Dean Ward Candidate for council 2013

Below is the information I handed out at the Ratepayers meeting Wednesday night about where I stand heading into this election and some of the issues that I feel are important to this community and it's residents.

                             Election 2013         -       Dean Ward

My name is Dean Ward  and I am very pleased to have this opportunity to ask for your vote in the upcoming election.

I am very proud to be the husband of Debbie, father of three and proud grandfather of two beautiful girls. I have been living in the Crowsnest Pass for 31 years.

I sat on the Historical society board for three years; currently I am a member of the Crowsnest Pass Health Foundation. In addition, I have six years experience sitting on council, which makes me very familiar with municipal budgets and all the other duties expected of a Councilor.

Crowsnest Pass is a great place to live and we are surrounded by nothing but pure natural beauty. We have great schools, a hospital and many other amenities.  But the most important, we have great people.

We do have challenges: a declining population, the oldest population in Alberta, high percentage of residents on a fixed income, and one of the lowest commercial/industrial tax bases in the province 

 In 2010 this community voted for change, but how much and how fast should have been the question.

Strategic Plan was put together in 2011 by mostly people that do not live here. It has many good recommendations, but it was always Council’s plan and it was never “our plan.” The Mayor tells the media “now that a lot of hard work has been done, they can move on to more sophisticated work” when, where and what he is hoping to do to us sometime later.

My positions moving forward 2013-2017

Taxes : Government’s job should be to minimize costs, not maximize revenues. Many of our residents live on a fixed income that never increases by more than the cost of living. I will work very hard to ensure that all municipal taxes, franchise fees, utility costs, permits, fines etc do not increase by more than the cost of living at the most.

Smaller Government: We cannot afford to have an administration that costs us well in excess of $1 million dollars a year. One out of every five homes pays taxes each year just to finance Council’s “Dream Team”.

Seniors-York Creek Lodge is a valuable asset for this community that is in dire need of up grading. Previous council had passed a motion putting aside $100,000 a year to prepare for that future opportunity. This year six months into the budget process administration realized that they had totally miscalculated the tax base, scrambling council agreed to balance the budget by dropping the $100,000 to the Lodge.

Seniors-Town Rounder is one of the unique services the municipality provides to its seniors. After the last driver retired, his position as only been filled by a temporary employee and this concerns me. I will commit to support and maintain this service if elected.  

Frivolous Spending: Our municipal brand/logo, sadly at the same time council cut the $100,000 contribution to the lodge, they approved an expenditure of over $300,000 to hire an expensive consultant to throw together numerous triangles, to build entrance signs, to put up banners and to put this mess on every piece of municipal equipment and stationary. Can anybody explain to me how the logo relates to the Crowsnest Pass?

Consultants: Will we ever really know how much money we have spent on consultants over the last three years? Now we have another one conducting a Recreation study. Our recreation board could have designed a survey, made it available to our residents and gathered the results at the municipal office?    

Peace Officer Program: We were originally told that the project would pay for itself because the municipality anticipated an Automatic Traffic Enforcement program would be put into place. They were wrong. Do we really need two peace officers to enforce bylaws and educate the local residents? We need a full disclosure on what this program is really costing us. As our reputation grows as a speed trap, the revenues will only decrease, but the costs will remain.

Employee Morale: The level of the relationship between the municipal staff and management as sunk to an all time low, so low, that a consultant was brought in to look at the situation. This did not come about over the last two weeks, the next council needs to direct and demand that administration sit down with CUPE and resolve this quickly.

Communications: Newsletters are good until we have our representatives insulting us. Town hall meeting are great until they are used as a tool to attack and embarrass the people that pay the bills. Next council should communicate both professionally and in town hall meeting where council “listens” to the public’s input. Some how in the last year over 2500 residents felt that council was not listening?

Hotels: I will demand that next council not spend $50,000 or any amount to purchase a franchise for a private company, and let’s get the first hotel built before we start fantasizing about a second one.

