believe the Liberal claim .
In terms of Mojo, I think of Winston Churchill, Pierre Trudeau, Tommy Douglas, David Lewis, Dalton Camp, Keith, the Rainmaker, Davey and yes, Rene Levesque.
Call me traitor to English Canada if you like, I do believe Rene, the man, had Mojo.
I don't see anybody with Mojo in government to-day. Which is not to say ,they're not out there somewhere.
History demonstrates, it is monumental challenge that brings out the mettle of the man or woman in a position of authority.
I believe our Town's political situation has deteriorated to the point, recovery represents a monumental challenge. As huge as I have ever seen.
I believe nothing less than a change in the Mayor's chair is necessary to change the course.It took four years to get us where we are.
We have a hard row ahead of us . We need a strong coach to take us forward. Whether he has mojo will be revealed if he is given the challenge.
I believe Geoff Dawe is the man.
But elections are won by one vote cast at a time.
Enough of you have to believe also.
You have the time and the opportunity. This challenge is yours.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Our Mythical Mystical Museum
A reader seeks to know the whereabouts of the Town Museum.
It is no more.
Several million dollars have been spent on a state of the art museum facility but the town's artifact have no home.
Name and function of Church Street School has been changed to Culture Centre.
Va Va Va Va Voom.
The museum collection is stored in boxes in the basement.
The story has many twists and turns.
I was Mayor in 1976. The Town and Board of Education partnered and built the Administrative Centre on Wellington Street. Church Street School was vacated yet again.
The Historical Society was given the top floor to create a museum. A grant was obtained to pay rent to the town. A volunteer curator, retired, worked at the museum.
I was out of office for a while.
I returned .
Rent was no longer noted in town accounts. $50ks grant to the Historical Society was.
I never discovered the reason for altered circumstances. Full-time curator operated the museum but was not part of town staff complement.
Out of Office again. Returned again after thirteen years.
Church Street School gutted. Collection stashed in boxes at Hillary House with curator
Curator retires.
New curator appointed by Historical Society.
Historical Society fund-raised for renovations to Church Street School.
Costs projected,one million
Building costing on-going maintenance.
Building not usable.
Fund- raising reached $750ks.Stopped.
Shortfall $250ks.
I moved, a resolution for town to fund shortfall.
Approved.
Cost evolved to $2.3 million.
Plan commissioned by Historical Society for museum adopted by Town.
Project completed according to plans.
Treasurer recommends management board for eventual self-sufficiency.
Ad Hoc Arts and Culture Committee appointed.
Consultant appointed.
Councillors Gaertner and Granger appointed to committee.
Ken Whitehurst, Mayor's friend and campaign organiser also appointed.
New curator, staff resource person.
Grant of $700ks obtained for museum.
New curator resigns.
Replaced by Ken Whitehurst as paid resource, while still a committee member.
President of Historical Society endorses appointment.
Consultant reports to Council.
Business Plan presented.
President of Historical Society withdraws Society's commitment to operate museum.
Initial budget of $400ks proposed, to be weaned off by $100ks a year.
Board appointed.
Purchase of Culture agreement signed.
Annual funds to be provided on a quarterly basis on receipt of quarterly financial statement.
Staff hired.
No curator.
Facility name changed to Culture Centre.
September 2009, facility in operation
September 2010, as yet no quarterly statement presented to Council. Funds continue to be provided.
No museum.
No answer to question about museum.
Events promoted . No evidence of revenue.
July 29th, free use for event charging admission.
Town meetings switched to facility as opposed to Town Hall.
No fees paid.
Church Street School Culture Centre Board receives annual funds $340,000 ,on a quarterly basis from tax revenues, under a Purchase of Culture agreement.
Building costs $140.000 to maintain with heat,light and custodial service. Also paid from tax revenues.
A financial statement was provided to the Town in April. Not presented to Council.
A second statement to be presented in September.
General Committee agenda for Tuesday Sep.7th does not include a financial statement.
Current information indicates museum will not be given space because it does not generate revenue.
One year in operation, no evidence received to date suggest any function at the Culture Centre generates revenue.
Grand piano is much in evidence.
The sucking sound you hear is half a million tax dollars, with an increase of 3% annually, being siphoned out of the town treasury to buy culture you didn't even know you needed.
The Aurora Museum , a resource used by families, schools and generations of children for forty years and aspired for many more; the penultimate reason, for millions of dollars invested in the Town's most significant artifact of all. the Church Street School, has been displaced without as much as a by-your-leave and with no indication of intent to ever allow it to surface again.
It is no more.
Several million dollars have been spent on a state of the art museum facility but the town's artifact have no home.
Name and function of Church Street School has been changed to Culture Centre.
Va Va Va Va Voom.
The museum collection is stored in boxes in the basement.
The story has many twists and turns.
I was Mayor in 1976. The Town and Board of Education partnered and built the Administrative Centre on Wellington Street. Church Street School was vacated yet again.
The Historical Society was given the top floor to create a museum. A grant was obtained to pay rent to the town. A volunteer curator, retired, worked at the museum.
I was out of office for a while.
I returned .
Rent was no longer noted in town accounts. $50ks grant to the Historical Society was.
I never discovered the reason for altered circumstances. Full-time curator operated the museum but was not part of town staff complement.
Out of Office again. Returned again after thirteen years.
Church Street School gutted. Collection stashed in boxes at Hillary House with curator
Curator retires.
New curator appointed by Historical Society.
Historical Society fund-raised for renovations to Church Street School.
Costs projected,one million
Building costing on-going maintenance.
Building not usable.
Fund- raising reached $750ks.Stopped.
Shortfall $250ks.
I moved, a resolution for town to fund shortfall.
Approved.
Cost evolved to $2.3 million.
Plan commissioned by Historical Society for museum adopted by Town.
Project completed according to plans.
Treasurer recommends management board for eventual self-sufficiency.
Ad Hoc Arts and Culture Committee appointed.
Consultant appointed.
Councillors Gaertner and Granger appointed to committee.
Ken Whitehurst, Mayor's friend and campaign organiser also appointed.
New curator, staff resource person.
Grant of $700ks obtained for museum.
New curator resigns.
Replaced by Ken Whitehurst as paid resource, while still a committee member.
President of Historical Society endorses appointment.
Consultant reports to Council.
Business Plan presented.
President of Historical Society withdraws Society's commitment to operate museum.
Initial budget of $400ks proposed, to be weaned off by $100ks a year.
Board appointed.
Purchase of Culture agreement signed.
Annual funds to be provided on a quarterly basis on receipt of quarterly financial statement.
Staff hired.
No curator.
Facility name changed to Culture Centre.
September 2009, facility in operation
September 2010, as yet no quarterly statement presented to Council. Funds continue to be provided.
No museum.
No answer to question about museum.
Events promoted . No evidence of revenue.
July 29th, free use for event charging admission.
Town meetings switched to facility as opposed to Town Hall.
No fees paid.
Church Street School Culture Centre Board receives annual funds $340,000 ,on a quarterly basis from tax revenues, under a Purchase of Culture agreement.
