Public transit in Prince Albert is receiving a fair amount of media attention recently, due to some of its users wanting improvements to the system, and using a petition to underline their concerns. On the council side, we're facing increased costs to subsidize the system, as we try to increase ridership through increasing service.
The basic problem is that, relatively speaking, not many people use the bus system, for a variety of reasons. Probably the main one is that if you own a car, the convenience of being able to go where you want to go whenever you want to go there vastly outweighs the inconvenience of figuring out the bus system. And most people will opt for convenience every time. The city is small enough that it's usually faster to drive where you want to go than take the bus, unlike in cities like Toronto, where the costs of driving, both in time and in the cost of parking once you get where you're going, are far higher than using public transit.
Environmentally, we should be encouraging bus use over private vehicle use, but I'm afraid that people's environmental sensibilities tend to be outweighed, once again, by convenience. At council, we spend time debating parking issues, but rarely do we talk about the benefits of encouraging people to use buses rather than ensuring that they can park close to where they want to go.
One option that I think we should explore is entering into a partnership with SIAST, making a bus pass part of their registration costs for students, as is the case in Saskatoon with the U of S. We would increase our ridership, both through the convenience of having a bus pass easily available, but also through targeting routes to SIAST during the school year. It would also help SIAST out, by reducing their need for student parking, which I understand is not plentiful.
I also think that looking into arrangements with school boards is an area worth exploring. In Andrea's home town, students who lived a certain distance from the high schools and junior high schools were provided with a bus pass at a reduced cost, rather than worrying about providing school buses for all students. Such an arrangement would help both the school board and the city, and perhaps reduce the endless line-ups of parents dropping their kids off at school - safer, and less polluting, if we need to think of more arguments in favour of such cooperative arrangements.
Having a reliable, efficient public transit system is an asset to the city. Unfortunately, those that use such a system are often overlooked. Part of our job on council is to try to imagine ourselves in all situations, and make the city liveable and accessible for everyone. But it's not enough to just throw more money at the problem, or think that we know the best solutions. We need to talk to the users, and to possible partners, before deciding on how to proceed. And we have to remember that if one solution doesn't work, then we need to try another.
There's no question that fuel prices are going to keep increasing. We'll be far better off if we have a good transit system established before more and more people find that using public transit becomes a necessary part of their lives.
"In the same way that we have a long-term plan for building roads, we need to have a long-term plan to build transit." - Kathleen Wynne
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Some Thoughts on a New Leisure Centre
One of the things that the mayor mentioned during the State of the City address last week was his dream for a new leisure centre. This would be something similar to the wave pool in Melfort, I believe - a family-oriented pool centre that could include various leisure opportunities.
I've said before that I understand the value that such facilities bring to the quality of life in a community. It's great when a community has places where citizens can go for recreation, whether it be a rink, a pool, a skateboard park, or a concert venue.
But I'm also a firm believer in living within our means as a city. I didn't live here when the Comuniplex, now the Art Hauser Centre, was built, so I don't know what sorts of assumptions were made as to how the ongoing functioning of the building would be funded. I do know that it now costs the city $600,000 annually to make up the difference between what it earns and what it costs. I did live here for the construction of the Rawlinson Centre, which wasn't going to cost tax-payers a cent, but unfortunately operating it costs the city $450,000 every year. And our most recent gift to ourselves, the soccer centre, runs a $450,000 deficit annually, and we haven't even finished paying for the construction yet - tax-payers will be paying construction costs for that building as part of their taxation bill until 2015.
User fees for these buildings are supposed to cover 40% of operating costs. It's important to remember, though, that none of the above mentioned facilities include water when those operating costs are calculated, so the amount covered by user fees is actually less than the 40% - taxpayers are making up the difference.
From what I'm hearing from city residents, there isn't much appetite for bringing yet another facility on board. Citizens have learned over the past few years that raising money for construction of a facility isn't hard - operating a facility so that it pays for itself is the difficulty that we haven't solved yet. Adding another half million or so to the tax bill every year isn't something that people are willing to do right now.
