WEDC Follies

The Windsor Essex Development Commission fiasco embarrasses us all. And some people have the nerve to blame Bloggers for being naysayers and try to accuse us of sending out negative images about this Region.

We are mere amateurs compared with the professionals who are making us the laughing stock of the country. You would have to be nuts to want to invest in this Region with one story after another coming out about the childish antics surrounding WEDC.

As for residents in the area, would anyone feel comfortable with this:

• “Jobs Today is an initial proposal. A set of initiatives to help our Economic Development Commission. To help our community attract jobs. To keep jobs.
  
  And bring investment back during these difficult times…
  
  In all, we have the potential to build a $100 million Economic Development Investment Fund…
  
  Proposed projects must be new initiatives, not already announced or planned, and must also help achieve the strategic priorities within the sectors developed by the Economic Development Commission at its recent summit.
  
  We will need the help of our Development Commission to establish detailed criteria related to accessing money from the fund, and to help ensure that these taxpayer dollars are being used as effectively and efficiently as possible. I want to thank the Board and the Commission staff for work already done and encourage them to be actively engaged during this critical transition and renewal time in our city.
  
  So with Council approval, we will begin engaging the provincial government, Essex County, and our regional Economic Development Commission to make this vision a reality.”

My Lord, can you imagine if this Commission had $100 million of taxpayer money today to play with. This suggestion came from our Mayor in his State of the City speech. Merely thinking about it now gives me the shakes.

Poor Warden Santos.

As a County politician, generally he is ignored by our Mayor and Council unless there is a politically expedient reason why he should be contacted. Now, he has a target right on his chest. Moreover, he will start feeling the pressure of the Windsor Star and that he had better play along with what they say. Or else.

Gosh, he will know how a City Councillor feels and why they are so irrelevant.

It will be interesting to see how tough he is in a situation that was not of his making but is now one in which he is absolutely the central and key player. I wonder if he will feel that he is being manipulated and pressured.

He certainly is not being assisted by his colleagues, Gary McNamara and Tom Burton of Tecumseh. If you want to read their attack on him, then you should go to Councillor Halberstadt’s BLOG.

The Warden did make it so easy for them with his glowing remarks at the Joint Council meeting and lack of shock at the 10 month CEO search so he deserves some criticism but the letter went too far.

Of course, one might think that the Tecumseh Mayor may still be upset that he is not the Warden due to some back room politicing involving our Mayor. This is McNamara's chance to damage both of them politically.

Could there be more to it than that? Could both the Warden and the Tecumseh Mayor be positioning themselves to take over the seat from Liberal MPP Bruce Crozier if he decides to retire? The loser in this battle may lose out provincially down the road.

I found the letter sent to the Warden rather strong and wondered if there was some reverse psychology involved. The Undevelopment Commission is a mess. If I was the Warden, I would stay away from it with 100 foot pole. While it would not make sense to wipe it off the face of the earth completely, it certainly needs reorganization. One does not have to be a Member of the Board to reorganize.

By refusing to support the Warden, is the Tecumseh Mayor really trying to force the Warden to go on a Board in order to justify himself. If the Undevelopment Commission is found to be a complete disaster for a whole bunch of reasons, then the Warden is implicated by association.

There goes his political career.

Now the Windsor Star. I can only put it this way… we are being underserved by the only newspaper in town.

There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Mancini should not be allowed to remain a member of the search committee nor allowed to be acting CEO at $1200 per day. The real question is whether he should remain a member of the WEDC Board at all. The Star has never asked that.

The question needs to be asked whether Mr. Mancini as a Corporate Governance expert made such an error in judgment that he should no longer be in a senior position in such an important organization that is crucial for this Region’s future.

As a former Cabinet Minister, he knows the game. If it gets too embarrassing for the Government, the Minister is expected to hand in his resignation to the Premier. He becomes too much of a distraction. Is that the case with the WEDC now? Are the distractions involving him so hurting the Commission that his mere presence on the Board is a huge negative?