Building costs $140.000 to maintain with heat,light and custodial service. Also paid from tax revenues.
A financial statement was provided to the Town in April. Not presented to Council.
A second statement to be presented in September.
General Committee agenda for Tuesday Sep.7th does not include a financial statement.
Current information indicates museum will not be given space because it does not generate revenue.
One year in operation, no evidence received to date suggest any function at the Culture Centre generates revenue.
Grand piano is much in evidence.
The sucking sound you hear is half a million tax dollars, with an increase of 3% annually, being siphoned out of the town treasury to buy culture you didn't even know you needed.
The Aurora Museum , a resource used by families, schools and generations of children for forty years and aspired for many more; the penultimate reason, for millions of dollars invested in the Town's most significant artifact of all. the Church Street School, has been displaced without as much as a by-your-leave and with no indication of intent to ever allow it to surface again.
Saturday, 4 September 2010
Another Ontario Municipal Board Appeal Won
On the 10th of August, the Board gave approval for the residential development project at the corner of Tyler and Yonge.
The town's decision was not upheld.
The issue was parking . The project now has the go ahead. Without going into the records, I'd say that's probably six months of the construction season wasted.
Six months of employment that didn't happen.
Hours of legal and planning staff time occupied at the town hall, with no useful outcome.
The project could have been underway and enclosed before the snow flies. They may start now but the delay has been useless and costly and will not be recovered.
Completion will be six months delayed. Six months of assessment revenue will be lost.
How many more small businesses in the core will go under that might have survived with the spark of walk- in trade from a new residential building in the central area.
What have we learned? Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Nada... Nil...Zilch ... Zero
We have the Fol-de-Rol Promenade Study by the Mormac Cult, complete with airy-fairy fanciful pictures and notions of what might be, apropos of none of the reality that for anything to happen in the core, we are entirely dependent on a partnership with the private sector's investment and ingenuity .
Meanwhile, we spend thousands of dollars , and time defending decisions that prove to be indefensible at the Municipal Board. We cause months of delay and waste of optimum construction time. Real projects funded with private investment languish on draughtsman's boards awaiting the signal.
We add staff to the administration to stimulate economic development.What a joke.
Remember the Mayor's expedition from her office with staff taking photos of blighted sites to display on the overhead at televised Council meetings complete with critical admonitions to owners to clean up their act.
Owners who have repeatedly run the gauntlet of the tortuous public planning process again and again with a kaleidoscope of plans to meet the economically impossible ideas of a group , who may never have built as much as a tree house or financed anything but a residential mortgage but are supremely confident of their competence to spot flaws in whatever comes before them and continually marvel at their own acumen.
Just look at the record:
All those failed extravagant legal processes to obtain a consolidated board hearing , doomed from the start because the board never did have the authority to grant .
Piggy backing neighbours opposition on to ours with their lawyer and their witnesses. Doubling public expense to oppose the Westhill application to develop land that has a Town of Aurora Official Plan designation to develop. While our best and only hope is to ensure the municipality's interest is protected now and in the future.
The application for the North -east corner of Centre and Yonge has never gone to an OMB appeal because the nature of the site makes it completely dependent on a zoning compromise which in the entire period of this term of office has been willfully refused.
This October, it will be a year since we have had an application for development. Public Planning Meetings have been cancelled because there were no applications to be heard.
We know about the economic downturn. It could be that. Or it could most likely be absolute futility in trying.
We are an urban municipality. Our future as a community where everyone can afford to keep their homes, is dependent on viable growth which keeps taxes at a manageable level.
It can be done.
If that is our objective..
The town's decision was not upheld.
The issue was parking . The project now has the go ahead. Without going into the records, I'd say that's probably six months of the construction season wasted.
Six months of employment that didn't happen.
Hours of legal and planning staff time occupied at the town hall, with no useful outcome.
The project could have been underway and enclosed before the snow flies. They may start now but the delay has been useless and costly and will not be recovered.
Completion will be six months delayed. Six months of assessment revenue will be lost.
How many more small businesses in the core will go under that might have survived with the spark of walk- in trade from a new residential building in the central area.
What have we learned? Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Nada... Nil...Zilch ... Zero
We have the Fol-de-Rol Promenade Study by the Mormac Cult, complete with airy-fairy fanciful pictures and notions of what might be, apropos of none of the reality that for anything to happen in the core, we are entirely dependent on a partnership with the private sector's investment and ingenuity .
Meanwhile, we spend thousands of dollars , and time defending decisions that prove to be indefensible at the Municipal Board. We cause months of delay and waste of optimum construction time. Real projects funded with private investment languish on draughtsman's boards awaiting the signal.
We add staff to the administration to stimulate economic development.What a joke.
Remember the Mayor's expedition from her office with staff taking photos of blighted sites to display on the overhead at televised Council meetings complete with critical admonitions to owners to clean up their act.
Owners who have repeatedly run the gauntlet of the tortuous public planning process again and again with a kaleidoscope of plans to meet the economically impossible ideas of a group , who may never have built as much as a tree house or financed anything but a residential mortgage but are supremely confident of their competence to spot flaws in whatever comes before them and continually marvel at their own acumen.
Just look at the record:
All those failed extravagant legal processes to obtain a consolidated board hearing , doomed from the start because the board never did have the authority to grant .
Piggy backing neighbours opposition on to ours with their lawyer and their witnesses. Doubling public expense to oppose the Westhill application to develop land that has a Town of Aurora Official Plan designation to develop. While our best and only hope is to ensure the municipality's interest is protected now and in the future.
The application for the North -east corner of Centre and Yonge has never gone to an OMB appeal because the nature of the site makes it completely dependent on a zoning compromise which in the entire period of this term of office has been willfully refused.
This October, it will be a year since we have had an application for development. Public Planning Meetings have been cancelled because there were no applications to be heard.
We know about the economic downturn. It could be that. Or it could most likely be absolute futility in trying.
We are an urban municipality. Our future as a community where everyone can afford to keep their homes, is dependent on viable growth which keeps taxes at a manageable level.
It can be done.
If that is our objective..
Freedom of Odd Information Request
Councillors were circulated during the week from the Clerk's Office.
A request has been received from an individual for copies of all e-mails exchanged between Councillors and a particular individual who is known as a prolific and somewhat careless e-mail writer.
I don't know the name of the individual making the request. It's protected under the Privacy Act.
I know the name of the second individual. I don't know if it's protected under the Privacy Act . The Clerk's office is closed on a Saturday so I can't ask. I will follow the maxim that discretion is the better part of valour and not tell.
It is a familiar name. The party is not normally jealous of privacy.
There has been no e-mail exchange with myself except, I suspect, an insulting and accusatory anonymous comment thrown in my direction here and there.
Councillor MacEachern seems slightly perturbed by the request. A comment to the clerk indicates her impression FOI requests have increased lately.
They haven't. The Clerk has only started reporting to Council . Requests received. with the year not complete, reflect fewer than other years of the term, since 2006.
The Councillor seems to know the name of the party making the requests.That's odd . It's supposed to be private. But not really. I suppose if a sufficient number of odd things happen, they are no longer odd.They become normal under the circumstances.