Before we start spending a lot of time looking at the next thing that we want to buy, let's spend some time figuring out how we're going to do a better job of getting our current facilities to pay for themselves. I think that the idea of higher user fees for users from out of town, who don't support the facility through taxation, is worth looking at. I know that the argument that those from out of town like to make is that they buy groceries and restaurant meals here, which is fine, but taxpayers buy groceries and meals too, and in any case, that money does not go into city coffers. Including all costs for a facility in the user fee calculation would also help spread the costs more fairly.
As I've said repeatedly, it's like spending your family's money - you take care of the needs first, then the wants. But even with the wants, you have to set priorities. When I built our new deck two years ago, many people suggested that a hot tub would be a nice addition, and even pointed out where on the deck it could go. It would be nice, I agree. But we decided that it's a luxury, both in the initial cost, and in the ongoing operational costs, that just isn't in our budget right now, and it isn't likely to make it there in the near future - too many higher priorities on the list.
It's nice to dream about what would make the city better, but we need to get serious numbers for our dreams, and not move too far without figuring out which parts of our dreams are affordable. In the meantime, let's continue to make some headway on our needs, like tackling the infrastructure deficit, and keeping the streets plowed - those are the basics that benefit everyone.
"Rather go to bed without dinner than rise with debt." - Ben Franklin
I've said before that I understand the value that such facilities bring to the quality of life in a community. It's great when a community has places where citizens can go for recreation, whether it be a rink, a pool, a skateboard park, or a concert venue.
But I'm also a firm believer in living within our means as a city. I didn't live here when the Comuniplex, now the Art Hauser Centre, was built, so I don't know what sorts of assumptions were made as to how the ongoing functioning of the building would be funded. I do know that it now costs the city $600,000 annually to make up the difference between what it earns and what it costs. I did live here for the construction of the Rawlinson Centre, which wasn't going to cost tax-payers a cent, but unfortunately operating it costs the city $450,000 every year. And our most recent gift to ourselves, the soccer centre, runs a $450,000 deficit annually, and we haven't even finished paying for the construction yet - tax-payers will be paying construction costs for that building as part of their taxation bill until 2015.
User fees for these buildings are supposed to cover 40% of operating costs. It's important to remember, though, that none of the above mentioned facilities include water when those operating costs are calculated, so the amount covered by user fees is actually less than the 40% - taxpayers are making up the difference.
From what I'm hearing from city residents, there isn't much appetite for bringing yet another facility on board. Citizens have learned over the past few years that raising money for construction of a facility isn't hard - operating a facility so that it pays for itself is the difficulty that we haven't solved yet. Adding another half million or so to the tax bill every year isn't something that people are willing to do right now.
Before we start spending a lot of time looking at the next thing that we want to buy, let's spend some time figuring out how we're going to do a better job of getting our current facilities to pay for themselves. I think that the idea of higher user fees for users from out of town, who don't support the facility through taxation, is worth looking at. I know that the argument that those from out of town like to make is that they buy groceries and restaurant meals here, which is fine, but taxpayers buy groceries and meals too, and in any case, that money does not go into city coffers. Including all costs for a facility in the user fee calculation would also help spread the costs more fairly.
As I've said repeatedly, it's like spending your family's money - you take care of the needs first, then the wants. But even with the wants, you have to set priorities. When I built our new deck two years ago, many people suggested that a hot tub would be a nice addition, and even pointed out where on the deck it could go. It would be nice, I agree. But we decided that it's a luxury, both in the initial cost, and in the ongoing operational costs, that just isn't in our budget right now, and it isn't likely to make it there in the near future - too many higher priorities on the list.
It's nice to dream about what would make the city better, but we need to get serious numbers for our dreams, and not move too far without figuring out which parts of our dreams are affordable. In the meantime, let's continue to make some headway on our needs, like tackling the infrastructure deficit, and keeping the streets plowed - those are the basics that benefit everyone.
"Rather go to bed without dinner than rise with debt." - Ben Franklin
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Maintaining Perspective
One of the trickiest things to do as a councillor is maintaining one's perspective. As the saying goes, all politics is local, and part of representing a ward, and the people who elected you, is to respond to these local complaints. At the same time, we have to think of the city as a whole, and sometimes that means putting specific issues in your own ward at a lower priority.
