Friday, August 16, 2013

People are angry! What are they doing with our money?

Who are these people that are angry? Lots of them in the last month I have had many, many people talk to me about the issues below.

Thunder In the Valley was deferred for a year (now two) Why? for safety reasons and costs, fair enough you may agree or not but those were the reasons given.

Then we go through the event that tore this community in half the restructuring of the Fire Departments. Why? We were told in the name of efficiency and cost savings ($37,000) a year by shutting down the Hillcrest Fire hall.

Then we get to the mess called the 2013 budget on the eve of finalizing the budget, six months after the process had began (that’s right SIX months) administration realizes that our assessment base as dropped by 5.7% instead of the 2% projected when the budget process started. To make the numbers work after the last moment revelation Council decides that the $100,000 that was supposed to go into reserves for the Seniors lodge should be dropped.

Fair enough sometimes tough choices have to be made to balance the books we all know we are not knee deep in cash here.

So why are people so out raged in our little community right now? not the never ending debate about TITV or the fire departments or even the fact that we did not honor a ten year commitment made by the council of the day four years ago to our seniors.

What as gotten people really angry is the many questionable decisions being made regarding the CLC site. (I would use the term hotel development but why talk about something that is just a figment of somebody’s imagination at this point).

Our team of Council/administration who to the best of my knowledge have zero experience in the area of hotel development (I stand to be corrected) decided to enter into an agreement with a company that had gone through years of financial difficulties.

The municipality spends $10,000 on a feasibility study that is redundant a year later. Untold amounts of money on legal fees putting together a “ironclad” contract with Medican ensuring that within two years we will have a hotel.

We then find out that we have third parties working for us (Clay Cup, Group Vachon) to secure a Best Western franchise. One of which (Clay Cup) informs us that there are many groups that could get a Best Western franchise.  They also tell us that our feasibility study was amateurish and that they really did not want to work with this council.  

Then our latest (hotel finder-Group vachon) comes to us, and say’s “I have ownership of the rights to a Best Western but I paid $50,000 to buy those rights”. Now this (hotel finder) determines that he wants to own those rights but does not want to “risk” his own $50,000. So in one of those hard to believe moments Council says not to worry we will take the risk you can have the ownership of the rights we will take all the risk.

This is why people are anger the “we” taking the risk is “us” the taxpayers. They are also angry because we had to “defer” TITV partially due to costs, we had to go through that community dividing exercise of saving $37,000 by closing the Hillcrest hall. Then in the biggest disgrace of all we could not find the $100,000 to put into reserves for seniors.

But we could find $10,000 for a feasibility study, $1,000’s for lawyers to draw up a contract and $50,000 to buy a Best Western franchise for Group Vachon.
(Believe it or not folks we paid for it but we don’t own it.)

For the icing on the cake the Mayor’s corner comes out and attempts to provide a positive spin that says we are actually moving forward.

Despite the fact that we have No Investors, No developers, and do not even know if we should fill in the hole where the old hospital sits. Due to the fact that we do not know if the hotel will be built at the East or the West end of the property.  

I had a feeling that some people would be gullible enough to buy in to this nonsense, but that is certainly not the reaction that I am hearing around town.

People are pissed off.  


27 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just do not like being lied to. The mare stated on many occasions that if the Best Western deal fell through that Holiday inn was waiting in the wings. It is not so funny, now that the deal has failed and not even 1 word about the Holiday Inn.
And the saddest thing of all the councillors are still offering the mare full support. Except one and a half.

Anonymous said...

Next they will be trying to tell us that our Insurance rates are going down.
Shame Shame for finding $50,000 for group Vachon but no money for seniors truly a disgrace.

Anonymous said...

Municipality is short of funding yet finds $50,000 to reserve a hotel franchise for a third party who is not a properly financed hotel developer. And this is the same group who have argued all previous councils did not know what they were doing?

They could not find $100,000 for our seniors, yet they find $50,000 for a private consultant and untold thousands on lawyer fees?
They don’t even have a clue how much was spent on this project up to date and they are still making decisions to spend more tax dollars just before election. They will not look busy; they will look like they are wasting taxpayers’ money to look busy.

Anonymous said...

The title of your post should be "Group Vachon Yes Seniors No"
it's truly a disgrace.

Anonymous said...

Dean between you and the papers just let this issue die. My goodness we are turning into bigger whiners than those folks in Calgary over their $52 million.

Anonymous said...

3:33,
I don't understand your argument.

Take that that whining by Calgary and multiply it by 200,000 (the population and tax base differences that exists). I think that if Calgary announced that they were spending 10.4 billion on some pet project there would be a lineup to jump off the 14th st bridge.

Our pennies are precious and how they are utilized extremely important.

Anonymous said...

Just looked at Tuesday's G+P meeting agenda they will be talking about entrance's features. $200,000 going down the toilet I can see us taking another position on that Macleans list.

Anonymous said...

I hope the hotel development falls through, that land is too valuable to have a half empty hotel there.

Anonymous said...