The Councillor wonders if the town is charging full fees.
The fees are $30. an hour for searches and an additional 25cents per page of copy. It's fixed by provincial regulations. We can't charge more.
Depending how deep the search, I imagine the cost could add up to a substantial amount. One instance I know of, the cost actually discouraged the request.
The Councillor wanted to know if the search would include third parties. That's where I lost the thread of the questions.
The request is intriguing.
How would anyone but parties to the exchange, know there had been an exchange?. Would the Clerk know if e-mails had been exchanged and could the information be with-held?
I wonder what the exchange was about. Could it be damaging? Why would it be of interest?
I wonder if an invitation to be a friend on Facebook qualifies as an exchange, even if it wasn't accepted.
I got one. I didn't accept it.
I get lots of them. I don't usually click to confirm. I'm never sure of the context and am mostly busy with other things.
But that wasn't precisely the case with the individual whose e-mail exchange with Councillors is the subject of an FOI request and of concern to Councillor MacEachern.
I didn't accept that invitation to be a friend either, so I'm guessing it wont qualify as an exchange.
The Clerk indicates he will be submitting the quarterly report soon. I look forward to seeing how comprehensive it might be.
Maybe we will read about the information elsewhere before then.
Like I said. It's intriguing.
What does the person making the FOI request know that I don't ? Why would it be worth paying for?
A request has been received from an individual for copies of all e-mails exchanged between Councillors and a particular individual who is known as a prolific and somewhat careless e-mail writer.
I don't know the name of the individual making the request. It's protected under the Privacy Act.
I know the name of the second individual. I don't know if it's protected under the Privacy Act . The Clerk's office is closed on a Saturday so I can't ask. I will follow the maxim that discretion is the better part of valour and not tell.
It is a familiar name. The party is not normally jealous of privacy.
There has been no e-mail exchange with myself except, I suspect, an insulting and accusatory anonymous comment thrown in my direction here and there.
Councillor MacEachern seems slightly perturbed by the request. A comment to the clerk indicates her impression FOI requests have increased lately.
They haven't. The Clerk has only started reporting to Council . Requests received. with the year not complete, reflect fewer than other years of the term, since 2006.
The Councillor seems to know the name of the party making the requests.That's odd . It's supposed to be private. But not really. I suppose if a sufficient number of odd things happen, they are no longer odd.They become normal under the circumstances.
The Councillor wonders if the town is charging full fees.
The fees are $30. an hour for searches and an additional 25cents per page of copy. It's fixed by provincial regulations. We can't charge more.
Depending how deep the search, I imagine the cost could add up to a substantial amount. One instance I know of, the cost actually discouraged the request.
The Councillor wanted to know if the search would include third parties. That's where I lost the thread of the questions.
The request is intriguing.
How would anyone but parties to the exchange, know there had been an exchange?. Would the Clerk know if e-mails had been exchanged and could the information be with-held?
I wonder what the exchange was about. Could it be damaging? Why would it be of interest?
I wonder if an invitation to be a friend on Facebook qualifies as an exchange, even if it wasn't accepted.
I got one. I didn't accept it.
I get lots of them. I don't usually click to confirm. I'm never sure of the context and am mostly busy with other things.
But that wasn't precisely the case with the individual whose e-mail exchange with Councillors is the subject of an FOI request and of concern to Councillor MacEachern.
I didn't accept that invitation to be a friend either, so I'm guessing it wont qualify as an exchange.
The Clerk indicates he will be submitting the quarterly report soon. I look forward to seeing how comprehensive it might be.
Maybe we will read about the information elsewhere before then.
Like I said. It's intriguing.
What does the person making the FOI request know that I don't ? Why would it be worth paying for?
Friday, 3 September 2010
A Campaign Memory
I did the technical formality yesterday. I paid my hundred dollars and registered as a candidate.
They still refer to it as nomination. But it's not.
Now I have to plan a campaign.
Oh Lord !
Early this morning, I thought about the late Ron Simmons. He was a Councillor of many terms.. And a variety of occupations.
He had the Canada Post parcel delivery contract.
If a resident was receiving a parcel delivery, Ron delivered a leaflet and that was the extent of his campaign. He projected an image that he didn't take much seriously. But he did.
He was a familiar figure in his red van driving around town with a fat black cigar in his face.
And of course...he lived all his life in Aurora . He played hockey when Minor Hockey was organised by Del Babcock, principal of Church Street school and the League strung out along the route of the Yonge Street Electric Car line.
The fans went along with the team. . When they won, the car rocked from side to side all the way home from the force of the celebration.
He played with Walt Davies, also an Aurora Councillor. They grew up on opposite sides of Metcalfe Street, yards from the railway line.Went to school together. Played cowboys and Indians in Sheppard's Bush and were chased by Sheppard's guard dogs.
They tipped privies together in backyards around the town park on Halloween night
They had both been Volunteer Firefighters and sat opposite each other at the Council table .Part of the time, I occupied the Mayor's chair.
Much that I know about Aurora's past, I learned from them. We were of an age. At no time ever, did they make me feel like an outsider. It was Aurora and that's what Aurora folk were like.
And of course, he had family and many friends. There wasn't much people didn't know about Ron , his much- loved wife Betty and their good-looking boys.
He enjoyed steadfast support at the polls.
I valued his friendship.
They still refer to it as nomination. But it's not.
Now I have to plan a campaign.
Oh Lord !
Early this morning, I thought about the late Ron Simmons. He was a Councillor of many terms.. And a variety of occupations.
He had the Canada Post parcel delivery contract.
If a resident was receiving a parcel delivery, Ron delivered a leaflet and that was the extent of his campaign. He projected an image that he didn't take much seriously. But he did.
He was a familiar figure in his red van driving around town with a fat black cigar in his face.
And of course...he lived all his life in Aurora . He played hockey when Minor Hockey was organised by Del Babcock, principal of Church Street school and the League strung out along the route of the Yonge Street Electric Car line.
The fans went along with the team. . When they won, the car rocked from side to side all the way home from the force of the celebration.
He played with Walt Davies, also an Aurora Councillor. They grew up on opposite sides of Metcalfe Street, yards from the railway line.Went to school together. Played cowboys and Indians in Sheppard's Bush and were chased by Sheppard's guard dogs.
They tipped privies together in backyards around the town park on Halloween night
They had both been Volunteer Firefighters and sat opposite each other at the Council table .Part of the time, I occupied the Mayor's chair.
Much that I know about Aurora's past, I learned from them. We were of an age. At no time ever, did they make me feel like an outsider. It was Aurora and that's what Aurora folk were like.
And of course, he had family and many friends. There wasn't much people didn't know about Ron , his much- loved wife Betty and their good-looking boys.
He enjoyed steadfast support at the polls.
I valued his friendship.
Thursday, 2 September 2010
At Risk
Of boring , I will render Clause 3 of the Code of Conduct to pieces and analyse it before your very eyes.