Has the Star really told us what the fight is between Mancini and Mikhail. Mikhail claimed:

• "he was discouraged by the commission from aggressively pursuing the telecommunications giant and potentially thousands of new jobs."

That makes no sense. If true, we ought to know why and ask if this is how we want our Commission to carry on business.

Did the Star interview Mancini about this serious charge...it appears that they merely accepted what he emailed to them. Now that is hardly investigative journalism:

• "In a very unfortunate set of circumstances Mr. Joe Mikhail disclosed the recent visit and business plans of Rogers, the large Canadian communications company," Mancini said in an e-mail to the Star. "This information (much to the surprise of everyone) became a front page news story in The Windsor Star on Friday, Dec. 26, 2008. As I understand it, the client (Rogers) was not yet ready to go public."

Was it really a good decision for Mancini to email to the Star? I am sure he did not like what Mikhail said but he should have a thick skin as a former politician. To make more of an issue than it may be, what signal is this giving to outside business people?

In any event, we still have no idea what is going on and if Mikhail's charge is valid or not.

There are questions that need to be asked such as why the City and County CAOs did not identify the 10 month CEO search as an issue since it is now such a big one and the excuse why the politicians now need to be on the Board. If they did do so, then why has this just become such a big issue now? To whom did they report and why didn’t those people think there was an issue? If they did not report to anyone, is their judgment suspect?

What about the Board of the WEDC? Why haven’t the Members been interviewed by the Star? What do they have to say about this mess? It is remarkable to me how quiet Members of the Boards are in public organizations compared with what their responsibility would be on a Board of a Public Company whose shares are listed on the Stock Market. Just recall the lack of comment by the members of the Windsor Utilities Commission Board in their fiasco.

If I am a Credit Union member and my Credit Union has put money into an organization that seems dysfunctional, I would be upset. Has anyone contacted the Credit Union to see if they are going to continue pouring money into this Organization?

The real mystery to me however is how the issue with respect to the Schumacher Research and Leadership Group has disappeared. There are so many questions to ask with respect to this matter that I am shocked that the Star is not doing so.

It was identified after all in a Star story after it appeared in Councillor Halberstadt’s BLOG. It was first Googled it seems by another Blogger in town, Windsor Municipal Shadow. http://www.windsorshadow.com/Things-that-make-you-go-hmmmmm.html

I posted above a page from the Schumacher website. Look at who is involved.

It does not take a genius to come up with a number of questions that need to be answered about the obvious concerns.

Where is the Star’s investigative journalism about this? The Star raised the issue and then dropped it like a hot potato. Why? If there is no story, shouldn’t the Star at least say that? If there is a story, what is it?

What about the other media in town… what have they uncovered if anything? Are they doing the job that they ought to be doing?

When did the Star find out about the Schumacher Organization? On the 10th the Star reported that

• "Some people are scratching their heads as to what is the link between Dr. Schumacher's company and (Mancini's) company," Halberstadt said. "What is the association when Mr. Mancini said his salary goes to his consulting company?”

On the 11th, the Page A3 columnist could praise Mr. Mancini for being so open about his $1200.

• “For the record, Remo Mancini, himself, disclosed his $1,200-a-day remuneration as acting chief executive officer of the WindsorEssex Development Commission.”

Yet there was no mention of the Schumacher Organization in that column. Why?

If you will remember my BLOGs around the time that Mr. Fischer was terminated, I asked the question why it was always the Vice-Chair, Dr. Schumacher, who was involved and not the Chair in this very important matter. Yes I know that the Vice-Chair is Chair, CEO Evaluation & Review Committee. But when something is so important to the Commission, the Chair should have been front and centre.

The Star pointed out exactly what is being done now Warden so be alert:

• “In a bid to quell the revolt, Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis and County Warden Nelson Santos are attempting to install themselves on the commission's board.”

Your job sir, apparently, is to help make things quiet again, to defeat the rebels. You know the people who want to know the truth, who are afraid that this Region is going to hell, who may lose their jobs or their homes because of our leaders ignoring the warning signals of our problems for years!