Calgary is much better of then the Crowsnest Pass when it comes to the strength of their tax base by any measure. We must spend our tax dollars more wisely. It is very apparent our Mayor is a product of an entirely different system than what is needed here.

He may have been a fine mid-level bureaucrat, but he is a terrible small town Mayor. Also, he is providing poor example to any of the current councilors who may wish to follow in his footsteps.

He is not secure enough to make decisions on his own without a cover your butt consultants providing constant boiler-plating. Task Forces, consultants and lawyers - exactly the kind of thing a small town does not need or can afford.

Anonymous said...

I wish Bruce well. I just hope he managed to hire a competent general contractor to construct his digs in Arizona.

Anonymous said...

I think 3:33's comment was sarcastic. The $52 million was a budget SURPLUS - not something we'll need to whine about.

Anonymous said...

If you read further, you would see that the $200,000 for entrance and banners was a grant from the Alberta Government.
That's how bad rumors get started. Half the facts.

Anonymous said...

8:12

You are right the $200,000 was a grant. Now the rest of the story you are not telling, is that grant money can be spent on all kinds of wonderful things that this community could use.
For example facilities, equipment and even such a mundane thing as potholes. But I''m sure most people will see a much higher priority for a large grouping of triangles at the entrance's to our communities. Or even banners that you can't read from more than 5ft away.
8:12 maybe you could provide a list of the other places that $200,000 could have been spent.

Brian

Anonymous said...

Dean, in your post the lawyers fees for the CLC "deal" can easily be misinterpreted: $1,000,s" is really THOUSANDS! We do not,know how many dollars were spent as the muni lawyers combed over and revised the Medican Agreement in our favor.Right. Our Financial Director should have a detailed list of the associated expenses, what with our glorious computer system and high paid overstaffed Admin Department. Total ineptitude and mismanagement.

Misplaced priorities are a sign of a mayor who always received a budget and fought for a few dollars pIus or minus, but ALWAYS had money handed to him by the provincial govt. When it came time to cut, it was the teachers, aides, janitors and bus drivers who were cut. Nothing has changed in his tenure a mayor. He is a lost cause and has lost touch with reality. There is a word for that.


Anonymous said...

8:12 Wow I feel so Much better now knowing that it is my provincial tax dollars being wasted on these silly signs, instead of our municipal tax dollars. Do you know if we received a grant to pay for Mr Vachon's ownership of the Best Western franchise?

Anonymous said...

Grant money wasted is still money wasted. This is exactly the problem, this council has proven to be very poor in management of tax dollars. October can't come soon enough. We need someone who can do basic math at the council table.

Anonymous said...

8:12 is the kind of person it seems that would never see the good in anything.

Anonymous said...

Poor decisions this $50,000 is insane. Assume a developer comes to council to build a hotel and suggests to minimize their risk that council should put up half the cost of the hotel. Assuming that things go well the money will come back if not O well. Is that theory out of the question with these guys?

Anonymous said...

I want you to go to the window, open it, stick your head out and yell: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore."

Anonymous said...

Brian and Bruce: $50,000 to reserve a hotel franchise? Are you guys out of your minds? Why not fix the potholes?

Anonymous said...


"I want you to go to the window, open it, stick your head out and yell."

Even better. Go to council and just tell them that you are a hotel developer. Who knows what can happen.

Anonymous said...

In the August 20 agenda:
"First Reading of Bylaw No. 873, 2013 – Borrowing Bylaw for Capital Purchases"

They voted to partly pay for the demolition with $250,000.00 of MSI grants, which were already budgeted for other purposes.

Is this borrowing to replace those funds? If so, will the Councillors who voted against the demo vote for this borrowing?

Anonymous said...

This $50,000 can't be explained in any way, try as they may. They paid $50,000 to reserve a hotel franchise in a consultant's name, now they want to send a municipal employee to hotel conventions in order to find investors for the consultant. Is there a better explanation for something so ridiculous? Brian and Bruce, this kind of thing can't even be invented. Stranger than fiction. October can't come soon enough.

Anonymous said...

My question is WHAT THE HELL DO WE ANOTHER HOTEL IN THIS COMMUNITY. JUST LOOK AT THE FORMER CEDAR INN PROPERTY, THAT'S MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR THIS COMMUNITY. I SAY WE NEED A BIG BOX STORE OR A SMALLER SIZED COSTCO TO GIVE THE COMPETITION A GOOD SHAKE AS THEIR PRICES ARE SKY HIGH. DAMN A NEW HOTEL.

Anonymous said...

Now the Mayor is yapping of about a third hotel on a piece of land across the highway from the High school.
The land's got a For Sale sign on it, it's not even been sold yet.
The Mayor can't get a hotel built on a piece of property that been for sale for three years.
Are people really believing this crap?

Larry

Anonymous said...

Maybe another hotel at the Old Atlas Mill site.
Red Deer will have gasoline alley we will have hotel alley

Anonymous said...

The Mayor is embarrassing himself and Brian. What, did they pay for yet another hotel franchise fee with taxpayers’ dollars?