Now read this:
"Members of Council will accurately and adequately communicate the attitudes and decisions of Council, even if they disagree with the majority decision of Council"
Think about Council as you have known it; four years of the Mormac cult and outsiders; McRoberts, Collins Mrakas and Me.
If compelled to tell about the attitudes and decisions of the Cult, how would that be portayed?
Songs of praise, warm and fuzzy compliments, expressions of marvel at their ingenuity or something less ?
What would be added to the public debate ?
Am I responsible for their decisions as well as my own and required to offer righteous rationale in the face of my own lack of conviction?
I don't think so. They should hope I will not do that.
********************
"Members shall show respect for the decision-making process".
Which one is that?
The Procedure Bylaw adopted as first item of business of every new Council , required by Provincial Regulation? Stating dates of meetings for the year ahead? Fixing start time and the hour of adjournment? To complete town business within a known framework? So all may know when public decisions shall take place under a known brand of Rules of Order?
Or the process where meetings neither start nor end on time,are used to showcase the amazing talents and attributes of the Presiding Member ? Where rules favouring friends and supporters are made on the fly? And recesses are called when the chair is challenged and doesn't know what to do next?
I attended a Barnum and Bailey Three Ring Circus in London, England once. I came away with a migraine headache that lasted for days.
I saw the musical "Cats" and loved the songs and dances but the simulated smoke and clanging garbage cans had a similar effect.
A Council Meeting as currently presided is a trial of endurance. It generates no respect.
Would that it were different.
***************************************************
"Official information related to decision and resolutions made by Council will normally be communicated to the community and the media in an official capacity by the Mayor or designated staff member or through a press Release issued by the Corporation".
Majority decisions , duly recorded, are decisions of the Corporation. The Town's Corporate Communications division exists, funded by tax dollars to relay Corporate decisions to the public.
It has not been designated as the public relations arm of the Mayor's Office.
********************************************************
"Information concerning adopted policies, procedures and decisions of the Council shall be conveyed openly and accurately."
Responsibility for so doing, is a function of administration. It has no bearing on conduct of a Councillor.
The sentence is a filler.
Our Procedural Bylaw is full of stuff like that.
************************************************************
"Confidential information will be communicated only when and after determined by Council"
Provincial regulations set out those items of public business that may be held confidential.
Because of potential for litigation against the municipality, some items may never be released.
Regulations require "reporting out" of other matters when concluded by Council. Time limit for so doing is not specified. That's a flaw.
Yet the regulations do not anticipate Council keeping secrets for political advantage.
Corporation safeguards are the only imperative.
The clause denies the principle of openness and transparency.
It is not supportable.
******************************************
Clause 3. of the Code is cited in the MacEachern's complaint filed with David Tsubouchi.
It was cited in the Commissioner's decision .
Now read this:
"Members of Council will accurately and adequately communicate the attitudes and decisions of Council, even if they disagree with the majority decision of Council"
Think about Council as you have known it; four years of the Mormac cult and outsiders; McRoberts, Collins Mrakas and Me.
If compelled to tell about the attitudes and decisions of the Cult, how would that be portayed?
Songs of praise, warm and fuzzy compliments, expressions of marvel at their ingenuity or something less ?
What would be added to the public debate ?
Am I responsible for their decisions as well as my own and required to offer righteous rationale in the face of my own lack of conviction?
I don't think so. They should hope I will not do that.
********************
"Members shall show respect for the decision-making process".
Which one is that?
The Procedure Bylaw adopted as first item of business of every new Council , required by Provincial Regulation? Stating dates of meetings for the year ahead? Fixing start time and the hour of adjournment? To complete town business within a known framework? So all may know when public decisions shall take place under a known brand of Rules of Order?
Or the process where meetings neither start nor end on time,are used to showcase the amazing talents and attributes of the Presiding Member ? Where rules favouring friends and supporters are made on the fly? And recesses are called when the chair is challenged and doesn't know what to do next?
I attended a Barnum and Bailey Three Ring Circus in London, England once. I came away with a migraine headache that lasted for days.
I saw the musical "Cats" and loved the songs and dances but the simulated smoke and clanging garbage cans had a similar effect.
A Council Meeting as currently presided is a trial of endurance. It generates no respect.
Would that it were different.
***************************************************
"Official information related to decision and resolutions made by Council will normally be communicated to the community and the media in an official capacity by the Mayor or designated staff member or through a press Release issued by the Corporation".
Majority decisions , duly recorded, are decisions of the Corporation. The Town's Corporate Communications division exists, funded by tax dollars to relay Corporate decisions to the public.
It has not been designated as the public relations arm of the Mayor's Office.
********************************************************
"Information concerning adopted policies, procedures and decisions of the Council shall be conveyed openly and accurately."
Responsibility for so doing, is a function of administration. It has no bearing on conduct of a Councillor.
The sentence is a filler.
Our Procedural Bylaw is full of stuff like that.
************************************************************
"Confidential information will be communicated only when and after determined by Council"
Provincial regulations set out those items of public business that may be held confidential.
Because of potential for litigation against the municipality, some items may never be released.
Regulations require "reporting out" of other matters when concluded by Council. Time limit for so doing is not specified. That's a flaw.
Yet the regulations do not anticipate Council keeping secrets for political advantage.
Corporation safeguards are the only imperative.
The clause denies the principle of openness and transparency.
It is not supportable.
******************************************
Clause 3. of the Code is cited in the MacEachern's complaint filed with David Tsubouchi.
It was cited in the Commissioner's decision .
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Further
The document I have is the original presented by The Clerk for Council's consideration on September 4th 2007.
Clause 3 was argued . No direction was given to change it.
Much water has flowed under the bridge since then
The Clerk retired in November 2008. A new clerk took office one week prior to his retirement. Hardly time for a complete understanding of works in progress. .
An Integrity Commissioner was appointed prior to the Clerk's leaving after an interview with the Mayor and Clerk not authorized by Council.
A new CAO took office in January. On the same day, the Treasurer submitted his resignation. He stayed until the budget was approved in mid April.
A new solicitor arrived about the same time.
Shortly after, a contract was signed with the Integrity Commissioner.
In July a complaint , prepared by a solicitor at a cost of $50,000, was filed by six members of Council including the Mayor.
In early August , a decision was forwarded to the clerk's office and distributed by the deputy-clerk who was acting in the absence of the vacationing Clerk, to Councillors in their mail boxes
It was scooped back up soon after.
I attended the town hall the following day to collect what was mine; the Integrity Commissioner. had notofied me it was there. A reporter with a camera came with me.
The new solicitor, Acting CAO, for the vacationing CAO , after a couple of consults with the Mayor while I was in the reception area. subsequently informed me, the deputy clerk had not been appointed Acting Clerk. He had been appointed Acting CAO and I would not be provided with the Integrity Commissioner's decision.
The following Monday, the Clerk returned I attended upon her and was provided with the Integrity Commissioner's decision.
Several things happened about the same time. The Clerk, who signed a five year contract the previous November, decided she would rather be retired after all and promptly took her leave.
The Mayor denied and has since consistently denied seeing the Commissioner's decision before the decision was made to strip him of his authority.