It can be a tricky balancing act. When someone is calling, demanding that their street be plowed after a heavy snowstorm, it's tempting to think that your neighbourhood should get priority. That's one of the reasons why truly high priority streets have been identified to see the first action of the plows, and residential neighbourhoods are dealt with later, and according to a schedule that varies so that each neighbourhood has a turn at being first. This is an issue that I'm quite comfortable leaving with city staff to deal with, rather than suggesting to them why Ward 3 streets should be at the top of the list.
Street sweeping, on the other hand, is more of a situation where certain neighbourhoods should be dealt with before others, on a consistent basis. This is one of those "what's best for the city as a whole" situations. Older neighbourhoods, with more trees, and areas with more pedestrian traffic, are likely to have a greater need for sweeping, and should be higher on the priority list than newer neighbourhoods. This puts the whole city on a more level playing field.
I'm not talking about not bringing up emergency situations - if I see a tree limb that looks at though the next wind will bring it down, I'll call administration right away to let them know, to help prevent a possible accident that could cause serious property damage or worse. But for things that are just annoying, or in situations where city crews can't be everywhere at once, I'm quite comfortable with letting administration follow the procedures that they have established, and tell people that sometimes, we just have to be patient.
Details are important, and we can't forget to consider them - heaven knows I've spent enough time poring over detailed budget and spending reports to understand that. But when it comes to keeping the city going, it's important to remember that the job of directing those details is outside the scope of council - it's operational, and our job is setting direction, and trusting staff to figure out how to follow that direction.
Demanding instant action with every phone call - well, that's a recipe for not getting anything done, for riding madly off in all directions, as Stephen Leacock would say. Progress is our goal, not instant gratification.
"The big picture shows it's the little things that keep everything together." - Gee Linder
It can be a tricky balancing act. When someone is calling, demanding that their street be plowed after a heavy snowstorm, it's tempting to think that your neighbourhood should get priority. That's one of the reasons why truly high priority streets have been identified to see the first action of the plows, and residential neighbourhoods are dealt with later, and according to a schedule that varies so that each neighbourhood has a turn at being first. This is an issue that I'm quite comfortable leaving with city staff to deal with, rather than suggesting to them why Ward 3 streets should be at the top of the list.
Street sweeping, on the other hand, is more of a situation where certain neighbourhoods should be dealt with before others, on a consistent basis. This is one of those "what's best for the city as a whole" situations. Older neighbourhoods, with more trees, and areas with more pedestrian traffic, are likely to have a greater need for sweeping, and should be higher on the priority list than newer neighbourhoods. This puts the whole city on a more level playing field.
I'm not talking about not bringing up emergency situations - if I see a tree limb that looks at though the next wind will bring it down, I'll call administration right away to let them know, to help prevent a possible accident that could cause serious property damage or worse. But for things that are just annoying, or in situations where city crews can't be everywhere at once, I'm quite comfortable with letting administration follow the procedures that they have established, and tell people that sometimes, we just have to be patient.
Details are important, and we can't forget to consider them - heaven knows I've spent enough time poring over detailed budget and spending reports to understand that. But when it comes to keeping the city going, it's important to remember that the job of directing those details is outside the scope of council - it's operational, and our job is setting direction, and trusting staff to figure out how to follow that direction.
Demanding instant action with every phone call - well, that's a recipe for not getting anything done, for riding madly off in all directions, as Stephen Leacock would say. Progress is our goal, not instant gratification.
"The big picture shows it's the little things that keep everything together." - Gee Linder
Sunday, January 5, 2014
New Year - A Time for Change
It seems traditional that the new year is a time for changes - wishes for a better year than the last, new calendars, resolutions to break bad habits or develop new ones - all precipitated by the arbitrary ending of one year and the start of the next.
Once again, I didn't manage to stay awake to welcome the new year. I've never been one for New Year's Eve festivities, and as I get older, it gets less and less likely that I will actually see the new year in. But that doesn't stop it from coming, or me from enjoying our family's version of Hogmanay celebrations the next day - a holdover from the Scottish half of Andrea's upbringing - cinnamon rolls, gifts, baked ham and butter tart pie are all involved.