Housing Affordability: Most elections, we hear candidates speaking about affordable housing. So many of our residents are seniors on a fixed income we need to keep our housing “affordable”. Municipal government cannot control the costs of everything in society; but there are some things they can. To vote to keep tax increases down while at the same time taking substantially more money from our residents in the form of Franchise Fees, Utility bills and every other dollar we can take out of your pocket achieves nothing for the average taxpayer.  

  On October 21, vote for Dean Ward

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact Dean at 563-4128 or deanward4@msn.com

Andrew Saje raising the issues-Public Relations

Further issues raised by Councilor Saje’s letter, after having already spoken about the Agenda Committee and who (Bruce/Myron) controls council’s agenda.  

Let’s talk about the G+P meeting of December 18, on the advertised agenda for that meeting was one issue posted In Camera, Personnel in the released minutes for that meeting was added a further In Camera issue Legal.

During that In Camera session according to Councilor Saje’s letter the issue of Public Relations came up and the hiring of Victor Tanti from Calder Bateman the argument was made later that council did not need to vote on this issue because it would be covered by the “advertising budget”.

If you accept the advertising budget argument is justified why would this “advertising” even be brought to council? Following that line of reasoning will other advertising that falls under the budget be brought forth In Camera as either a Personnel or Legal issue for council “opinion”.   

Next can anybody tell us which category advertising would fall into Personnel, or Legal?

I agree with Councilor Saje if this was such a routine issue why not bring it up in a regular meeting?

I agree again with Councilor Saje especially after the number of consultants that have cashed a Municipality of Crowsnest Pass cheque over the last thirty months “hiring another consulting firm should not be routine”

Many more questions are created by the release of Councilor Saje’s letter.

Should the public be concerned about Council doing business in this fashion? Was this the only issue dealt with in this fashion? Why did Council feel the need to hire a Public Relations Consulting Firm? Is Councilor Saje’s letter a full accounting of all of his concerns? Are there more concerns?

        

Want to see your new Public Relations Consultant Victor Tanti check him out at the following address:

http://www.calderbateman.com/staff/victor-tanti/

Taxpayers dollars at work in the Crowsnest Pass

If you have not had the chance check out the Crowsnest Pass Ratepayers Associations Facebook page at the following address. Some very interesting information regarding the use of consultants/contractors from April 1 to early December 2012.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crowsnest-Pass-RatePayers-Association/441790612539166?fref=ts

Picking out a few of the highlights:

Sure Call----After hours on call service----$3,400 (despite the fact that we pay municipal employees to be on call after hours.)

Friesen Tokar----Administration building renovations architecultural services---$22,904.91----(carpets and a security wall so the public can not see in)

Studio Group-----Branding Project----$23,325----(was Mountain Freedom that bad?)

Dave Mitchell & Associates------Fire Hall location study-----$9,500 (with a Director of Protective Services with ??? of knowledge and a Full time fire chief)

Inferno Safety-----Contract Firemen to Nov 30^th-----$66,800-----(The mess that just keeps getting worse)  

Transitional Services-----Interim Manager of Enforcement----$69,957 (How did the municipality get by without this position for it’s first 30 years of existence)

Animal Damage Control-----Rodent Control----$7,992.25----(Remember the councilor at the public forum talking about the silly rumors gopher hunters)

Zorro Fencing------Fencing-----$15,379.48---(Part of this was the fence at the swimming pool is there any of my readers that sat at the pool this summer and thought that fence really needed replacing)

Ed D’Antoni------Contract Operations Manger-----$43,170----(Another part of the revolving door process of administrators, the second of three Operations managers in 2012)

Crow Lock and Key----Mtce repairs doors and locks-----$6,069.56----(Must have replaced a lot of locks in 2012

Park Enterprises-----Safety codes inspection fees-----$86,382.96-----(Didn’t the municipality hire a Building Inspector at the start of 2012?)

Sonny’s Lock and Key----Lock and door repairs----$1,165.28-----(Wow over $7200 of locks changed last year)

Before anybody tells me I realize that some of these costs were cover by grants from Edmonton, let us not lose site that it is all taxpayers money.