The Mayor and the same five Councillors, who signed the complaint prepared by a solicitor and publicized in several venues and is syill posted on the Town's web site, met and stripped the Integrity Commissioner of his authority.
The Commissioner's decision was refused to Councillors McRoberts and Collins Mrakas because they had refused to sign the complaint.
All I can tell you about the Code of Conduct is that it originally contained the clause requiring members of Council to refrain from communicating.
There is no record of direction to remove it.
It was already removed prior to being posted on the web site.
Not even Hercule Poirot, with all his little gray cells ticking at peak performance, would be able to fathom this mystery
.
Clause 3 was argued . No direction was given to change it.
Much water has flowed under the bridge since then
The Clerk retired in November 2008. A new clerk took office one week prior to his retirement. Hardly time for a complete understanding of works in progress. .
An Integrity Commissioner was appointed prior to the Clerk's leaving after an interview with the Mayor and Clerk not authorized by Council.
A new CAO took office in January. On the same day, the Treasurer submitted his resignation. He stayed until the budget was approved in mid April.
A new solicitor arrived about the same time.
Shortly after, a contract was signed with the Integrity Commissioner.
In July a complaint , prepared by a solicitor at a cost of $50,000, was filed by six members of Council including the Mayor.
In early August , a decision was forwarded to the clerk's office and distributed by the deputy-clerk who was acting in the absence of the vacationing Clerk, to Councillors in their mail boxes
It was scooped back up soon after.
I attended the town hall the following day to collect what was mine; the Integrity Commissioner. had notofied me it was there. A reporter with a camera came with me.
The new solicitor, Acting CAO, for the vacationing CAO , after a couple of consults with the Mayor while I was in the reception area. subsequently informed me, the deputy clerk had not been appointed Acting Clerk. He had been appointed Acting CAO and I would not be provided with the Integrity Commissioner's decision.
The following Monday, the Clerk returned I attended upon her and was provided with the Integrity Commissioner's decision.
Several things happened about the same time. The Clerk, who signed a five year contract the previous November, decided she would rather be retired after all and promptly took her leave.
The Mayor denied and has since consistently denied seeing the Commissioner's decision before the decision was made to strip him of his authority.
The Mayor and the same five Councillors, who signed the complaint prepared by a solicitor and publicized in several venues and is syill posted on the Town's web site, met and stripped the Integrity Commissioner of his authority.
The Commissioner's decision was refused to Councillors McRoberts and Collins Mrakas because they had refused to sign the complaint.
All I can tell you about the Code of Conduct is that it originally contained the clause requiring members of Council to refrain from communicating.
There is no record of direction to remove it.
It was already removed prior to being posted on the web site.
Not even Hercule Poirot, with all his little gray cells ticking at peak performance, would be able to fathom this mystery
.
Response To The Question
September 4th 2007 General Committee Meeting Agenda Item 8
I've had no success in copying and pasting the Clause but it is there in it's entirety.
You are correct however. The last sentence does not appear on the document posted on the web site.
There is something odd about that. A paper trail exists from the first submission of the Clerk.
It does show a recommended deletion of a section of the preceding Clause 2 Confidentiality.
Nowhere is there recommended a deletion from Clause 3. Communications
It's possible there was a slip of the finger on the computer.
There 's nothing to indicate that happened. Nor can it be ruled out.
Councillor Collins Mrakas and myself both disagreed with Clause 3. It was debated .
There was no agreement to delete it and since such direction is not in the record, our recollection seems to be accurate.
Clause 3 in its entirety is repeatedly contradictory and senseless . Deletion of the last clause makes it somewhat less obnoxious. Yet in terms of legislative language it is an embarrassment to the municipality.
I've had no success in copying and pasting the Clause but it is there in it's entirety.
You are correct however. The last sentence does not appear on the document posted on the web site.
There is something odd about that. A paper trail exists from the first submission of the Clerk.
It does show a recommended deletion of a section of the preceding Clause 2 Confidentiality.
Nowhere is there recommended a deletion from Clause 3. Communications
It's possible there was a slip of the finger on the computer.
There 's nothing to indicate that happened. Nor can it be ruled out.
Councillor Collins Mrakas and myself both disagreed with Clause 3. It was debated .
There was no agreement to delete it and since such direction is not in the record, our recollection seems to be accurate.
Clause 3 in its entirety is repeatedly contradictory and senseless . Deletion of the last clause makes it somewhat less obnoxious. Yet in terms of legislative language it is an embarrassment to the municipality.
Comment to a Post on Charter of Rights and Freedoms
First, I am a supporter. I believe two things. First, that you have been mis-treated by the GOS, particularly its two leaders (MORMAC). Second, I believe that MORMAC are manipulative and tend toward underhandedness and skullduggery in their dealings.
That said, I think you posted an inaccuracy of some material semantic value re: the code of conduct. Specifically, you included in a blog what you held out to be Clause 3 of the Code of Conduct. I reproduce your version below, in quotes.
"Clause 3. Communications and Media Relations.
Members of Council will accurately and adequately communicate the attitudes and decisions of Council even if they disagree with the majority decision of Council.
Members shall allow respect for the decision making process of Council
Official information related to decisions and resolutions made by Council will normally be communicated to the community and the media by council in an official capacity by the Mayor or designated staff member or through a press release issued by the Corporation.
Information concerning adopted policies,procedures and decisions of Council shall be conveyed openly and accurately.
Confidential information will be communicated only when and after determined by Council.
Communications with the media and Members of Council shall be conducted through proper interviews or media releases. Members shall refrain from writing letters to the editor or writing a regular column in the newspaper or hosting or co-hosting a regular televised program."
This is not accurate Ev. The official version, the link to which which I include below, while overly constraining in my view, is not as bad as what you wrote. There are actually 2 clause 3s, one for council, and one for committees, with the committee one only commenting on publishing news columns etc., but not with the imperative to "refrain from" etc.
http://www.e-aurora.ca/aurora/index.aspx?ArticleID=56&lang=en-CA
I can't imagine that this has been altered from an original version that more resembled your version. Can it? Do you have a version that includes your stronger wording?
Yes I do.
That said, I think you posted an inaccuracy of some material semantic value re: the code of conduct. Specifically, you included in a blog what you held out to be Clause 3 of the Code of Conduct. I reproduce your version below, in quotes.
"Clause 3. Communications and Media Relations.
Members of Council will accurately and adequately communicate the attitudes and decisions of Council even if they disagree with the majority decision of Council.
Members shall allow respect for the decision making process of Council
Official information related to decisions and resolutions made by Council will normally be communicated to the community and the media by council in an official capacity by the Mayor or designated staff member or through a press release issued by the Corporation.
Information concerning adopted policies,procedures and decisions of Council shall be conveyed openly and accurately.
Confidential information will be communicated only when and after determined by Council.
Communications with the media and Members of Council shall be conducted through proper interviews or media releases. Members shall refrain from writing letters to the editor or writing a regular column in the newspaper or hosting or co-hosting a regular televised program."
