A Council Divided
It is pretty clear now that the Mayor has totally lost control of Council.
His complete lack of leadership ability is showing and it will only get worse in the third and last year of this Council since it is re-election time. The personal animosities and the lack of respect amongst Councillors are now spilling out of the in camera sessions into public view. The disunity of Council can no longer be hidden no matter how much the Mayor would like to do so. Unlike last year, the Mayor can no longer hold the border over their heads to make them pretend that everyone loves each other!
The Mayor has stormed out of Council in camera sessions several times recently as if that was going to intimidate anyone. That's hardly something an experienced leader would do or ever let happen. I was told also that he attempted to restrict the use by Councillors of their Blackberry devices at Council meetings, his latest temper tantrum, but was ridiculed and ignored.
Gord Henderson's column the other day hinted at the disunity but yesterday's column has brought it all out into the open. But there is more to his column than meets the eye. Let me explain:
1) I had a beer yesterday with a friend of mine. He was furious at the thoughtless remark, as he called it, by Councillor Halberstadt, who, when talking about services, said "Do you want to offer a Cadillac service or do you want it to be more of a Chevy?" My friend took the remark in the context of Huron Lodge and wondered why our senior citizens had to receive only "Chevy" services given their sacrifices over the years. (I did not have the nerve to tell him when he was in this mood about the catered dinners at the in camera sessions every Monday night for Councillors paid for by the taxpayers. I assume the tab for that for a year would buy a lot of Tylenol tablets.)
2) Poor Councillor Postma. Such an easy target as one who represents a Ward where a lot of people need assistance. She took the brunt of the attack. But she was just the stand-in for Councillor Lewenza Jr. who should have been criticized the most as the "leftists' leader" but wasn't!
Of course Councillor Budget could look at the Huron Lodge numbers and say let's cut....but he only looked at the numbers to July in order to justify the cuts for 2006 ie BEFORE the flu season even started and when the increased costs would be incurred. When one does a budget, one does have to make some guestimates about what may happen in the future. But not when Councillor Budget is there to show how tough he is!
Of course if the Mayor had introduced Citistat already we would have had some discipline in place and something to which the managers could steward but....
Just so that no one thinks he is hard on senior citizens only, Councillor Dave is tough on kids too. I am told he would not allow Councillor Zuk to use her Ward money to help build a school playground for kids at Northwood public school. He refused his consent.
3) Now why wasn't Ken criticized. He was mentioned but barely.
If you'll remember, David Cassivi, his Ward mate, was "trashed" by the Star recently. It's be nice to Kennie time. Come on Bill Marra...get the message and run in Ward 4. You can run for mayor next time around. It will be you and Kennie....heck we'll have a nice party for David for his years of service so he'll get over it.
4) When will Councillor Brister stop running to Gord Henderson for protection and back-up? Can't he handle Councillor Postma on his own at Council meetings? Caroline at least has the guts to say what she does in public before the cameras. Councillor Brister just "fumes" in private.
If Caroline speaks to a reporter, it is done for "political purposes" but not if Dave whines with Gord to get out his side of the story.
5) "The bitter division" at Operating Committee, "Good v. Evil" "spenders and savers." How could it get this far? We saw a bit of it last year at Budget time but now it seems as if there is an all-out war with "ferocious resistance" put up by those who opposed budget slashing.
Of course, next year is an election year and it would be nice to keep increases low and then jack them up after re-election but that could not possibly be in anyone's mind.
Why hasn't the Mayor prevented this division over the period of an entire year? Where is he now, too busy advertising Super Bowl events and dreaming of being a Border Czar?
6) $27 million in cuts? What are they? I saw about $3 million in Ms Danese's Star story. Where's the other $24 million that the Budgeteers cut that they missed last year and how much has their "excruciating budget exercise" missed this year?
His complete lack of leadership ability is showing and it will only get worse in the third and last year of this Council since it is re-election time. The personal animosities and the lack of respect amongst Councillors are now spilling out of the in camera sessions into public view. The disunity of Council can no longer be hidden no matter how much the Mayor would like to do so. Unlike last year, the Mayor can no longer hold the border over their heads to make them pretend that everyone loves each other!