Last week Albert Headrick informed council that the Peace Officers were well on their way to being self sufficient, when CAO Myron Thompson met with the Ratepayers prior to Christmas he informed them that the cost of the program to date was $343,555, and that the municipality had received $70,000 of revenue in that same timeframe (80% of which it keeps)  

Municipal Spending-Ratepayers Petition-Ignoring the Numbers

Well a whole smorgasbord of comments I am hearing this week in the Crowsnest Pass on my blog, around town regarding the ongoing issues in our community. First of all how many people were impressed with the Municipal advertising, I was flabbergasted,  the costs between both papers and the radio I suspect they were in the range of $8-10,000 of our taxpayers money spent on this blitz of information. I was surprised the initial reaction I have gotten from the people that I have spoken to was one of either, did not read it and do not care what it said, or couldn’t understand it.  

What amazed me more than the fact that we had $10,000 of spare money available was the response time of the municipality?

The ratepayer’s flyer hit the paper on Tuesday; I believe the papers go to press by the weekend. So in three days that package was put together approved by Council, (my impression was that it came from council and administration so I’m sure all of that team had their input and at least a majority supported this document).

That timing is incredible when you look at the context of other requests for information personally I requested information on the amount of dollars spent on Consultants it took me three months to get that information. The ratepayers requested a lot of the information that was released this week back on August 2, did not receive it until October 9. The one the public is waiting for the Rum Runner Days financial report, the event took place on the weekend of July 19, now everybody understands that it takes a few weeks for the bills to roll in and sort everything out. So I do not think anybody would have been bothered having to wait until the end of August. But folks it’s now not being released until Nov 6, and what’s made it look even worse is, its been on the Council agenda three times and three times its been deferred. Everybody understands the sensitivity of this issue so why would you do that?

The Petition last night it was announced at the Ratepayers meeting that they have close to 2100 signatures on the petition, with 30 plus people out in the community still signing names. It is not unrealistic to think that the final number could be in the range of 2500. Now keep in mind tonight Oct 25 will be two weeks since the petition started, we have a population of 5565 (2011 census) of which 855 are under the age of 18. So that means out of a potential 4710 voters 45% have signed a petition in “two weeks”, municipal, provincial even federal, elections are lucky if they get that kind of turnout after a two-month election campaign, with polling stations in place.

The message here should be not “that people are getting led down the garden path with mis-information” that argument could be made about every candidate that has run in every election campaign in the history of politics. The message that should be coming out of this process unless you have totally lost touch with the public is that something is seriously wrong here, unless of course the leadership here just chooses to totally ignore the numbers.

Yes, we all understand that the public voted for change in 2010, and change does need to and will happen. Look at what as transpired over the last little while, not just the petition, volunteers do we have any left, in yesterday’s paper there was at least eight boards listed that are short of members despite being advertised for months. The issue with the Firemen is there one person out there that felt that was handled well. The swimming pool society, the Bellevue Library.  Obviously, the public is not buying into what has been happening in our community.

    

Crowsnest Pass Ratepayers Latest Update

The following information update appeared in today's newspaper.

Are Crowsnest Pass Ratepayers concerned?

We ask all taxpayers of the Crowsnest Pass to look at what has happened over the last two years. We are now gathering names on a petition requesting municipal affairs to take a look at the issues raised by the Taxpayers of the Crowsnest Pass if you are equally concerned please contact us at the numbers listed below.

  

• Taxes are climbing every year in 2010 (Bylaw 794) showed the municipality collecting  $6,432,821 in General Municipal Taxation in 2012 (Bylaw 851) that number is $6,820,152 an increase of $387,331 per year.
• Utility Bills in 2010 our utility bills were providing the municipality $182,054 per month today we are paying $201,945 a difference of $19,891 per month or $238,700 per year
• Franchise Fees in 2010 were bringing in $295,551 today we are paying $569,749 a difference of  $274,198.

Those three numbers above come to a total of $900,029 per year more. Right now council has a proposal to increase Franchise Fees another $336,945 next year plus an additional 2.5% in residential taxes. That will transfer $1,400,000 more a year from the Taxpayers pockets to the Municipality versus 2010. This does not include all the other Fees, Fines and charges that have been increased by a council and administration that are focused on maximizing revenues.