This is not accurate Ev. The official version, the link to which which I include below, while overly constraining in my view, is not as bad as what you wrote. There are actually 2 clause 3s, one for council, and one for committees, with the committee one only commenting on publishing news columns etc., but not with the imperative to "refrain from" etc.
http://www.e-aurora.ca/aurora/index.aspx?ArticleID=56&lang=en-CA
I can't imagine that this has been altered from an original version that more resembled your version. Can it? Do you have a version that includes your stronger wording?
Yes I do.
AN ELECTION MANIFESTO
I am a Candidate for Council again.
I believe:
I am as good as the best and better than the rest
I believe:
Every person, man woman or child, deserves fair and equal representation.
Whether or not they vote
Regardless of their means.
I believe:
In political debate, differences should be celebrated.
The right to speak frankly and freely should be encouraged.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms should be at the forefront of our thinking.
The morass of animosity should be kept distant .
Civil interaction should be a goal.
I believe;
A community is strengthened by its past.
We have a solid foundation to build for the needs of the present with an eye to the future.
Common sense, practicality and community have been the guiding principles
As solid today as they were one hundred and fifty years ago.
I believe:
We are each a steward of the environment. Individual actions comprise the whole.
Among the worlds people, we are most fortunate.
"To those who have been given much, much is expected".
I believe:
AN ELECTION IS A CELEBRATION OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS AND A RENEWAL OF COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY.
I BELIEVE :
AURORA DESERVES THE BEST AND THE BEST IS YET TO COME.
I believe:
I am as good as the best and better than the rest
I believe:
Every person, man woman or child, deserves fair and equal representation.
Whether or not they vote
Regardless of their means.
I believe:
In political debate, differences should be celebrated.
The right to speak frankly and freely should be encouraged.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms should be at the forefront of our thinking.
The morass of animosity should be kept distant .
Civil interaction should be a goal.
I believe;
A community is strengthened by its past.
We have a solid foundation to build for the needs of the present with an eye to the future.
Common sense, practicality and community have been the guiding principles
As solid today as they were one hundred and fifty years ago.
I believe:
We are each a steward of the environment. Individual actions comprise the whole.
Among the worlds people, we are most fortunate.
"To those who have been given much, much is expected".
I believe:
AN ELECTION IS A CELEBRATION OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS AND A RENEWAL OF COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY.
I BELIEVE :
AURORA DESERVES THE BEST AND THE BEST IS YET TO COME.
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Flotsam and Jetsam
A headline on CTV news last night announced:
"Liberals believe they have recovered their Mojo but don't know if they're ready for the election dance yet."
I didn't think Mojo was a word let alone know what it meant. Not for a minute did I imagine I would find it in the dictionary.
But it's there. It 's of African origin.
Mojo means medicine man...magic spell...charm.
My dictionary is Webster's Tenth copyright 2001.
So if we can tell nothing else from the Liberal statement, we know they are up to date on language
Yet if any modern political organisation claims to have Mojo, I fear it may largely be in their own minds.
*********************
Apropos of yesterday's post, I have been asked if an assistant was even hired to assist with organising the July 1st Parade.
The invoice and the cheque were made out to an individual. I don't know the person.
Residents may remember three years back, staff reported , no volunteers had come forward to organize the July 1st Parade. A large part of the responsibility was fund-raising. The parade had been struggling for years.
Once I was asked to ride in a car with another former Mayor. I did it out of compassion for the man who was desperately trying to marshall a semblance of a parade.I squeezed into a red July 1st Parade t-shirt three sizes too small and hung out the car window from the waist up and
waved frenetically and wished everybody Happy July 1st Birthday.
Not because little children were likely to recognise former Mayors in a car and understand why we were in the Parade.
Another year, the theme was Old Soldiers. Dick Illingworth stood with another veteran in the back of a vehicle grimly saluting.
Well, you know.... little children sitting for hours on a sidewalk ,with flags and round eyes
waiting to see mojo like they've never seen it before. With music and colour and crazy little men in funny little hats scooting in and out and back and forth in tiny little vehicles squeezing squeaky little horns and generally acting like this day and place and circumstance will never come again.
A parade is to laugh and squeal at the clowns and gaze in amazement and Ooh and Aah and dance and wave the tiny little red and white flag and.... remember
A parade is MOJO. It takes all kinds of imagination and enthusiasm and in a town like Aurora ,
the whole community to be involved.
You can't buy it with money. You can't generate magic like from a slot machine.
When the town made fifteen thousand dollars available to pay for a parade, had they given it in time to our professional staff for that purpose, there would never have been a question about whether or not there could be a magical parade.
Two thousand dollars would have bought a lot of overtime.
****************************************
I need to make a correction. In my post on the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Code of Conduct I included a sentence included in the copy at hand.
It read;
"Communications with the media by Members of Council shall be conducted through proper interviews and media releases .Members shall refrain from submitting letters to the editor and writing a regular column in the newspaper or hosting / or co-hosting a regular televised program."
Having been part of the Council since the Mayor's clarion call of emergency to justify retaining George Rust D'Eye and retreating behind closed doors. I was well aware of the objective of the Code with its potential for enforcement on pain of penalties.
Its inclusion in the Code of Conduct was not a surprise.
After I printed the post, I received a comment which indicates the last bullet point is not in Clause 3 of the Code as it appears on the town's web site.
And thereby hangs another tale.
"Liberals believe they have recovered their Mojo but don't know if they're ready for the election dance yet."
I didn't think Mojo was a word let alone know what it meant. Not for a minute did I imagine I would find it in the dictionary.
But it's there. It 's of African origin.
Mojo means medicine man...magic spell...charm.
My dictionary is Webster's Tenth copyright 2001.
So if we can tell nothing else from the Liberal statement, we know they are up to date on language
Yet if any modern political organisation claims to have Mojo, I fear it may largely be in their own minds.
*********************
Apropos of yesterday's post, I have been asked if an assistant was even hired to assist with organising the July 1st Parade.
The invoice and the cheque were made out to an individual. I don't know the person.
Residents may remember three years back, staff reported , no volunteers had come forward to organize the July 1st Parade. A large part of the responsibility was fund-raising. The parade had been struggling for years.
Once I was asked to ride in a car with another former Mayor. I did it out of compassion for the man who was desperately trying to marshall a semblance of a parade.I squeezed into a red July 1st Parade t-shirt three sizes too small and hung out the car window from the waist up and
waved frenetically and wished everybody Happy July 1st Birthday.
Not because little children were likely to recognise former Mayors in a car and understand why we were in the Parade.
Another year, the theme was Old Soldiers. Dick Illingworth stood with another veteran in the back of a vehicle grimly saluting.
Well, you know.... little children sitting for hours on a sidewalk ,with flags and round eyes
waiting to see mojo like they've never seen it before. With music and colour and crazy little men in funny little hats scooting in and out and back and forth in tiny little vehicles squeezing squeaky little horns and generally acting like this day and place and circumstance will never come again.
A parade is to laugh and squeal at the clowns and gaze in amazement and Ooh and Aah and dance and wave the tiny little red and white flag and.... remember
A parade is MOJO. It takes all kinds of imagination and enthusiasm and in a town like Aurora ,
the whole community to be involved.