The start of the new year is also the traditional time for looking over the last year. On a personal level, we enjoyed a couple of good holidays, and I replaced the roof on the house, realizing when my back rebelled in a major way that I'm not as young as I'd like to be. But the job got done, and I'm already looking around the house, discussing what the next project should be. That's the good thing about living in a century plus house - never a shortage of projects to keep one out of mischief.
On the council front, I think that the highlight of the past year for me was the growing realization by council as a whole that the status quo approach to our jobs just isn't good enough. We always have to be looking for ways to do things better. And it's not just council that has to adopt this approach - we need to have administration on side, doing thorough assessments of what needs doing, what it's going to cost, and how more can be done with less.
Change, while inevitable for making progress, also involves risk. The great temptation is to minimize the risk by minimizing the change, but this short-changes the possibilities. What we need to do is an honest determination of what the risks might be, using facts and actual practices, rather than myth and rumour, and take action which minimizes the risk as much as possible. Our open discussions and detailed review of current expenditures have illustrated the excellent change in the way we develop budgets, and I'm looking forward to similar detailed discussions when the proposed budget is presented.
One of our biggest operational changes will happen when Jim Toye, the new city manager, formally starts his work with us on Monday, although he's already been in City Hall gathering information and getting his bearings. With this change, I'm looking forward to a high level of co-operation between administration and council as we begin the task of setting priorities for the budget, easily the most important job of city council in any year.
I thought that last year was a very good first year for this council. I hope that this year is even better.
In order to change the world, you have to get your head together first." - Jimi Hendrix
Once again, I didn't manage to stay awake to welcome the new year. I've never been one for New Year's Eve festivities, and as I get older, it gets less and less likely that I will actually see the new year in. But that doesn't stop it from coming, or me from enjoying our family's version of Hogmanay celebrations the next day - a holdover from the Scottish half of Andrea's upbringing - cinnamon rolls, gifts, baked ham and butter tart pie are all involved.
The start of the new year is also the traditional time for looking over the last year. On a personal level, we enjoyed a couple of good holidays, and I replaced the roof on the house, realizing when my back rebelled in a major way that I'm not as young as I'd like to be. But the job got done, and I'm already looking around the house, discussing what the next project should be. That's the good thing about living in a century plus house - never a shortage of projects to keep one out of mischief.
On the council front, I think that the highlight of the past year for me was the growing realization by council as a whole that the status quo approach to our jobs just isn't good enough. We always have to be looking for ways to do things better. And it's not just council that has to adopt this approach - we need to have administration on side, doing thorough assessments of what needs doing, what it's going to cost, and how more can be done with less.
Change, while inevitable for making progress, also involves risk. The great temptation is to minimize the risk by minimizing the change, but this short-changes the possibilities. What we need to do is an honest determination of what the risks might be, using facts and actual practices, rather than myth and rumour, and take action which minimizes the risk as much as possible. Our open discussions and detailed review of current expenditures have illustrated the excellent change in the way we develop budgets, and I'm looking forward to similar detailed discussions when the proposed budget is presented.
One of our biggest operational changes will happen when Jim Toye, the new city manager, formally starts his work with us on Monday, although he's already been in City Hall gathering information and getting his bearings. With this change, I'm looking forward to a high level of co-operation between administration and council as we begin the task of setting priorities for the budget, easily the most important job of city council in any year.
I thought that last year was a very good first year for this council. I hope that this year is even better.
In order to change the world, you have to get your head together first." - Jimi Hendrix
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Creating New Traditions
Christmas is a time of traditions - I'm sure that every family has some traditions that go back generations. Of course, times change, or perhaps some of the traditions of your youth weren't your favourites, or didn't fit with your spouse's traditions when you got married, so you adopt new traditions. My personal favourite tradition is to spend the day in pyjamas and bathrobe, drinking coffee and enjoying Andrea's cinnamon rolls, watching the family open stockings and gifts, watching old movies (bring on Alistair Sim and Scrooge), and having a wonderful turkey dinner with a special bottle of wine.