• Municipal Hiring: Council would have you believe that the Municipal workforce has not increased in size. At the date of the last election there were 19 employees in the municipal office (Administrators and Staff) Today that number is 25. In addition we are concerned about the never ending turn over at the administrative level. From June of 2011 to July of 2012 we had six changes at the administrative level.
• Consultants: Do you feel like every week there is another consultant determining the future of our community. Up to April 5,2012 $19,000 to Abiocon Strategies, $49,000 to Friesen Tokar, $102,447 to Park Enterprises, $43,570 to All Fire Investigations, $13,055 to Inn Heaven Bed & Breakfast, $203,545 to Transitional Solutions.  Now we hear about consultants being used for Branding and Fire Hall location studies. Where does it stop?
• Debt: Prior to 2010 previous councils had a policy of putting money aside to purchase new equipment, 2011 $550,000 was borrowed to finance equipment that is barely ever used. (Almost $300,000 on a track hoe alone), 2012 $140,000 was borrowed to finance the two community Peace Officer trucks.

Changes: Let’s look at what else as happened over the last two years.

• Spring Cleanup eliminated for the vast majority of the public.
• April 2011 Bellevue Library closes.
• July 2011 announcement regarding consolidation of Blairmore/Coleman shop does not happen until a year later.
• September 2011 Mayor Decoux informs Chamber of Commerce that the municipality will be hiring another Peace Officer at “no cost to the Taxpayers”
• September 29,2011 fire and rescue services will be amalgamated to facilitate a more efficient Emergency Response model
• December 2011 Tax Penalties increased from 20% to 52%.
• Feb,2012 Census results show Crowsnest Pass population drops 3.2%
• March 2012 Council makes decision to “defer Thunder in the Valley”
• April 2012 Devon Gas Plant announces closure
• May 2012 Mayor announces request for proposals going out on the Crowsnest Centre Site
• May 2012 Tender for demolition of the Crowsnest Centre put out with a closing date of August 30^th
• June 2012 Town Hall meeting Mayor Speaks about Centre being gone before first snowfall and the building process beginning next spring. Discusses approaching the Province and the MD of Ranchlands to share tax revenues.
• June 2012 Mayor releases first “Mayor’s Corner” Very critical of coffee talkers and people that write letters to the editor or on web sites.
• June 2012 Rate payers organization revived, meetings with the public begin.
• July 2012 Water/Sewer rates increase by 4.5% electrical increases by 6%
• July 2012 Community Peace Officer Trucks arrive ($140,000)
• July 2012 Despite predictions of huge turnouts Rum Runner Days takes place with very poor attendance at most events
• August 2012 Pass Promoter runs story about Municipality hiring gopher hunters despite denial at previous town hall meeting.
• Sept 2012 Community Peace Officers are introduced at Council meeting
• Sept 2012 Announcement that Chinook Pipelines is suing the municipality
• Sept 2012 Safety codes Fees are going up 120%
• Sept 2012 Mayor interviewed on Alberta Primetime regarding potential Quebec Manufacturer
• Sept 2012 New Fire Chief and his new pickup show up
• Sept 2012 Debate on Municipal Franchise Fee Increases begins.
• Sept 2012 Final report on Rum Runner Days “deferred” to Oct 2 then again to Oct 16.
• Sept 2012 Community Branding Town hall meeting.
• October 2012 Municipality relives   Blairmore Fire Chief of his position.

The ratepayers association requested information regarding the three year budget, we were informed that this information would be given to us by the middle of September and released to the public on the Municipal Web site. At our meeting with Council on October 9,2012 we were finally presented with a pile of papers that are suppose to answer the questions asked.

