This City Is Crying Out For Leadership
A commentary on Thunder Bay's City Council of 2003-2006
By Andy Wolff
Originally published in PROFILE FOR SENIORS Vol. 2/No. 4
Dated: September 2005
IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST
When we elect our public officials, we expect them to act in the public's best interest. They are elected to oversee the business of the corporation and to provide checks and balances to ensure the City is conducting business appropriately.
With less and less employment opportunities, a dwindling population in our city and less government funding, the need for civic leadership has never been greater.
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
In the previous Council, there was a core of members who supported the dual source water system. This system had served our community, since the early 1900s. Had they prevailed, we would have upgraded and maintained our dual source water system, at a cost of approximately $22 million. What we are now constructing is a single source water system, at a cost projected to exceed $100 million. Furthermore, the single source option is designed to provide drinking water for a population of 150 thousand, while some analysts are projecting a population decrease to 85 thousand in the next ten years. Talk about a lack of foresight!
A 16% TAX INCREASE IN TWO YEARS
The previous council gave us a total of 10.5% in tax increases, over three years. This present council exceeded that in its first year, with an 11.5% tax increase. They followed up this year, with a 5% tax increase. If they can hold the line at a 3.5% tax increase for next year and there is no reason to believe they will, that's still a 20% tax increase over three years.
Add the previous council's increases and we're approaching a 35% tax levy, in six years. Remember, you still pay the water surcharge; and rest assured, it won't be too long before you're paying for your garbage to be picked up, on a per bag levy.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Many of the decisions this council makes are based on advice that administration provides for them. One of the policies council has implemented was to have a respect and clear understanding of administration’s role; to let them do their job; and not get in their way.
That's all fine and good, but when administration contradicts itself, with varying costs and project increases; who is questioning them? As far as I can see, no one.
It's abundantly clear to me anyway, this administration is calling all the shots and this council is nothing more than a rubber stamp. However, we should be grateful, they all get along and respect each other. Heaven forbid, this council would enter in a true democratic debate, in the public's interest.
LOSING $11 MILLION AND NO ONE IS ACCOUNTABLE
The City recently lost out on an $11 million dollar federal and provincial grant. The reasons given for the failure:
1) Administration could not get the complete application off the internet
2) Administration decided to apply for projects they were told told, did not qualify for this funding.
What did our Council do? Absolutely nothing! In the next round of funding, I assume this Council will use the same team, to fill out the application. Hopefully, they'll be able to properly fill out the application and stay within the guidelines.
Please keep in mind, Senior Administration got a 2.5% salary increase and I'm sure many "qualified" for performance bonuses.
In other words, it doesn't matter how well or how how poorly you do your job. You still get an increase. Had a few members of the previous council been on board, I'm sure heads would have rolled and rightly so.
THE STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN?!? GIVE ME A BREAK!
For those of you who don't know, "The Strategic Development Plan" is City Council's outline of what issues they are going to address in the future. I looked at how "The Plan" was progressing and tried to find any tangibles between what they are planning and whether or not it addresses the real issues. What I found was more ongoing plans, implementations and studies, with no tangible results as of yet.
As for addressing the problem of a declining population or the wasteful funding of public institutions, City Council didn’t find it important enough to acknowledge in their plan.
The following issues are not being dealt with:
1. Less and less employment opportunities
2. A declining population
3. The need to find another waste disposal site
4. The needless waste incurred funding various public institutions
WE MAY NOT DO MUCH, BUT WE SURE GET ALONG!
Less infighting among Councillors and Administration was the media cry during the term of the previous Council.
Perhaps the reason for the "in fighting" with the previous Council was that certain Councillors started questioning the wasteful practices Administration and other Councillors.
There was the credit card fiasco, which resulted in 250 Corporate Credit Cards being revoked and an auditing procedure being put in place. I wonder if the audits are still being done?
There was the Corporate Travel and Training budget, which topped $318 thousand in one year and then fell to $22 thousand the following year, when they knew someone was watching.
There was the travel abuse by certain Councillors and questionable purchases, which resulted in at least one incidence of the purchase being turned into the administrative department almost a year later.
Have these practices been arrested or are they slowly creeping back into the system?
IS ANYBODY ON COUNCIL LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE
This past June, "our" City Council voted 10 to 1 in favour of keeping our Electronic-Count voting system for the next municipal election. This was despite:
1. Reliability and honesty being in question.
2. The cost being over $200,000 more than Manual-Counted ballots. The April/May Edition of this publication went into great detail on how these costs compare.
3. Administration having all the control on how ballots are counted.
4. Voters and scrutinizers being excluded from the democratic process.
5. This type of system becoming the privatization of a public institution.
At a Town Hall meeting where over 95% of the people opposed Electronic-Counted ballots. None of the 10 councillors who voted in favour of Electronic-Counted ballots were even there.
Numerous letters to our local newspapers and presentations to City Council opposing Electronic-Counted ballots appeared not to influenced this council. Aside from Councillor Lawrence Timko, no one paid attention to the will of the people.
Is this the way our civic representatives should treat the people they serve? Did we elect civic leaders or did Administration appoint Elitist Figureheads?
In the June/July edition of this publication, it was noted, 21 of 55 polling stations did not have the machines to scan the ballots. This meant the ballots would have to be taken to another polling station, to have them scanned. How do we know these ballots were even scanned? Once again, reliability and honesty come into question.
Yet despite all of this, City Council voted in favour of keeping an election system that is more costly and less democratic. Why?
It's scary to me to think the election results can be determined, before the election ever happens. If this is the case, then there is no democratic municipal election in Thunder Bay. One would think every Council member official would want to ensure an election process that is transparent and fair.
WHO DOES THIS COUNCIL REPRESENT?
Our city council is supposed to represent us, not administration, and not special interest business groups. Perhaps the reason why this city council acts as it does is because it’s out of touch with regular people.
If we were to examine what they considered qualifies them to be on Council, it would be all the committees and boards they served on and what awards they won. How did any of these achievements directly benefit the people of our city?
DOES CITY COUNCIL REALLY WANT TO HEAR FROM US?
Last year, I went before city council suggesting how the budget should address the REAL ISSUES facing this city. Needless to say, none of these issues were acknowledged as serious problems.
It was explained to me, running the City was not the same as running a private business. In other words, it’s okay for someone to make a decision that wastes a lot of money, so long it’s not their money that is wasted.
SOLUTIONS SOLVE PROBLEMS, EXCUSES DON’T
Our services are being cut back, because there’s not enough money in the budget. Our taxes must go up, because we can’t afford to maintain the services we have. Our taxes must go higher still, because the Provincial government has pulled back funding. This council inherited a financial mess from the previous Council. These are the excuses I keep hearing from this Council. My question to every member of Council is, "What are you doing to address this critical situation besides raising taxes"?
I recently read, this Council has the highest attendance record for Council meetings. What appears to be left out is that this Council has less meetings. The meetings are down to three a month and even less in the summer.
Furthermore, if the media was doing their job; why not list the accomplishments of this present Council compared to the previous Council? I'd love to hear the excuses then!