One of Andrea's family traditions, from the Scandinavian side, involved having rice pudding for dessert on Christmas Eve - a huge bowl of rice pudding, with a single almond, was passed around the table until the pudding was gone. Whoever found the almond was supposed to have good luck for the year, and part of the fun was keeping your good luck a secret for as long as possible. Apparently Andrea's father was a master at hiding the almond in his cheek until the end of the meal - it probably helped that he was also quite fond of rice pudding. Andrea, on the other hand, doesn't like rice pudding, so while we lived in Ontario, if we were spending Christmas in North Bay, we had rice pudding, but once we moved out here, no more rice pudding. The tradition that we've developed over the years is to have ice cream cake for Christmas Eve dessert - something that we all like, despite its lack of connection to our past.
On the other hand, I don't like plum pudding or mince pie for Christmas dinner dessert. While Andrea does, instead she makes a chocolate cheesecake for dessert, and I appreciate her adjusting the tradition. That's what we need to remember about traditions - they only work while people are willing to continue to follow them. If they don't fit, for whatever reason, it's a mistake to just keep hanging on to doing things are certain way because that's how it's always been done.
One tradition my family had when I was a kid was to take a trip into Toronto at Christmas time. Fergus is a little over an hour from Toronto, and while I'm sure the main purpose of the trip was so that my parents could do some shopping in the big city, the highlight for me was looking in Simpson's windows. The Simpson's store downtown (since taken over by the Bay) had elaborately decorated windows in the four corners of their building, usually around a similar Christmas theme - not with the purpose of displaying what was for sale, but purely for the entertainment, and there was always a crowd around the windows. After we were married, Andrea and I would always make a point of going down on a December evening to join the crowds and marvel at the creativeness of the window decorators.
That's why I was happy to hear of the Downtown Business Improvement District's idea this year to have various downtown stores and businesses reveal a specially decorated window, one a day over the first 24 days of December. While the extreme cold weather of the last week or so hasn't helped, it's something a little different to bring people downtown, and perhaps visit a store that they wouldn't normally think to drop into. Hopefully the next ten days will be milder, and more people will get out to appreciate the extra efforts these businesses have put in.
The reason that many people give for not spending more time downtown is that they don't feel safe there. While increased foot patrols are a help, the real key, I think, is to give more reasons for people to go downtown - more people makes a place feel safer. I'm not saying that one single action will change the atmosphere overnight, but change is accomplished through baby steps, and these specially decorated windows are an excellent baby step, developed by the businesses themselves, and accomplished without any additional tax payers' dollars.
So if you're looking to establish a new Christmas tradition, why not spend a half hour or so in the next ten days walking up and down Central Avenue, admiring the windows. You even have the opportunity to vote for your favourite. We need to spend more time at Christmas slowing down to enjoy the season, and this is a perfect opportunity.
And whatever your favourite Christmas traditions, enjoy the season.
"At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year." - Thomas Tusser
One of Andrea's family traditions, from the Scandinavian side, involved having rice pudding for dessert on Christmas Eve - a huge bowl of rice pudding, with a single almond, was passed around the table until the pudding was gone. Whoever found the almond was supposed to have good luck for the year, and part of the fun was keeping your good luck a secret for as long as possible. Apparently Andrea's father was a master at hiding the almond in his cheek until the end of the meal - it probably helped that he was also quite fond of rice pudding. Andrea, on the other hand, doesn't like rice pudding, so while we lived in Ontario, if we were spending Christmas in North Bay, we had rice pudding, but once we moved out here, no more rice pudding. The tradition that we've developed over the years is to have ice cream cake for Christmas Eve dessert - something that we all like, despite its lack of connection to our past.
On the other hand, I don't like plum pudding or mince pie for Christmas dinner dessert. While Andrea does, instead she makes a chocolate cheesecake for dessert, and I appreciate her adjusting the tradition. That's what we need to remember about traditions - they only work while people are willing to continue to follow them. If they don't fit, for whatever reason, it's a mistake to just keep hanging on to doing things are certain way because that's how it's always been done.