Interested in joining the Ratepayers or signing our petition contact the following

                                   William Kovach 564-4709         Gail Montgomery 564-4077

                             Troy Clark 563-0381                  Sasha JaegerBaird 563-6073

Ed Strembecki 564-0184        Marilyn Milley 562-2719

Marlene Anctil 562-8180        Larry Ruzek 564 4384

Rudy Pagnucco 562-8147

Please check out our Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crowsnest-Pass-RatePayers-Association/441790612539166?fref=ts

Change in the Crowsnest Pass

I sat on council for six years during that time I learnt that this town has a lot of problems, declining and ageing population, lack of industry and development, duplication of services and facilities that most taxpayers can not afford to support.

Do we need change? Absolutely, change that involves attracting people here, bringing development and industry, looking at where our community could be ran more efficiently. Knowing all of these issues our local government needs to be ran as if it’s on a tight budget, because it should be.

Let’s talk about the change we can not and do not want, over spending the municipality will next year in the final year of this council’s term, take in $1.4 million more dollars out of  the taxpayers pockets than it did in 2010 that’s $400 per home.

They are building an empire that we can not afford, look at the number of staff in the municipal office do we really need more administration.

Municipal peace officers do we want two peace officers? Was that a good change? they wrote 2 bylaw tickets in the month of September, they are being looked at has a cash cow not a tool to clean up our community.

Once again we have consultants in our community talking about “branding” what was so wrong with “Mountain Freedom”? Thunder in the Valley brought this community way more attention than any new brand will. We all know there were problems go talk to the RCMP get the stats for the number of arrests over the last five years, we saw a tremendous decline the event was being ran better every year.

Fire Departments, we spent $300,000 in 2010 operating the Fire Departments how many full time Firemen are we going to get for that figure? Could Fire departments be ran better? Of course every branch of government could be run better, we have to find ways to operate our community on the present dollars not more.

It’s really hard to convince taxpayers of this when you see almost $300,000 spent on a piece of equipment that spends 98% of it’s time sitting in the back of the Blairmore Shop, all the new pickups running around and consultant after consultant.

The termination of a municipal employee should that have happened? We do not know all the details.

Personally, I have no problem terminating an employee with just cause, but there must be a fair process, if you believe you have grounds to terminate an employee you suspend them. You do a complete investigation then you let them go (it’s called due process) you don’t terminate them. Then seek the justification by releasing a press release every second day with a new revelation.

This situation with better communication and due process would have been handled so much better.

Back to the start do we need change? We all know the answer, of course, but I am having a tough time thinking of a good, positive change in the last two years. We need change that involves the people of the Crowsnest Pass.

And for those that disagree with me step up to the plate and point out the positive changes for us all to read.  

Editorial in today's Pass Promoter

Joni MacFarlane
Editorial

Once again the Crowsnest Pass makes headlines and once again it's for the wrong reasons. The turmoil surrounding the firing of the fire chief, the subsequent walk out by a majority of firefighters and the public protest that followed again reinforce our image in a negative light.

Responsibility for this falls squarely on municipal council. 

Despite lip service to the contrary, this council's lack of communication to the public about what exactly they are trying to achieve and public consultation on how they are doing it is staggering. Their disdain for taxpayers and for spending their money was on track for a train wreck and that wreck is now. 

It doesn't matter how many consultants are hired or how much time is spent on a strategic plan if the public doesn't buy into it. Without a majority of support, council can't continue to govern with a "Father Knows Best" attitude.

Rightly or wrongly, there is a pervasive belief among the public that council sees them as fools; too dumb or too unworthy to be told or trusted with the truth. Exclusion into decision-making has given them little reason to think otherwise. 

Residents of the Crowsnest Pass are not fools and as now clearly seen, are not willing to sit idly by as elected officials dictate how things will be. 

This is not about accepting change. This is about effectively listening to what people want, to changing those things that should be changed and leaving those that worked, alone. 

The fire department worked. 

Henry Ford said the secret to success is to understand the point of view of others. That's the starting point.

JLM

Consultants/Contractors in the Crowsnest Pass

Click on Image to enlarge

The above is where some of your tax dollars are being spent. The questions are always do we need it and can we afford it?

Little bit of a quiz under the list of the consultants you will find one that was paid $32,700 they are also the company that threw together the pamphlet for Rum Runner Days. Hard to believe we couldn't have done it internally. Also hope some of that $32,700 was spent on other things than just the pamphlet.
With the clues above can anybody name the company?

