What's Wrong With Windsor Government: Monday Council Agenda

When you decide for whom you wish to vote in a week, remember this last meeting of Council before the election. Secrecy, MFP, the arena, fiscal responsibility and the border all in one meeting. It is almost as if the Mayor and Council are rubbing it into our collective faces and daring us to do something about it.

I have the perfect example of what is wrong with our local government. Monday's Council Agenda fits the bill perfectly. It represents everything to me in a nutshell that is wrong. And those in power just do not care.

Let me prove it to you:

COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS (Posted late Friday afternoon after 2 requests by me)

It's buried there as Item #13. A good choice of number too. The City Solicitor "apologizes" for not giving Council the monthly report on Legal Fees on the border file as he was directed to do. (Of course where were the fiscally responsible Mayor and Councillors ensuring that the reports were prepared but that is another question).

We learn the fees have gone up in total to $2.8M approx. We have no idea if these fees represent all of the costs since the basis of the numbers has never been disclosed and which Departments are included is unknown. It is just "border file" however someone has decided to classify it. If it is not within that classification, it is NOT reported. As an example, is the Tunnel Improvement Plan "border file" work or not?

The fees shown are about a $270K increase from some date. The last reported fees in the Star were in May, 2006 for a total of $2.3M. Were there any reports in the interim? If not, the difference between $2.8M and $2.3M is $500K, not $270K. How is that explained? Where did the extra $230K go?

One interesting point: in the May story, it was written "Estrin's fee for the OMB hearing comes to $771,712. But the figure does not include the approximately two weeks he spent at the hearing itself." The new Report says Estrin's additional fees charged for the Interim Control By-law/OMB hearing was almost $175K. I'd like to know what that amount represents. Does it represent 2 weeks work?

Let me guess what is really going on that is being hidden from us for our own good I guess. We are at war in Windsor. We have "enemies" according to Councillor Halberstadt. His Ward mate, not to be outdone before an election states: "[Councillor] Valentinis, explaining that the city is in a battle for its future with four powerful, tightlipped competitors who have mega-millions at stake -- the Ambassador Bridge company, the DRTP and the two senior governments.”

I'd like to know why they are "enemies" wouldn't you? What have they done to deserve this. I may disagree with them but "enemies" and "battle." Overly dramatic don't you think? Is this Estrin's language or Council's? I would like to know.

But the Mayor and Council will keep us ignorant as they spend, spend, spend knowing what's best for us. After all, who wants to know what the real facts are since it might spoil the REAL PLAN. It's better to pretend that we are in a war....better than telling us how to fix the border when Schwartz is gone and Eddie does not know what to do.

THE ARENA (Filed some time after noon on Friday)

I sent this email early Saturday morning to Councillor Gignac and copied her colleagues and Council candidates, amongst others, after reading her quote in the Star:

• "You are quoted in the Saturday Star as saying:
  
  "But the bylaw also allows for "sole source" purchasing under certain circumstances, meaning a contractor can be chosen without asking for bids, if the city feels it's in its best interests.
  
  Current Ward 5 councillor Jo-Anne Gignac said the city proceeded under that section of the bylaw."
  
  Please let me know forthwith which section is that because there is none in the By-law that I can find. Section 32, the Sole Source section, has no such provision.
  
  Clearly you are admitting that Council is acting without authority! What do you intend to do about it on Monday night when the Arena matter is before Council. You have no choice now but to ask that the Arena matter be reconsidered and that the By-law be complied with.
  
  I do expect your answer by noon on Monday, before the Council meeting, so that I may decide if I should be a delegation."

Pretend that we are in compliance with a Section of the By-law that no one can point to so far. Check out Item #7 on the agenda and see what you learn about the arena:

1. The torrents of money that Henderson said we will have here due to the Mayor's brilliance financially are not here yet. Pretend that they are and call our need to finance the arena "interim bridge financing" so no one is the wiser. This is the second time that I have seen the word "bridge" used for loans. I don't see this as short-term money but as a loan. Time to talk to some accounting experts on this one!
   