The Mayor has stormed out of Council in camera sessions several times recently as if that was going to intimidate anyone. That's hardly something an experienced leader would do or ever let happen. I was told also that he attempted to restrict the use by Councillors of their Blackberry devices at Council meetings, his latest temper tantrum, but was ridiculed and ignored.
Gord Henderson's column the other day hinted at the disunity but yesterday's column has brought it all out into the open. But there is more to his column than meets the eye. Let me explain:
1) I had a beer yesterday with a friend of mine. He was furious at the thoughtless remark, as he called it, by Councillor Halberstadt, who, when talking about services, said "Do you want to offer a Cadillac service or do you want it to be more of a Chevy?" My friend took the remark in the context of Huron Lodge and wondered why our senior citizens had to receive only "Chevy" services given their sacrifices over the years. (I did not have the nerve to tell him when he was in this mood about the catered dinners at the in camera sessions every Monday night for Councillors paid for by the taxpayers. I assume the tab for that for a year would buy a lot of Tylenol tablets.)
2) Poor Councillor Postma. Such an easy target as one who represents a Ward where a lot of people need assistance. She took the brunt of the attack. But she was just the stand-in for Councillor Lewenza Jr. who should have been criticized the most as the "leftists' leader" but wasn't!
Of course Councillor Budget could look at the Huron Lodge numbers and say let's cut....but he only looked at the numbers to July in order to justify the cuts for 2006 ie BEFORE the flu season even started and when the increased costs would be incurred. When one does a budget, one does have to make some guestimates about what may happen in the future. But not when Councillor Budget is there to show how tough he is!
Of course if the Mayor had introduced Citistat already we would have had some discipline in place and something to which the managers could steward but....
Just so that no one thinks he is hard on senior citizens only, Councillor Dave is tough on kids too. I am told he would not allow Councillor Zuk to use her Ward money to help build a school playground for kids at Northwood public school. He refused his consent.
3) Now why wasn't Ken criticized. He was mentioned but barely.
If you'll remember, David Cassivi, his Ward mate, was "trashed" by the Star recently. It's be nice to Kennie time. Come on Bill Marra...get the message and run in Ward 4. You can run for mayor next time around. It will be you and Kennie....heck we'll have a nice party for David for his years of service so he'll get over it.
4) When will Councillor Brister stop running to Gord Henderson for protection and back-up? Can't he handle Councillor Postma on his own at Council meetings? Caroline at least has the guts to say what she does in public before the cameras. Councillor Brister just "fumes" in private.
If Caroline speaks to a reporter, it is done for "political purposes" but not if Dave whines with Gord to get out his side of the story.
5) "The bitter division" at Operating Committee, "Good v. Evil" "spenders and savers." How could it get this far? We saw a bit of it last year at Budget time but now it seems as if there is an all-out war with "ferocious resistance" put up by those who opposed budget slashing.
Of course, next year is an election year and it would be nice to keep increases low and then jack them up after re-election but that could not possibly be in anyone's mind.
Why hasn't the Mayor prevented this division over the period of an entire year? Where is he now, too busy advertising Super Bowl events and dreaming of being a Border Czar?
6) $27 million in cuts? What are they? I saw about $3 million in Ms Danese's Star story. Where's the other $24 million that the Budgeteers cut that they missed last year and how much has their "excruciating budget exercise" missed this year?
7) One other thought I just had.
Whatever happened to the People Based Budget process that seemed to work so well last year? Whatever happened to the "web site and an interactive online survey that not only provided citizens with relevant budget information but enabled them to give their opinions and rank their priorities."
Remember what the Mayor said in his State of the City speech:
- "And the People-Based Budget will not be a one-year wonder!
It will be back next year, when it will feed into our zero-based budget. Having public input into our zero-based budget process will truly yield more effective – and efficient – city government."
Where was it? Did you, dear reader, attend a Ward meeting where your input was requested as was done last year? I don't remember seeing one.
The only mention made in the Budget Process Timeline of the "public" was in the consultation session in June and the deliberations on January 23 when it is too late, the same time when Council is to approve the Final Budget. Remarkable uninvolvement of the pesky Public who might not have liked what the Budgeteers were doing. I already reported on my unsuccessful attempt to appear before the Operating Budget Committee to discuss OMERS and to try to save the City money.
It's enough already. It just makes me sick. Our only salvation: this Mayor and this Council only have a three year term and it is almost over!
posted by JoeBlog at 1:30 p.m.
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