Council meeting of June
4, 2013 , Confusion, arrived at the meeting to see a representive of
the Blairmore Smoke Eaters and two lawyers at the meeting. Next thing we know CAO
Thompson is back and forth talking to these people who prior to the meeting
starting leave. Mayor Decoux calls the meeting to order, asks CAO
Thompson what that was all about. He informs council that he was off the
previous week when communications between the office and the lawyers took
place. The communications obviously did not work that well because the lawyers
had the impression they could talk to council and the administration had the
impression that they were not to talk to council. CAO
Thompson stated he would clear it up and provide a formal apology if the
mistake was on their end.
Contradictions, the new Economic Development Officer was
introduced to council the Mayor stated “our team is now complete”, the new EDO
is a lady named Sherry Poole. Bit of a contradiction on the same day that the
administrative team grows by one and now becomes complete. The employees are
informed that the municipality is contracting out road grading because they do not
have enough operators working in Public Works to do it themselves. Mayor Decoux
also announced there will soon be another wine and cheese event so the Chamber,
Community Futures, Business leaders can meet the new EDO .
Election news: Andrew Saje announced that he will, not be
running in the up coming election. He also informed the public that he made a
very lengthy submission in writing to the Municipal Inspector that he is having
his lawyer summarize and will be realizing to the public in the not to distant
future.
37 comments:
Wasn't there an issue with a developer and his lawyer not being allowed to address council at the previous meeting?
How did Bruce manage to convince this council that a two man agenda committee is the way to go is very hard to understand.
This is way off base and most places would not go along with this kind of a strange arrangement.
Since only the Mayor and the CAO sit on this agenda committee, one can be sure the Mayor is entirely in charge on what makes to the Agenda.
Now that the problems with this arrangement are finally visible, who will be blamed for these problems?
I guess they will speak to the Firemen's legal reps after they have sold all the Fire Equipment.
I can't find where the Agenda Committee was created or its members appointed.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=site%3Acrowsnestpass.com+"agenda+committee"
The power begins and ends with one person "the Mare" there is not one person that will take him to task.
I just read his letter to Ranchlands after receiving that I am sure they will be preparing the first check and signing over Grassy Mountain to us. Surprisingly he does not mention anywhere the $200,000 requirement.
After Ranchlands found out about the Riversdale/ Crowsnest Pass meetings from a newspaper, why be surprised with the newspaper response from Ranchlands?
Who are the smoke eaters?
If Decoux was so interested in following his almighty process, procedures or policies. Shouldn't he have told the boys from Riversdale to approach Ranchlands. Imagine how upset he would be if a company approached MD of Pincher about starting a mine in Passburg.
Maybe following policy only matters when it works for the Mare.
The Mayor confuses policy work with “heavy lifting.” After two years of policy work, he was going to get a little economic development done in the year three. After next week, they will go back to tweaking policy, just to get it right for the next council.
Some developers have access to Council without the bother of making presentations at official Council meetings. They even have Bruce acting as their spokesman.
12:56:00
That is a really big allegation to make. Do you have back up on that statement?
A developer and his lawyer should indeed not be allowed to address council.
And his lawyer should have known better.
Why would a citizen and his representative not be allowed to addrss their council? Whoever heard of such malarky?
Bruce and Myron took upon themselves to champion the Medican deal. It is up to the council to decide who they want to hear in a small town like Crowsnest Pass.
Big cities need a lot of bureaucratic filters because a lot happens there. Bruce wants to create these filters here, and this is too expensive for a little town where little happens. This is why he is about to get some real learning which he missed where he was previously.
I thought I seen a developer and a realtor address council.
Can you please explain why a lawyer should not be able to speak to council? I have seen all types of people address council, from laymen to engineers, Doctors, police,etc.. So why not a lawyer?
Dean do you know we now have more administrators than equipment operators. I hope somebody in that upper tier of management can run a grader. We now have Volker Stevin grading our roads.
Yes Bruce has his team in place unfortunately they are the municipal equivalent of the Vancouver Canucks, loaded on the first line nothing on the second, third or fourth. We all know how well that works in both the hockey world and the municipal world.
Volker Stevin might actually be cheaper. I have no problem with items like that being contracted out.
Their first line is not that strong otherwise thing would be better here.