   Do you see anywhere how much that is....nope. They don't dare tell you. Why not.....here is what I wrote before:
   
   "If the building of the arena is fast-tracked, and wouldn't it have to be if the Spits want it soon, the Treasurer admitted that there would be $4-5 Million of "temporary costs." I hope we have the budget for that or we might have to raise taxes and then Councillor Postma would be in big trouble if she was still on Council."
   
   Pooof, the cost of the arena has just ballooned to $52M and we have not even got started yet! That's money that could have been given to the poor starving children for breakfast meals to replace the slots revenues that Eddie lost for us!
   
   Remember the infamous words "Read my Lips; no new arena taxes."


2. You now know that Councillors were in such a rush to do something to get re-elected that they had no idea what they were getting and that they were buying something that did not work for us ie a 1999 Port Huron arena (pop. 35,000) for 2006 Windsor uses (pop 200,000+). Pretend that it does however!
   
   Ex-hockey dad, mayoral candidate Dave Wonham first pointed out the lack of seating at the three "Practice rinks" so tournaments could not be held. Now we will have "bench seating" for 150 at each rink. That is a far cry from the number of seats at Riverside (700 seats) and Adstoll (900 seats). You just know that additions will blow up the cost higher.
   


3. Now the PCR people have given a 60-day extension to their offer to build the arena. Councillor Jones asked for a slight delay. Didn't the PCR rep say previously that costs could rise if the project were delayed. I remember that increase could be several percent. I guess that changed now.
   


4. I wonder why Administrators are signing the deal and not the Mayor? If it goes wrong, then he can say that he did not know!
   


5. There are "fit-up costs" and "site servicing costs" but they are NOT revealed.
   



6. I wish I could ask the City's experts how a 1999 arena priced at $60M can be built in 2006 after the increase in costs over that time period (eg 35% for the bus terminal, tripling for streetscaping) for $48M

MFP: PricewaterhouseCoopers Review of the Controls and Procedures of the Financial Services Function of the Corporate Services Department

Pretend everything is under control.

This report is as a result of MFP ie to ensure that the proper controls are in place and being followed. Oh MFP, that's the file that Eddie now says "saved" us so much money ie somehow spending an extra $68M or so over what we expected to spend is turned into a "savings." Eddie forgot to mention how an error allowed our Forensic Accounting Report to be used against us!

PWC was retained to ensure that an MFP type situation could never happen again. They issued a report. I'd love to be able to tell you what is in it but I cannot. It is not posted. Oh we are given the good parts of what PWC says in the Agenda item but who knows if there are still problems that were identified. We'll never know that. (It was just like the MFP Forensic Audit Report in the first place---it was never posted online either so we could learn how bad things were).

Now I have to ask the good folks of PWC some questions.

1. Their Report may have no value....after all, they did the work for Project Ice Track which several Councillors tried to discredit. That report was critical of Administration. Shouldn't PWC be concerned now about the quality of Admin work? Where are the checks and balances to ensure that does not happen again?
2. PWC can see how easily Councillor Gignac may have been given incorrect info about the Purchasing By-law. Couldn't that happen again? Where are the checks and balances to ensure that does not happen again?
3. PWC should wonder whether what the City is doing in respect of the arena may be in violation of the City's By-law. Where are the checks and balances to ensure that does not happen again?
4. MFP was a Public/private partnership deal. When Eddie became Mayor, Section 32 of the Purchasing By-law was amended to allow P3 deals as Sole Sourcing. In other words, another disaster waiting to happen. Where are the checks and balances to ensure that does not happen again?

There you have it:

• Megaproject running amok
• Secrecy
• Late posting on a Friday afternoon of key Council Agenda Items
• No citizen "right" to appear as a delegation on late reported Agenda Items but only if Council allows it
• Reports being put on Council Communications so citizens cannot appear as a delegation at all to ask questions or make comments
• Administration ignoring Council requirements
• Seeming errors in calculations
• No concern about potentially improper Purchasing activity and a failure to answer legitimate citizen questions
• Not telling us clearly about extra costs, potentially being millions of dollars
• Not providing key reports on line so they can be reviewed thoroughly
• Lack of controls even after Canderel and MFP

Oh heck, let's pretend everything is OK for the next week.