March 1 is employee appreciation day, and it is really nice
that Councilor Gallant has taken the time on his blog today to thank all the
people that work for the municipality. In a way I find these kind of days are a
little ironic, it is great to stand up and appreciate your employees for a day,
but shouldn’t you being appreciating them every day?
No I’m not talking about taking them out for lunch, giving
them extra money or bonuses, I am talking about treating them with respect,
dignity and working together on a daily basis.
Do not get me wrong from 2004-2010 when I sat on council
there was times when the employer and the employees were at loggerheads. Yes we
had a few bad apples in the barrel but the vast majority of the employees did a
good job on a daily basis. I believed that Council and Administration for the
most part respected and had a good working relationship with Cupe and its
members.
Today we have a municipal workforce that is totally
demoralized, the level of morale is at its lowest point ever. The relationship
between the employer and CUPE has been described to me has toxic. Ask any
councilor how many CUPE members came to the Municipal Christmas party, take a
look at the number of employees that have left in the last two years. Not just
administrators but the hourly workforce too.
Next council/administration is not just going to have to
rebuild bridges with the volunteer base they will have to do the same with
their staff.
The message of this blog celebrate the municipal employees
today, but do not lose sight of the fact that there are some serious problems
there that are not going away because somebody puts a positive spin on things
for one day.
Maybe 2:18 will appear and describe me again has being negative, do not believe me this
is a small town the municipal employee’s that look after our community are our neighbors,
friends and relatives.
28 comments:
Someone please explain something to me.
In Gallant's letter of three years ago, he states he moved to the Pass two years earlier and was blown away with how great things were here as compared to the city. Why then has this newcomer spent his whole term on council trying to turn us into a mini version of the big city?
I can't figure this fellow out, nor do I think he can either?
JP
p.s. As the saying goes, Gallant's "a riddle wrapped up in a mystery inside an enigma clutching a hand grenade." :-)
John, in my opinion it is not nearly that complicated. He is a new comer looking for a lot of STATUS.
can't figure all the attacks on Gallant.
he is the only councillor, I have heard from in the last two and half years.
anyone heard from the others?
can you name them all?
they are all in this together, I do appreciate Gallant telling us what he thinks.
i work for the municipality and nothing was said to the employees at all thanks gallant next year maybe say something to the employees not your blog trolls
Anon 3:13 (the first one)
Gallant is not being picked on. He has put himself out there by grand standing and voting against a budget he worked for. He then went on to make political hay by getting his message on the radio. As much as I do not like the decisions this council made at least the rest of them stood behind their decisions and voted to approve paying for our money they spent.
I have no problem understanding the comments referring to Gallant as two faced.
Always goes back to the "new comer". Unbelieveable and sick.
Yup. This place will remain a sinkhole as long as people differentiate status based on connections....local,weekender,newcomer etc.
also ANON 3:13 who cant figure out all the attacks on Gallant because they are all in this together, You just answered the question, They did make all these decisions together and now we are going to pay for it. Where the rest of council has stuck together and stood by their decisions (AT least i respect them for that). Apparantly counciller Saje was also a `NO SHOW`or absent. GO figure. Brian on the other hand has tried to distance himself from the budget that will have to pay for the direction that even BRIAN thinks is the right path for this community. You cant have it both ways. Believe me i discussed all this a few months back and he assured me they had it covered.
Anon 6:24 wrote:
Always goes back to the "new comer". Unbelieveable and sick.
Don't forget: "people who want to destroy what others have tried to bring to this community", "Tory old boys club", "firemen running the town", "tree huggers", "bloggers out to get Bruce", "wine & cheese elite", ...
__________________________________________________
I was amused by "my street was cleared shortly after our last big snowfall". It wouldn't do to say how many hours or days - that might invite comparisons.
(I am not criticising employees, it depends on policy and management).
This entire discussion and name calling between the so called “old timers” and “new comers” is just dim. In the past, we had some excellent councillors who were new comers and some excellent councillors who were old timers. Now, we have a council made up of both, old timers and new comers – and they are all mostly ineffective, so far. Time will tell whether at least one of them will find their own voice. Here is hoping.
Peter sorry I deleted one of your comments accidentally if you could send it again I will post it.
Thanks Dean
Employee and community “public” relations have been disaster from day one. It all starts at the top. You cannot get respect, when you give no respect. When one thinks it could not get any worse, in the past few months it started to be outright comical. For example, it appears someone asked for Riversdale to insert the following into their press release: ““We are confident that the support we provided to Riversdale helped pave the way for this initiative to come to fruition” said Decoux” Pretty funny -here we have an Australian company doing a deal with two American companies – can anyone believe that they came up with such an absurdity on their own? Then we had a beautiful presentation about a hotel to be built by a yet to be found investor. Beautiful conceptual drawings of a fantasy land hotel available on display at the muni office. Third, we have a community unveiling of a $47,000 taxpayer funded re-branding scheme –BY INVITATION? We are a small community. It appears our council is “hell bent” on purposely and needlessly to upset the community. In doing this, they are undoing what little good they have accomplished to date.
Thompson burnt his bridges with the municipal workers right from the start, by telling them they have to get rid of the comfortable chairs they saved when we still had some clean up going on and that they could only have metal chairs to sit on. What a bunch of BULL from this administration.
For those here who take exception to the term 'newcomer' being used, please develop a thicker skin and not read into things more than what is there.
Ask yourselves, why has Gallant spent his whole term on council trying to turn us into a mini version of the big city? Obviously it is because he is a newcomer who knows not the ways and thinking of long-time residents here. In other words, he knows not what he does because he does not know the community and its people.