I found it fascinating that the Warden and our Mayor agreed to put a term limit on the time that they would remain on the WEDC Board but it was not put in that joint letter that was sent out.

Did the Star ask who drafted the letter and whether there was any discussion about not putting in a specific time limit for Board membership although there was an agreement. I would have thought that this was fundamental.

Take a look at the video clip.

Our Mayor did not reveal the term limit at first. When there was some concern that he might not be appointed to the Board, the Mayor told us about the six-month term limit. I must admit that I cannot recall him being the first one to speak on a Motion, usually he speaks after everyone else does.

Someone should ask the Warden what time period he thought was adequate. I have been impressed with the businesslike way that he conducts his County meetings such that I would have thought that a shorter limit, say 30 to 90 days, might have been all that he thought was necessary.

If no limit was put in, then the Mayor could have stayed on the Board for quite some time.

The signals have been given. The Warden knows now what is going on and what he is supposed to do. In case he does not understand, because he is a newbie at this, let me try and point out what is supposed to happen:

Alternative 1:
Eddie and Nelson go on the Board to quell the revolt and nothing more happens.

Alternative 2:
Eddie and Nelson go on the Board to quell the revolt and probably Mr. Mancini removes himself from the search committee but remains as Chair and acting CEO.

Grace Macaluso suggested that first:

• “If Santos and Francis hope to head off a full-frontal attack on the commission, they, as board members, should insist on Mancini's removal from the hiring committee. The optics are terrible, and will continue to serve as a distraction.”

Then the Editorial in the Star:

• “At the same time, Mancini must make a choice: He cannot continue to be the acting CEO, at a cost of $1,200 a day, and also be on the committee that will hire his permanent replacement. There simply cannot be any perceived conflict of interest. He should understand that and decide which hat he wants to wear.”

I hope that you understand Warden that it is the desired to keep Mr. Mancini around. Just give him a slap on the wrist. However, if that does not work then of course a Windsor Star reporter/Blogger has set out:

Alternative 3:
Eddie and Nelson go on the Board. In this case, Mancini remains on the search committee but ceases to act as acting CEO. He still acts as Chair. (I doubt that there would be an Alternative 4 where he resigns from the Commission completely but who knows. That would merely be a variation of Alternative 3)

Who would be the new acting CEO? Why, none other than the person that Eddie put in as acting CAO in the City of Windsor, Alfie Morgan. Eddie still keeps control of the Board even if he stays only a short period.

Gary Rennie of the Star signaled this one:

• “This looks like a job for Super Alfie.
  
  The job? Temporary CEO of the Windsor-Essex Development Commission.
  
  The man? Alfie Morgan, retired emeritus professor of the Odette School of Business, University of Windsor…
  
  Here’s what Morgan had to say when he agreed to accept the surprise appointment in 2004:
  
  "I believe my role is to try to hold morale steady and give employees the optimistic message that better days are ahead.”
  
  If I was working for the development commission right now, I’d like to hear something like that from someone.”

Then in his next BLOG, Mr. Rennie takes a shot at the Tecumseh Mayor just so that the Warden understands what the Star is capable of doing:

• “This was the same development the town kept secret from its taxpayers for 16 months…
  
  “The town hasn’t been open,” says Geoff Butler, still puzzled Tecumseh doesn’t want its entire waterfront purchase kept for park purposes.
  
  Across the street, the owners of Lakewood Golf Course would have appreciated knowing of a development the town was pursuing while their plans were being discouraged. They pay taxes too.
  
  And isn’t Tecumseh the same town where I had quite a tussle just getting copies of the latest Lakewood rezoning application even though their lawyer said it was a public document he had no objections to disclosing.”

You see Warden, it really does not matter what you want. Our Mayor is in charge. You have been warned by the Star. Give in. And if you make a false step, the Tecumseh Mayor will remind you of it.

It looks like a no-win for you regardless.

My suggestion to you Warden…. Well I better not say it. If I do, and you decide to do something similar on your own, it will not matter. Then you will be accused by certain people of being the BLOGMeister’s puppet.