You can't buy it with money. You can't generate magic like from a slot machine.
When the town made fifteen thousand dollars available to pay for a parade, had they given it in time to our professional staff for that purpose, there would never have been a question about whether or not there could be a magical parade.
Two thousand dollars would have bought a lot of overtime.
****************************************
I need to make a correction. In my post on the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Code of Conduct I included a sentence included in the copy at hand.
It read;
"Communications with the media by Members of Council shall be conducted through proper interviews and media releases .Members shall refrain from submitting letters to the editor and writing a regular column in the newspaper or hosting / or co-hosting a regular televised program."
Having been part of the Council since the Mayor's clarion call of emergency to justify retaining George Rust D'Eye and retreating behind closed doors. I was well aware of the objective of the Code with its potential for enforcement on pain of penalties.
Its inclusion in the Code of Conduct was not a surprise.
After I printed the post, I received a comment which indicates the last bullet point is not in Clause 3 of the Code as it appears on the town's web site.
And thereby hangs another tale.
Monday, 30 August 2010
I Thought of Something Else
The budget for the July 1st Parade was $15,000.Included was a $2,000 allocation for the St.Kitts woman to hire an assistant to assist her.
It was a business meeting like most business meetings, when everything except town business takes priority over town business. The hour of adjournment comes and goes and most of the agenda is still to be dealt with.
Twenty minutes is allocated for public forum. By the time people invited by the Mayor to come and have their say in five minutes, so the Mayor, in ten minutes , can impress all and sundry with a masterly grip of significant matters and awards are presented and official presentations are made, also at the invitation of the presiding member, the clock has steadily moved forward, nothing has been accomplished and Council has once again been used and abused for other than it's proper function.
I may have called the item for discussion. Since I don't believe anything useful is ever accomplished after eleven p.m and if there is no sign of productivity, I generally leave the Council chamber.
The July 1st parade budget was approved as it would have been whether or not I stayed or whether or not I participated in the debate.
A week or so ago, an ad expressing personal appreciation from the St. Kitts woman to every organisation and individual who participated in the parade in any way.Nothing in the ad indicated anyone other than St Kitts was responsible for its placement or payment.
It reminded me of the $2,000 of tax funds provided to provide St Kitts with "an assistant".
It occurred to me to wonder how that was accomplished.
So I asked.
An invoice was submitted to the treasury by St. Kitts.in the amount of $2,000. A cheque for $2,000. was issued to the person named on the invoice by St Kitts.
The town has written and numbered purchasing and hiring policies and procedures written down for staff to follow.
Not for Councillors because Councillors do not do hiring or purchasing on behalf of the town.
So I guess, if you're not a Town of Aurora staff member, written and numbered policies and procedures do not apply.
Go figure...
It was a business meeting like most business meetings, when everything except town business takes priority over town business. The hour of adjournment comes and goes and most of the agenda is still to be dealt with.
Twenty minutes is allocated for public forum. By the time people invited by the Mayor to come and have their say in five minutes, so the Mayor, in ten minutes , can impress all and sundry with a masterly grip of significant matters and awards are presented and official presentations are made, also at the invitation of the presiding member, the clock has steadily moved forward, nothing has been accomplished and Council has once again been used and abused for other than it's proper function.
I may have called the item for discussion. Since I don't believe anything useful is ever accomplished after eleven p.m and if there is no sign of productivity, I generally leave the Council chamber.
The July 1st parade budget was approved as it would have been whether or not I stayed or whether or not I participated in the debate.
A week or so ago, an ad expressing personal appreciation from the St. Kitts woman to every organisation and individual who participated in the parade in any way.Nothing in the ad indicated anyone other than St Kitts was responsible for its placement or payment.
It reminded me of the $2,000 of tax funds provided to provide St Kitts with "an assistant".
It occurred to me to wonder how that was accomplished.
So I asked.
An invoice was submitted to the treasury by St. Kitts.in the amount of $2,000. A cheque for $2,000. was issued to the person named on the invoice by St Kitts.
The town has written and numbered purchasing and hiring policies and procedures written down for staff to follow.
Not for Councillors because Councillors do not do hiring or purchasing on behalf of the town.
So I guess, if you're not a Town of Aurora staff member, written and numbered policies and procedures do not apply.
Go figure...
Integrity in Ontario
It's interesting to read events in eleven municipalities in Ontario with Codes and Integrity Commissioners.
Ontario has over four hundred municipalities. Only eleven have the gear. Does that suggest integrity is not high on our scale of values?
Reading complaints and analysis, investigations and decisions and the annual reports of existing Mandarins suggests that is not a reasonable conclusion.
Toronto has the longest experience. Rob Ford appears to be the main target.Last week he apparently challenged the ethics of the Integrity Commissioner for reporting a decision during an election period.
Ford had used his Councillor's office and letterhead, paid for by the City, to raise funds for football gear for a school in his ward.
He claimed to have raised a hundred thousand dollars. Turns out he raised only a piddling thirty-eight thousand.
Football it seems, is a sport he knows something about and believes kids would be better off if they have such programs to keep them off the streets. A school in his ward has neither a program nor the means to provide it. It happens in inner-city neighbourhoods.
In his own support , Rob the Incorrigible, argued if an outgoing Councillor could spend $14,000 of a city provided budget in a farewell party to himself, he could use his city paid for stationery, telephone and office to raise funds for kids in his ward.
The Integrity Commissioner said No and recommended donations received by Ford be returned to their source.
Ms Leiper has been Integrity Commissioner of Toronto since August 5th 2009.
"Ms. Leiper, a lawyer and adjudicator, has practiced administrative and criminal law since her call to the Bar in 1987. She served most recently as Visiting Professor, Public Interest Law at Osgoode Law School where she implemented the first public interest graduation requirement for law students in Canada. Ms. Leiper is also the former Chair of Legal Aid Ontario appointed by the Government of Ontario from 2004 to 2007".
I copied and pasted that from Google.
While googling, I brought up David Mullan, Toronto's first Integrity Commissioner.
I found something really interesting.
"Professor David Mullan's Narrative of his Case, and its Successful Resolution"
"This is a narrative of how the administration of the University College of Cape Breton, Sydney, Nova Scotia, tried to compel one of its professors to apologize for writing a letter to the local daily which criticized a story which it had run about the achievements of its then-president, Dr. Jacquelyn Thayer Scott "
Professor Mullan's narrative is lengthy. I soaked up every word. It ended as follows;
"I shall spare visitors to my web site the tedium of my moralizing on the issue. Its significance will be obvious enough to interested persons.