For more on this subject:
Newcomers vs Long-time Residents
Sometimes people use the terms newcomers and oldtimers to further their own agendas.
John, from my conversations with Brain I do not think he is trying to turn this place into a mini Calgary. He says things have been poorly run since amalgamation and the previous councils did not have the courage to tackle the tough issues such as standing up to the firemen. I have not been here long enough to know.
If you read Brians letter of three years ago he is basically refering to himself as being "new" to the Crowsnest Pass and appreciated the efforts of the municipal office and workers. In 2010 i am sure he did appreciate the cooperation he recieved but what a great opportunity to get your "NAME" out there. Now he is on the campaign trail and thanking the municipal workers. Well i have been working for thirty five years didnt even know it was Employee Appreciation Day yesterday or that there was such a day. Employers should appreciate their workers everyday. Could care a less that they should recognize you for one day its basically lip service anyway. It sounds like a bunch of BS. Just for the record Brian the staff are very friendly at the Municipal Office and smile at most people (even the ones they have to)
Peter, I totally agree with your assessment but 2 years ago I would not hear it as he had me fooled. Brian Gallants recent actions on the budget has reinforced my evolving views he a person without integrity. I never thought about Gallants 2010 letter to the editor praising the town employees but looking back at the timing before the election I agree it was his " great opportunity to get his "NAME" out there". The problem is not that he is a new comer the problem is his character which only comes to light with time.
5:38
Courage to tackle the tough issues, give me a break. Was you here and did you watch what the previous council went through on the Crowsnest Centre?
The Fire Dept that was brilliant what they have done they hired consultants and administers too numerous to list at a cost of big dollars to close Hillcrest and SAVE $40,000 a year. I don't think I would be calling that guts.
Gallant is on the campaign trail voting against a budget his and the other councillors actions created and then a vain attempt to please the municipal employees. We the people that will pick the next council can see right through him.
It would appear that Gallant has been watching US politics, where the President says one thing, then reverses himself on the numerous issues numerous times, and blames the Republicans. Obviously Gallant watches CNN to see that such actions DO WORK, and he thinks that the people can be fooled and others blamed for the problems he and his group have created. Will it work, guess we will see in October.. Good politics, who knows, but shows the real character of a typical politico.
Jose
How does Gallant know what happened here since amalgamation. He's only been here a couple of years. Shows you how arragont he is. He knows more than the people that have lived here all their lives. We are so lucky to have such a smart NEWCOMER living here and on council yet. We are blessed.
Charlie Lake is un-doubtfully a fine place to develop some experience on how to restructure a perfectly functioning hundred year old volunteer fire department.
http://www.discoverthepeacecountry.com/htmlpages/charlielakebc.html
“Charlie Lake is approximately 2250 people with close to 1000 within the core zone.
Most of the business sector of Charlie Lake is situated on the south side of the lake along Highway 97 with a school, church, gas station, campgrounds and some residences. There is no hospital or library in this community, as the residents travel to Fort St. John for these services.”
It is now easy to see, in retrospect, why someone who spent good deal of their career in La Ronge Sask. would feel the need to bring modernity to an old community like the Crowsnest Pass, with its rich political and volunteer history. Some important stats on La Ronge:
“La Ronge is a community of 2,743 people (2011 census)[2] in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada, approximately 250 km (160 mi) north of Prince Albert where Highway 2 becomes Highway 102. The town lies on the western shore of Lac la Ronge,”
With such an overabundant experience in the matters of 21 Century, the overwhelming reliance on outside consultants can be finally understood.
And just to be clear, both Charlie Lake and La Ronge are fine little towns.
Well it is now Monday March 4th and i just found out that it WAS employee appreciation day in the Crowsnest Pass on march 1st. CAO still doesnt know my name and my new boss of 4 months that ive met once gives me the impression he wouldnt piss on me if i was on fire. They can take this so called appreciation day and stuff it you know where!
i know your name anon 11:08 lol but were all one big happy family remember.... we get lied to, told were not good enough, used like sweatshop workers and then we have to smile and thank them for our livelyhood and our cao tells us if we dont like it we can find a job somewhere else hows that for ya!!! well mr cao we will see whos looking for work hee hee hee
I hear sometime this week we are all getting a letter of appreciation. A new logo pin, two tickets to the wine and cheese event for the grand opening of the New Entry Signs.
Never had it so good
Thanks MCNP
seems to me these 'newcomers' like brian and decoux are doing a heck of a lot better job running the town than the old hands like irwin, sygutek and even you, dean.
its so hard to separate legitimate beefs with election posturing on these blogs
id love to see john prince get back in for just the entertainment value
You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little (expletive) up maybe, but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to (expletive) amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?
Ah, what would we do without good lines from the movies (Goodfellas (1990))? Anyhow anon, I’m glad you find me ‘entertaining’. But I also know how to take care of business when given the opportunity. Hopefully, soon, (minus Irwin & Sygutek) I’ll be given another chance to prove it, and finish what should have got done way back when if not for the Neanderthals and stonewallers. In doing so, I hope to not have to be all business and get to enjoy myself while amusing people such as yourself from time to time. For we all need a good laugh now and then, while remembering not to take life too seriously. Because as we all know, at the end of the day, none of us gets out alive. :-)
JP
I think I was too busy changing diapers and chasing toddlers back then, and not paying attention to municipal politics. Can you tell me what you would like to finish?
Not 2:41,
but curious.
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