One tradition my family had when I was a kid was to take a trip into Toronto at Christmas time. Fergus is a little over an hour from Toronto, and while I'm sure the main purpose of the trip was so that my parents could do some shopping in the big city, the highlight for me was looking in Simpson's windows. The Simpson's store downtown (since taken over by the Bay) had elaborately decorated windows in the four corners of their building, usually around a similar Christmas theme - not with the purpose of displaying what was for sale, but purely for the entertainment, and there was always a crowd around the windows. After we were married, Andrea and I would always make a point of going down on a December evening to join the crowds and marvel at the creativeness of the window decorators.
That's why I was happy to hear of the Downtown Business Improvement District's idea this year to have various downtown stores and businesses reveal a specially decorated window, one a day over the first 24 days of December. While the extreme cold weather of the last week or so hasn't helped, it's something a little different to bring people downtown, and perhaps visit a store that they wouldn't normally think to drop into. Hopefully the next ten days will be milder, and more people will get out to appreciate the extra efforts these businesses have put in.
The reason that many people give for not spending more time downtown is that they don't feel safe there. While increased foot patrols are a help, the real key, I think, is to give more reasons for people to go downtown - more people makes a place feel safer. I'm not saying that one single action will change the atmosphere overnight, but change is accomplished through baby steps, and these specially decorated windows are an excellent baby step, developed by the businesses themselves, and accomplished without any additional tax payers' dollars.
So if you're looking to establish a new Christmas tradition, why not spend a half hour or so in the next ten days walking up and down Central Avenue, admiring the windows. You even have the opportunity to vote for your favourite. We need to spend more time at Christmas slowing down to enjoy the season, and this is a perfect opportunity.
And whatever your favourite Christmas traditions, enjoy the season.
"At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year." - Thomas Tusser
Sunday, November 24, 2013
You Can Either Be a Good Example, or a Horrible Warning
Over the last few weeks, I think that the topic most frequently raised with me is the situation that Toronto City Council now finds itself in, thanks to the behaviour of its mayor, Rob Ford. I was appalled last week when I watched the news coverage of Monday's council meeting, as councillors took what action they could to limit the mayor's influence and control over council meetings and agendas. The sight of the mayor (and his brother), walking around council chambers, yelling at other members of council and the public gallery, was shocking and disgraceful. The result, of course, is that Ford now is mayor in name only, while control of meetings and agendas now rests with the deputy mayor. I'm sure that it must be a relief to both councillors and city hall staff that they can now refocus on city business, rather than responding to media questions about the mayor's faux pas of the day.
The question that seems to come most often is "why can't they just remove him from being mayor?" The answer to that is, of course, because council did not elect him, so they can't remove him from office. Lack of control in one's personal life, and the subsequent refusal to take time to regain that control, no matter what the issue, is not grounds under provincial legislation to remove a mayor (or any other elected official) from office. And that's how it should be. Just as in Saskatchewan, removal requires more than just not being popular with your colleagues, and has to come from outside of council, either through being convicted of a criminal offence, or through a judge determining that conflict of interest occurs - which, interestingly enough, happened to Mr. Ford not that long ago, although a subsequent appeal determined that the size of his offence was out of proportion to the penalty of removing him from office.
From all accounts, Rob Ford was an extremely popular councillor for ten years, largely because he was very responsive to his constituents. He also wasn't afraid to stand alone in votes against the rest of council. When he was elected mayor three years ago, it was largely through a single promise - to cut the waste at City Hall. Unfortunately, like many campaigns based on a single slogan, things turned out to be more complex than he thought, and his success in that direction since being elected has been mixed at best. He also seemed to have difficulty realizing that the job of mayor is different that being councillor - you have to be someone who can bring a team together, by articulating a vision that the majority of councillors can support. And while he was able to bring enough councillors on side for some issues, that support was not solid enough to withstand the scandals of the last six months.
In May, shortly after the stories broke about the crack cocaine video, we were at FCM in Vancouver. Several members of Toronto city council were there (not the mayor, who has never attended one of those meetings, apparently not interested in exchanging information with his counterparts across Canada), and when I spoke with them, they were universally just relieved to be away from the circus that Toronto City Hall had become.