It remains for me to express my heartiest thanks to the many people who have expressed their support over a dreadfully long period of time. In particular my colleagues Michael Manson, Peter MacIntyre, Allen Britten, and Dale Keefe, in their various official capacities in the Faculty Association of University Teachers of the University College of Cape Breton, and to all my other colleagues and friends here and elsewhere; to Mr Jim Turk, Executive Director, CAUT, for his commitment to the prosecution of this case, and to all the officers of that organization, and indeed the entire national membership whose financial contributions to the organization made possible its provision of legal counsel; to Mr. Jerry Kovacs of Ottawa if you need a good lawyer, and one who understands academic issues. . . .who provided excellent representation and a model of diligence in his preparation; to Olga Wojtas and the editorial staff of the Times Higher Education Supplement who provided even-handed coverage of the story in the issue of 26 October 2001; to Clive Seligman and his colleagues at The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship for their interest in the case and for writing a letter in my behalf to the current administration. Academics have plenty of differences and sometimes they fight amongst themselves about matters large and small, but when the freedom of the academy comes under a threat there is a great movement of closing ranks and presenting a united front. I have been the beneficiary of that unity, and I am very grateful.
David George Mullan, Professor,
History and Religious Studies "
Isn't that illuminating. Especially the last sentence. It bears repeating.
"Academics have plenty of differences and sometimes they fight amongst themselves about matters large and small. but when the freedom of the academy comes under a threat there is a great movement of closing ranks and presenting a united front. I have been the beneficiary of that unity,and I am very grateful."
In times past I have enjoyed the defence of colleagues not only of the right, but the obligation to be forthright in political judgement. I know whereof Mr. Mullan speaks. Except I have not had his resources.
When David Nitkin, during the only permitted workshop held on ethics,boycotted by the Mayor and Councillor Mac Eachern, used the word collegiality, in relation to our current Council, I knew then he had no idea of what he had embraced when he accepted appointment as Aurora's First Integrity Commissioner.
Ontario has over four hundred municipalities. Only eleven have the gear. Does that suggest integrity is not high on our scale of values?
Reading complaints and analysis, investigations and decisions and the annual reports of existing Mandarins suggests that is not a reasonable conclusion.
Toronto has the longest experience. Rob Ford appears to be the main target.Last week he apparently challenged the ethics of the Integrity Commissioner for reporting a decision during an election period.
Ford had used his Councillor's office and letterhead, paid for by the City, to raise funds for football gear for a school in his ward.
He claimed to have raised a hundred thousand dollars. Turns out he raised only a piddling thirty-eight thousand.
Football it seems, is a sport he knows something about and believes kids would be better off if they have such programs to keep them off the streets. A school in his ward has neither a program nor the means to provide it. It happens in inner-city neighbourhoods.
In his own support , Rob the Incorrigible, argued if an outgoing Councillor could spend $14,000 of a city provided budget in a farewell party to himself, he could use his city paid for stationery, telephone and office to raise funds for kids in his ward.
The Integrity Commissioner said No and recommended donations received by Ford be returned to their source.
Ms Leiper has been Integrity Commissioner of Toronto since August 5th 2009.
"Ms. Leiper, a lawyer and adjudicator, has practiced administrative and criminal law since her call to the Bar in 1987. She served most recently as Visiting Professor, Public Interest Law at Osgoode Law School where she implemented the first public interest graduation requirement for law students in Canada. Ms. Leiper is also the former Chair of Legal Aid Ontario appointed by the Government of Ontario from 2004 to 2007".
I copied and pasted that from Google.
While googling, I brought up David Mullan, Toronto's first Integrity Commissioner.
I found something really interesting.
"Professor David Mullan's Narrative of his Case, and its Successful Resolution"
"This is a narrative of how the administration of the University College of Cape Breton, Sydney, Nova Scotia, tried to compel one of its professors to apologize for writing a letter to the local daily which criticized a story which it had run about the achievements of its then-president, Dr. Jacquelyn Thayer Scott "
Professor Mullan's narrative is lengthy. I soaked up every word. It ended as follows;
"I shall spare visitors to my web site the tedium of my moralizing on the issue. Its significance will be obvious enough to interested persons.
It remains for me to express my heartiest thanks to the many people who have expressed their support over a dreadfully long period of time. In particular my colleagues Michael Manson, Peter MacIntyre, Allen Britten, and Dale Keefe, in their various official capacities in the Faculty Association of University Teachers of the University College of Cape Breton, and to all my other colleagues and friends here and elsewhere; to Mr Jim Turk, Executive Director, CAUT, for his commitment to the prosecution of this case, and to all the officers of that organization, and indeed the entire national membership whose financial contributions to the organization made possible its provision of legal counsel; to Mr. Jerry Kovacs of Ottawa if you need a good lawyer, and one who understands academic issues. . . .who provided excellent representation and a model of diligence in his preparation; to Olga Wojtas and the editorial staff of the Times Higher Education Supplement who provided even-handed coverage of the story in the issue of 26 October 2001; to Clive Seligman and his colleagues at The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship for their interest in the case and for writing a letter in my behalf to the current administration. Academics have plenty of differences and sometimes they fight amongst themselves about matters large and small, but when the freedom of the academy comes under a threat there is a great movement of closing ranks and presenting a united front. I have been the beneficiary of that unity, and I am very grateful.
David George Mullan, Professor,
History and Religious Studies "
Isn't that illuminating. Especially the last sentence. It bears repeating.
"Academics have plenty of differences and sometimes they fight amongst themselves about matters large and small. but when the freedom of the academy comes under a threat there is a great movement of closing ranks and presenting a united front. I have been the beneficiary of that unity,and I am very grateful."
In times past I have enjoyed the defence of colleagues not only of the right, but the obligation to be forthright in political judgement. I know whereof Mr. Mullan speaks. Except I have not had his resources.
When David Nitkin, during the only permitted workshop held on ethics,boycotted by the Mayor and Councillor Mac Eachern, used the word collegiality, in relation to our current Council, I knew then he had no idea of what he had embraced when he accepted appointment as Aurora's First Integrity Commissioner.
Sunday, 29 August 2010
On Deck Sunday Contemplation
Of the sights,sounds and smells of Saturday brought Gail to mind.
Gail is a member of the Seniors' Club who indulges her love for pretty things. She accepts surpluses of jewellery and scarves in personal caches.She recognizes a silk scarf when she sees it.
Jewellery is cleaned , repaired ,restored to former splendour and offered for sale anew wherever Seniors gather on a special day to raise funds for their endeavours. Proceeds are of course contributed to the club to help fund equipment and programs.
I didn't take down Gail's phone number but I'm sure the Seniors' Centre will accommodate inquiries and contributions
If you haven't seen it, Gail's enterprise would be good reason to visit and discover the excellence of the Senior's Program and uses available at the Centre to the community at large.
Gail is a member of the Seniors' Club who indulges her love for pretty things. She accepts surpluses of jewellery and scarves in personal caches.She recognizes a silk scarf when she sees it.
Jewellery is cleaned , repaired ,restored to former splendour and offered for sale anew wherever Seniors gather on a special day to raise funds for their endeavours. Proceeds are of course contributed to the club to help fund equipment and programs.
I didn't take down Gail's phone number but I'm sure the Seniors' Centre will accommodate inquiries and contributions
If you haven't seen it, Gail's enterprise would be good reason to visit and discover the excellence of the Senior's Program and uses available at the Centre to the community at large.
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