WEDC Board Resignation Letter

If I was a business person in Windsor/Essex County, I would be in despair today. There is no hope for an economic recovery here for years to come.

If I was unemployed or seriously at risk losing my job, I would consider moving from the area because my expectation of finding work would be diminished greatly today.

If I was Canwest, I would seriously consider selling the Windsor Star, even at a fire-sale price, because clearly decision-makers do not read the newspaper and it would appear that people living in the County do not do so either.

I was just about to go into a long and involved discussion about what happened at County Council last night. And then I read the Windsor Star online this morning and this story:

“Development commission board resigning”

HALLELUJAH!

To be honest, I was very upset at the County meeting. Actually I was disgusted by it.

I had heard rumours before that the Board members were going to resign if politicians were put on the Commission. That was suggested by a number of the Council members last night. It is clear now that Dr. Schumacher’s column in the Star had nothing to do with the Commission doing economic development work but rather it was designed to pressure the County to keep the Warden and therefore the Mayor off the Commission or else.

What is bizarre, though, according to the Star story is:

• “The board voted Feb. 12 -- three days after Francis was appointed -- to resign, says the letter dated Thursday.”

What then was the purpose of the Schumacher column and what was the purpose of the County Council meeting.

I believe that there was only one member of Council, Mayor McNamara, who forcefully spoke out and reminded the Commission who the boss was.

An interesting question would be who knew what was really going on.

I wonder if Mayor McNamara knew. Could that be why he did not oppose the Warden going on the Board even though the letter that he circulated stated that he was adamantly opposed to that?

What about Mayor Hurst? He went on and on and on praising the Commission in a manner that frankly made me sick given their actions to date

What about some of the other members of County Council who absolutely opposed any political representation on the Board even though the Commission was a disaster?

I hope that the Warden did not know although I am certain that he must have suspected it. If he did know he should never have accepted the position since he now can be blamed for causing the collapse of the Board. If he had refused to go onto the Board but allowed some other politician to do so, then the Mayor would not have been a member and the Board would still have existed.

If he did know, my guess is that he took the political way out by appeasing most of the members of his Council whom he knew would not oppose the Commission knowing that it would end anyway.

What I found fascinating last night would suggest to me that lots of people on Council were in the know and that there was a huge drama going on. It had been going on over the last few weeks and had nothing to do with the Commission but more to do with Bruce Crozier’s replacement in the future.

There were no questions whatsoever on Mr. Mancini’s fees of $1200 per day, his role on the CEO search, the 10 months, what was happening next, nothing about the Schumacher company and the obvious concerns that needed to be addressed. No discussion whatsoever on matters that inflamed the public.

So, do all of these interesting questions about the dynamics of the Board and how they spent their money get swept under the rug now because the object of the exercise is to figure out a new organizational structure now? I hope not. I trust that the City and Council politicians, or least the Credit Union Members, will demand that there be a forensic audit of the Commissions expenses. We ought to know what they did with the millions of dollars that they were given.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. It looks like the Chamber of Commerce was correct years ago when they say that this Organization would not succeed. A reader sent me this note:

• “You may already know that the first Development Commission was an initiative of the Chamber of Commerce in the 1950's time frame.”

It looks like the Regional Chamber may have a new job!

PS. I just received a copy of the Board letter. The only Board Member who did not sign it was Brian Gregg, CAO County of Essex. I am surprised that Windsor’s CAO resigned. Did the Mayor and Council allow him to do so?

I assume that Mr. Gregg was aware of what happened and reported it to the Council members. If so then the hour long WEDC extravaganza should never have taken place at the County Council Chambers but rather at the Capitol Theatre. Drama, comedy, farce… take your pick.

Is there another drama being written...begging the Board to stay! Who knows, who cares any more!

I believe now that I was right at the beginning of this BLOG. With this kind of games-playing by these politicians, despair is the name of the game in this Region.