I find it sad to watch Rob Ford. His excuses - "I've been under a lot of stress"; "Everybody does it" - are those of an adolescent, not a man in his forties. He seems to feel that a position of continual denial, followed by apologies when the truth comes out, is sufficient. Sadly, he doesn't seem to realize that his job is to lead city council, not stand apart from them. And when people refuse to follow you, you can no longer be considered the leader. I think that he would have a great deal more credibility, and public sympathy, if he just admitted that he needs to take some time off to deal with whatever personal problems have led him to this point.
He also needs to realize that being mayor is not a nine-to-five job - it's what you are, twenty-four hours a day. Even in a small city like Prince Albert, the expectation is that you are available to the people you represent, no matter where you are or what you're doing. I can expect to be asked questions whenever I'm buying groceries or at the mall, and phone calls come every day of the week. I don't complain, because that comes with the job.
People expect their elected officials to behave with integrity - that means that they expect you to tell the truth, and that your actions should match your words. When this is lost - and it doesn't take much - it's going to be a lot harder to regain that trust. Hopefully Rob Ford spends the next months, not in waging war against everyone on council, as he threatened at the council meeting, but in dealing with his personal issues, and working to rebuild his trust with the people of Toronto.
I'm not worried about something similar happening in Prince Albert - we seem to have a better understanding of appropriate behaviour, and of how to handle our differences while remaining civil. It's just another reason why I'm happy with our decision to move from Toronto to Prince Albert, more than thirty years ago.
"When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself a public property." - Thomas Jefferson
The question that seems to come most often is "why can't they just remove him from being mayor?" The answer to that is, of course, because council did not elect him, so they can't remove him from office. Lack of control in one's personal life, and the subsequent refusal to take time to regain that control, no matter what the issue, is not grounds under provincial legislation to remove a mayor (or any other elected official) from office. And that's how it should be. Just as in Saskatchewan, removal requires more than just not being popular with your colleagues, and has to come from outside of council, either through being convicted of a criminal offence, or through a judge determining that conflict of interest occurs - which, interestingly enough, happened to Mr. Ford not that long ago, although a subsequent appeal determined that the size of his offence was out of proportion to the penalty of removing him from office.
From all accounts, Rob Ford was an extremely popular councillor for ten years, largely because he was very responsive to his constituents. He also wasn't afraid to stand alone in votes against the rest of council. When he was elected mayor three years ago, it was largely through a single promise - to cut the waste at City Hall. Unfortunately, like many campaigns based on a single slogan, things turned out to be more complex than he thought, and his success in that direction since being elected has been mixed at best. He also seemed to have difficulty realizing that the job of mayor is different that being councillor - you have to be someone who can bring a team together, by articulating a vision that the majority of councillors can support. And while he was able to bring enough councillors on side for some issues, that support was not solid enough to withstand the scandals of the last six months.
In May, shortly after the stories broke about the crack cocaine video, we were at FCM in Vancouver. Several members of Toronto city council were there (not the mayor, who has never attended one of those meetings, apparently not interested in exchanging information with his counterparts across Canada), and when I spoke with them, they were universally just relieved to be away from the circus that Toronto City Hall had become.
I find it sad to watch Rob Ford. His excuses - "I've been under a lot of stress"; "Everybody does it" - are those of an adolescent, not a man in his forties. He seems to feel that a position of continual denial, followed by apologies when the truth comes out, is sufficient. Sadly, he doesn't seem to realize that his job is to lead city council, not stand apart from them. And when people refuse to follow you, you can no longer be considered the leader. I think that he would have a great deal more credibility, and public sympathy, if he just admitted that he needs to take some time off to deal with whatever personal problems have led him to this point.
He also needs to realize that being mayor is not a nine-to-five job - it's what you are, twenty-four hours a day. Even in a small city like Prince Albert, the expectation is that you are available to the people you represent, no matter where you are or what you're doing. I can expect to be asked questions whenever I'm buying groceries or at the mall, and phone calls come every day of the week. I don't complain, because that comes with the job.