Of course I am referring to the hotel developers. They are in close contact with Council, or Bruce at least.
Bruce says in the Newsletter:
"If it is not approved by the Best Western Board of Governors we will move to the Holiday Inn group."
Did you hear Architect Fritz in his speech mention having given a presentation to Council?
9:08 : A developer should have the same right as anyone else to address Council at an open meeting.
Hello, if you were council would you talk to lawyers without legal representation. Nobody would. Need to get real.
You can talk to lawyers just like you can talk to anyone. You don't need to make a decision on the spot if you need clarification on something.
All this secrecy and not using reasonable judgment got us way too many legal invoices and no visible development.
Someone really confused our councilor as to what their role is. Bruce is no more of an expert then anyone of them and seven heads is better than one.
Anon 10:50 If you are afraid of talking to or listening to a lawyer then you have done something wrong.
10:50
What a ridiculous statement.
Uh Oh. Looks like we have two 10:50 statements. I think the 1:05 and 1:46 comments were directed to the 2nd one?
The reason this job is being contracted out is because administration has zero interest in training there own people, and although council has a training policy in effect, they too aren't bothered by the fact that their management team isn't implementing this policy. People wanting to learn and advance but denied the chance to do so because these parties don't follow their own policies. This makes for a very bitter workforce.
anon1:46 Are you afraid. If I were on council I would have listened to what the lawyers had to say. I would not have debated anything. Why would they be fearful of something being said in a public forum unless the truth scares them. Transparent they are not.
2:16 Our leadership keeps telling us that they have a great team, that the municipality has never been ran so well. The Mayor even ranted and raved about how good everything is with the staff back in one of his Mayor's corners.
Dean I was just told that the firemen were on the agenda but the agenda was changed on Tuesday morning.
What do the firemen want?
This two man agenda committee has done everyone great disservice. Council has no one to blame for allowing this to happen. Also, the two people who control the agenda have no one to blame for the ongoing confusion.
The Municipality has graders sitting in their shops while the work is contracted out. When is somebody going to wake up and start asking some questions? It sure is sad to think about how much confidence this council has in their management team when these are the decisions they are making.
So, why are the graders just sitting around???? Why are they not being used???? I'll ask the questions!
So instead of paying one of our men 30/hr to run our own grader we pay a contractor 200/hr to run there's. So for every day you need to use a contractor it costs us about 1300$.
Anon 09:41AM- but is the town grader ready to use or ready to fix? If its used then worn out, a replacement will be needed. But wait, we spent all the CapEx money on nice fire truckies, not the BIG fire engine. There's no money for new equipment.
Plus, how do we keep all those white shirt managers busy? Ever thought what it costs the Municipality to fund the benefits and retirement programs for the new Administration? Contracting means no need to hire the field people as they depart. Smoke and mirrors budgeting.
I spoke with a person in municipal affairs regarding procedure on the agenda. When the Mayor said we have to follow procedure and you are not on the agenda therefore you do not speak. Apparently all that had to be done is for one councillor ask that the agenda be changed to include the lawyers. Not one of these chickenshits raised a hand and anarchy reigned once again.
This BS has gone on long enough.
Somewhere, at the beginning of this misrule, our councillors gave up the control of council’s affairs to one person.
They have been convinced the community did not understand what had to be done and, therefore, decisions would have to be made on behalf of the community whether they liked it or not, for the GENERAL GOOD OF THE COMMUNITY.
They bought into this argument without reasonable questions or discussion. If there was a discussion, the public did not see it.
Only Andrew Saje, to date, has realized that there is something terribly wrong with this approach.
This approach may be ok in a school house or a school district, but not in running a municipality. Gallant still does not realize what has happened, the rest are in a self induced righteous fog.
To Anon 6:07 on June 5
Well, I see no one else has answered your question. So I will try.
To me the "Smokeaters" are the group of Blairmore Volunteer Firefighters, who used to put on the fantastic, wonderful, mind blowing, "Thunder in the Valley" fireworks display during Rum Runners Days. The event was "deferred" last year, and then all the fireworks that were stored for the next show were confiscated by the RCMP at the request of the Municipal Administration.
Feel free to correct me anyone, if I am wrong.
Thanks "Smokeaters" for the wonderful memories. I will cherish them forever.
Post a Comment