"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Further To The Last Post

Following up on the last post:
 Staff  in attendance at the  meeting were ; Director of Planning, senior planner assigned to the project, deputy clerk responsible for the record and a secretary.
Also, there's Rick . He prepares the room and audio facilities for the meeting, provides security while the town hall is open, and closes down  audio and  the room after the meeting.
Rick  makes coffee and does other kind stuff as well. 
Former Councillor Nigel Keane had the quaint notion that because staff are on the payroll, their time is free. Doesn't cost the taxpayers anything to duplicate or waste time. 
Last night ,Councillor Gallo  again exploited  the opportunity, to find fault with  the Director of Recreation and Parks . It had been indicated no school sites would be required because of small  numbers, therefore no park would be needed either.  
 Town policy is to combine with school boards and include a park where schools are located, to maximize useable space.
Councillor Gallo was quick to point out   the  David English Park neighbourhood has only sixty-seven homes yet dual tennis courts,which he opposes, are being built.
The Councillor consistently chooses  not to acknowledge the Master Recreation Plan passed by the last Council, calls for additional tennis courts. The David English Park is the only available location..
Further to that, cluster housing proposed are condominiums.  If  family oriented, recreation facilities will be part of the project. 
They will be built by the developer and maintained by the condominium corporation.
And , of course, the huge  natural forest and open space will alsobe part of the neighbourhood.
It has been described as "the last vestige of arboreal forest" .What more could  a neighbourhood want or need ? 
Councillor Gallo has yet to share his idea. 


11 comments:

Anonymous said...

From Cllr Ballard's Twitter acct:

Chris Ballard ‏@Chris4Aurora

Did Aurora Council just approve a development that shuts out the public from the last, large tract of public-owned boreal forest in Town?

Anonymous said...

I don't know if you have read Linda McQuaig' article in the Star published Monday on Romney?

Anonymous said...

Ok One of the advantages of a useless trip to the Town Hall is the inadvertent accumulation of useless information. The following are positions for staff for which we pay with out taxes. Please tell me what they do and why they are paid.
Licensing/Vital Statistics Officer
Deputy Clerk/ Manager of Administration
Web Services and Corporate Events Coordinator
Law Clerks - we require 2?
Manager of Corporate Communications
Records Management Clerk
Purchasing Clerk
Buyer
Business Retention and Expansion Specialist - love that one
Manager of Purchasing
Manager of Strategic Initiatives
Communications Specialist
Manager of Environmental Initiatives
Program Manager of Customer Service
I left off all of the titles of those that I could decipher with some meaning. Like Clerk, Solicitor, Mayor,
What in blazes are we paying for in the Town Hall when they can't even schedule a presentation ?

Anonymous said...

How could people answering the phones & manning the front desks at the Town Hall not know what was going on in the building and on what date? Boggles.

Anonymous said...

How does a Buyer differ from a Purchasing Clerk? Is the former the superior?

Anonymous said...

I do not understand why Councillor Ballard mentioned at the meeting the possibility of staff having to testify at the OMB against the town. It would certainly give the idea to the applicant if it had not already occurred. I thought you have to keep the town blameless and do that kind of talk in closed sessions.

Anonymous said...

The anonymous posts from 7:11pm and 11:19am have clearly been written by someone(s) that are so out of tune with the reality of today's business environment and their titles.

A Purchasing Clerk is someone that issues the POs to the vendors, organizes the shipments and hopefully approves that the PO matches the invoice. For simplicity.... this is YOU at home.

A Buyer is someone that issues the tenders or RFPs to various vendors, helps approve the winning bid and tells the Clerks who to buy from. Again, for simplicity.... this is YOUR wife.

A Manager of Purchasing has taken a bunch of courses, written some tests and has become a certified purchasing professional (look up PMAC in Google). They oversee the whole process above. Again, simplicity would equate this with your BANK.

It's 2012 people. We don't have garbage men or firemen anymore. Titles are meaningless to me, but some hang their entire being on them and they try to make them more than they are.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like most of it could be done by a Quarter-master with a bunch of enlisted persons with a whole lot less fuss and cost.

Anonymous said...


1:37 PM

So if I understand it, me, my wife/husband/partner work with a bank to accomplish everything that is required to keep a business flourishing.

That is just for the in-taking.

What about the out-going, sometimes referred to as sales?

Anonymous said...

1:37 PM Of course we still have garbage collectors and firemen. It is all semantics. You tend to harp on the year 2012 while denying any importance to convoluted titles. Do you believe that all of this smoke and mirror nonsense has improved job performance?

Anonymous said...

7:09 PM

Job titles have been changed over the years. I think they do it to lend some self-importance to their jobs.

Garbage Man is now Sanitation Collector.

Fireman is now Emergency Response.

Buyer is now Supply Chain Manager.

Having a fancy title does not mean the job will get done any better. If the title strokes the ego of the person enough that they perform better, then I guess it's okay.

To 3:03 PM... Where is the outgoing at the Town? There is no sales. There is a modest income through the sales of services (permits, fees for facilities, etc.). The big income is through the tax roll and funding from higher government levels. Who on the list the original commenter put up is responsible for the A/R?