People expect their elected officials to behave with integrity - that means that they expect you to tell the truth, and that your actions should match your words. When this is lost - and it doesn't take much - it's going to be a lot harder to regain that trust. Hopefully Rob Ford spends the next months, not in waging war against everyone on council, as he threatened at the council meeting, but in dealing with his personal issues, and working to rebuild his trust with the people of Toronto.
I'm not worried about something similar happening in Prince Albert - we seem to have a better understanding of appropriate behaviour, and of how to handle our differences while remaining civil. It's just another reason why I'm happy with our decision to move from Toronto to Prince Albert, more than thirty years ago.
"When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself a public property." - Thomas Jefferson
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Strategic Planning - A Key Step in Budgeting
Over the last month, between council meetings, council has been meeting with each individual department for strategic planning sessions. We've had three of these meetings so far, and have met with the staff of Corporate Services, Community Services, Financial Services and the Fire Department. Still to come is our largest department, Public Works.
At these meetings we're looking closely in two areas - each department's base budget, and its organizational structure. We're looking for efficiencies - efficiencies in spending, processes and personnel. As I've mentioned before, the status quo in how we do things can no longer be an assumption, and there are no sacred cows.
These sessions will provide direction to the budgeting process, allowing us to start at the real beginning of the process, rather than just tweaking proposed new expenditures to fit some predetermined target for increasing taxes, while assuming that we're going to keep on doing what we're doing whether there are better ways of doing things or not. It may have been easier and faster, but that's not why we were elected.
This is the first time in several years that we've looked at things so closely, and it's been an eye-opener for all of us on council. I've also noticed that the approach by staff is starting to change as well - they are seeing the positive implications of working more openly with council, and of the opportunities that will benefit everyone - staff and city residents - by improving the way we do things, and by improving our focus on what really is in everyone's best interests - a city where priorities are set, and work and spending follows those priorities.
Meetings have been focused, with everyone feeling free to ask questions and offer possible options. Through the process, I think that everyone on council, both the long-term veterans and the relative newcomers, have become more comfortable with the realization that while nobody has all the answers, by asking questions and thinking of alternatives, we're going to come up with a budget that will be better understood by everyone involved, because we'll have a better understanding of how it was developed, and our reasons for whatever the final decisions turn out to be.
We'll also be better equipped to answer the inevitable questions that will come from the public on our decisions. And as one of our goals is to be more open and accountable to the people who have put us in charge, we'll be better at reaching that goal as well.
"A goal without a plan is just a wish." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
At these meetings we're looking closely in two areas - each department's base budget, and its organizational structure. We're looking for efficiencies - efficiencies in spending, processes and personnel. As I've mentioned before, the status quo in how we do things can no longer be an assumption, and there are no sacred cows.
These sessions will provide direction to the budgeting process, allowing us to start at the real beginning of the process, rather than just tweaking proposed new expenditures to fit some predetermined target for increasing taxes, while assuming that we're going to keep on doing what we're doing whether there are better ways of doing things or not. It may have been easier and faster, but that's not why we were elected.
This is the first time in several years that we've looked at things so closely, and it's been an eye-opener for all of us on council. I've also noticed that the approach by staff is starting to change as well - they are seeing the positive implications of working more openly with council, and of the opportunities that will benefit everyone - staff and city residents - by improving the way we do things, and by improving our focus on what really is in everyone's best interests - a city where priorities are set, and work and spending follows those priorities.
Meetings have been focused, with everyone feeling free to ask questions and offer possible options. Through the process, I think that everyone on council, both the long-term veterans and the relative newcomers, have become more comfortable with the realization that while nobody has all the answers, by asking questions and thinking of alternatives, we're going to come up with a budget that will be better understood by everyone involved, because we'll have a better understanding of how it was developed, and our reasons for whatever the final decisions turn out to be.
We'll also be better equipped to answer the inevitable questions that will come from the public on our decisions. And as one of our goals is to be more open and accountable to the people who have put us in charge, we'll be better at reaching that goal as well.
"A goal without a plan is just a wish." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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