"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

Monday 10 February 2014

Clarity Obscured

I published a comment severely critical of the Mayor and Council for the decision on the cockmamie theme park proposal  considered again on February 4th,

It's par for the  course and  would be completely legitimate.

If the decision had been made,

It has not.

It will not be made until the Council meeting of February 11th.

General Committee Meetings of Council do not  formalise decisions.

Recommendations are  forwarded to Council.

The system provides time for sober second thought for those Councillrs inclined to sober second thought.

More serious  though is criticism of the Office of Chief Administrator.

It would not normally  be published.

Except for two memoranda submitted  to Council in a public report by the CAO  containing details  of  proposed  procedures to negotiate purchases of properties  prior to a  Council decision on whether or not the plan has legs.

Real estate negotiations are one of the few public matters allowed to be discussed behind closed doors' to protect the interest of the municipality.

I  queried  the new Director of Legislative and Corporate Services , who is also town solicitor,
for an explanation of how such a  clear cut case of chaos and confusion could come about.

The solicitor responded there was a need to answer  Councillor questions  asked at the general committee meeting.

The difficulty  I have with the explanation, there is no  written record of the  questions.

Neither,  at the time of writing the memo ,  has Council made  a decision to proceed further with the plan.

************************
Agenda Item 9.

Memorandum to Mayor Dawe and Councillors
From Neil Garbe ,Chief Administrative Officer.
Negotiations Strategy for the purchase of properties associated with the  Hillary McIntyre Park.


Background to the  Memorandum: (Feb 11th 2014)
 
At the  meeting of February 4th 2014 staff indicated that  they would prepare a memo pertaining
to how staff will be approaching negotiations with the applicable property owners in the above matter, the due diligence required to support a potential purchase of the properties within the
proposed Hillary-McIntyre Park  and the key steps necessary to ensure feasibility of the project.

Comments.

This  memo is intended to provide a brief outline of the required steps to meet the goals of the Cost-
Benefit Study which was presented to General Committee on February 4th 2014. More details will be submitted in a report to Council on Apri;/May 2014.

*************************

This morning, yet another lengthy communication has been forwarded to Councillors by e-mail from the Chief Administrator's office,

Additional questions have been  forwarded to his office by  a nameless Councillor.

Lengthy responses from the  consultant who presented to Council in Committee last Tuesday  are forwarded to Councillors by e-mail.

The responses may or may not be read by Councillors.

It makes no never mind.

If  not presented in a public meeting. where public business is required to be conducted, it has no
relevance.

It is not admissible.

More later





8 comments:

Anonymous said...


You have painted a picture of a bunch of chickens running around screaming:

"The sky is falling. The sky is falling."

Until this matter is turfed into a shredder there will be no end to the stupidity and waste of staff and Council time at a definite financial cost.

This means that Aurora taxpayers are once again getting the shaft.

Show the man the door!

Anonymous said...

Oh, please ! Tell me there isn't going to be another one of those invasive presentations from the same ones who stand to benefit.

Anonymous said...

I think a lot of viewers were confused when soft-ball questions by those supporting the proposal were directed to a staff member who in turn was advocating the need to negotiate. One can only wear a single hat at that table.

Anonymous said...

13:31, I believe that generations to come will benefit from the Heritage Park.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you are experiencing what lawyers call a ' paper dump '. They are throwing everything at Council. If you ask any questions, you'll be told ' That has all been explained ' so that you feel stupid. They hope.

Anonymous said...

14:39 Which future generation? What kind of benefit?

Anonymous said...

I couldn’t agree more with Christopher Watts article. The communications dept. is a sad mess. I read the Auroran every week. Comb through the Notice Board to find out what’s happening where and when. You would think that a notice for the Joint Operations Open House would be there….considering it’s a multi-million $ operation that is being planned? Nope! ..Found out through a friend who has a facebook account (I don’t). Apparently it’s listed on the Aurora website, buried in the “Notices” section. Not in the “Announcement” home page section. Aurora’s facebook account has a link to YouTube which has the presentation video. The Aurora website doesn’t. My friend also told me that the Mayor tweeted a reminder to this “open house” to get the “FACTS” Do we have to all have a Facebook accounts to get notices , follow everyone’s tweets on Twitter, surf Youtube to find out these “FACTS”? Sad and shameful...Oh and by the way…and the end of the Youtube presentation (the link had to be emailed to me because I couldn't find it) it said “The interest in our future is greatly appreciated and would ask that you to take the time to complete a brief survey and provide your comments on the future of our Town”... I fell off my chair.

Anonymous said...

That was an interesting meeting. Never before have I heard a more bizarre list of reasons for doing nothing about a problem that all involved acknowledges to exist.
When the real elephant in the room was the fear for being the ones who actually do something to stop the stupidity in its tracks.