Every year we the taxpayers of the Crowsnest
Pass
Some people (usually politicians that want to justify going
to these conventions) contend that they are an excellent opportunity to network
with other municipalities, to attend various courses offered by the province
and the host organizations and to have an opportunity to meet with ministers
and other various government officials.
Having attended a couple of conventions during my two terms
on council, I determined and that is why I stopped going to them that they are
a waste of taxpayers money. We should call a spade a spade, they are a perk for
politicians.
You have approximately 450 municipalities in this province who
will send somewhere between 2-3000 politicians to these events at an average
cost of $600 plus per day.
Our municipality similar to many others meets and networks
with their neighbor municipalities on a regular basis, they do not need to go
to Edmonton or Calgary
to do that.
The various courses and information that are offered at
these functions could easily in this day and age of the internet be provided to
interested elected officials in seconds.
The last justification made is the opportunity to meet with
ministers, well let me tell you what that is like. If your lucky you will get a
half a hour with a minister, you will be ushered into a room where the minister
and a couple of his assistants will shake your hands, smile at you and listen
very intently to your concerns. Then they will shake your hands again kick you
out of the room and march in the next group then repeat that process 15-20
times.
In six years of being on council I can not remember one thing
that this municipality gained by attending the various conventions.
What as it cost us to send our elected officials to these
conventions over the last three years?
Mayor Decoux $14,312
Councilors
Gallant $11,593
Sage $14,672
Gail $12,671
Londsbury $3654
Mitchell $6652
Saindon $2328
Total $65,882
Now I know some people will argue that is an insignificant
amount in the grand scheme of running a municipality. This is a prime example
of what is wrong with big government today that attitude. Every politician and
I know they all will at least until October 21st must understand
that they are spending the taxpayers dollars. This may only be a $66,000 issue,
but where is the line on how much taxpayers dollars is it all right to waste?
9 comments:
It seems they had no problems in dealing with the Reeve and councilors of Ranchlands without going to any conventions.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy is a proverb. It means that without time off from work, a person becomes both bored and boring.
Seems our mayor and Councillors achieved this despite going to conventions. A double whammy for the taxpayers here, it would seem.
Well you just might be surprised. I have been talking to several people about the election, who have come to the conclusion that yes council did a few weird things, but so has every other one; and another will also do weird things that some like and some don't. And, on and on and on. I also am starting to not care one way or the other. Does not matter who is in.
6:26 The real weird things will come if and after these guys get a new mandate. What is different about this group is they are very arrogant and crafty. You do not think they will rip this community even further apart if they are given the opportunity.
Nice to see that Saindon obviously realized very quickly that these conventions are a waste of money.
Is this just "conventions", not including other kinds of meetings, events and courses?
Yes 10:11 this is just conventions
If this council showed at least a bit of common sense in some areas of operations, we could have forgiven them a few weird decisions. However, they give us one dissapointmt after another, and not a bit of common sense. You can't learn common sense this late in life. We need an entirely new council.
Interesting how, besides the mayor, the two biggest spenders are the two councillors with the poorest attendance rates - one of whom is off most of the boards and committees he had signed on for (this is my understanding, I'm more than willing to be corrected).
Dean - any idea how this type of spending compares to previous years, council(s), or a neighbouring community?
I'm of the mind that this type of professional development can be a good thing, as long as the learning acquired at the convention is brought back, shared and applied when applicable.
Yikes. All that money spent, when all they really needed was someone to slap some sense into them. I'm sure there are a few people who would have done that for free!
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