Town Hall Meeting……..We Might, We Might N….

Thursday night June 23, 2012 at the Elks Hall, Free Beef on a Bun big crowd.

Throngs of people wait in anticipation of the big announcements!!!! The Mayor garnishes a few boos has the meeting is set to begin, with a quick motion of waving his arms and a bit of a chuckle he say’s “bring it on”.

He gives a little speech laying out the agenda for the night. CAO Myron Thompson begins refreshing everybody’s memory with an update on the four pillars.

Then like a carefully choreographed dance recital each of the councilors gets up to address rumors, issues etc.

Councilor Gallant talks about municipal hiring states they have only increased the workforce by four people.

Councilor Saindon explains why we have spent so much on consultants. Apparently, we have had vacant administration positions for a total of 31 months combined since this council took over, why? Administrators getting married, moving back to California, Fernie who knows.

Then we hear from the public on such issues as the following, excuse me if I miss anything:

Security for Rum Runner Days Weekend

Resident paying for sewer that did not have it

Money spent on consultants

Accessibility for the handicapped

Bullying in the schools

Mayor’s letter condemning the public that disagrees with him

Collecting of back taxes

Requests for information not be acknowledged

Spring/Fall Cleanups

Blairmore/Coleman shops consolidation

Rebranding of the community

Non-Residential taxation

Bellcrest Seniors Hall

Communications on Bylaws etc

In the first half of the meeting there was three things that stood out to me, first of all watching the Mayor with his pompous attitude, this is the way it is if you don’t like it too bad attitude, too many wise cracks at the wrong times. Second in some cases people got really angry (leading to RCMP escort them out of the building) I wonder how much of that was related to the first point that stood out to me. Thirdly Councilor Londsbury’s comments I have a completely different appreciation for the man, he came across has very sincere, obviously with very much passion for this community. I may disagree with him on every issue but it became very clear to me that his heart is very much in the right place.

Then Part II, after a short break and about 25% of the crowd leaving (It did get to be too long of a meeting)

The Mayor came back with the good news section, well I really hope this council can achieve these things but it makes me nervous when I hear our leader say repeatedly “take what I’m saying with a grain of salt”

These were the announcements, the Mayor is going to strike up a committee of around eight (8) people to look at the issue of Economic Development this committee will make recommendations to Council; there will also be an economic development officer in place by Christmas.

Next, the Mayor has stated that some of the River Run properties have been purchased from mortgage companies and he states that the River is “beginning to thaw” that there might be something happening there. Then he says  “take what I’m saying with a grain of salt”

Next, he talks about the MD of Ranchland a municipality just to the north of us that has only eighty residents but lots of money and lots of tax base. The municipality is going to approach them and the province about moving some of that tax base into the Crowsnest Pass, which would help with our financial woes. Again, he states, “take what I’m saying with a grain of salt”

Then we reached the climax of the evening the Crowsnest Centre Site, with much glee the municipality has entered into discussions with a prospective developer that is looking at bringing a seventy five-room hotel (Best Western) to that site. However, it does not end there a smaller convention type area, a truck stop, a fast food restaurant, a big name sit down type restaurant, a dog run park area, and a secure area for RV’s etc. Then came the all familiar   “take what I’m saying with a grain of salt”.

Then came a question about the demolition of the building the Mayor stated that this company is so keen they are prepared to negotiate the cost of taking care of that into the purchase price. Then he when on to say by the time the first snow flies I expect to see that building gone, with the building process beginning next spring. Then he stated  “take what I’m saying with a grain of salt”.

With the interest of the crowd now at it’s peak he asked Myron to present some rendering of what the area could look like, then a picture of a beautiful three floor hotel was put up on the screen, with the comment made that we hope to see something like this but we may not. Again the Mayor made the statement several times “take what I’m saying with a grain of salt”

Lastly came the final goodie of the Night the Mayor is attempting to build dialogue with Teck.

My comments on Part II;

Economic Development Officer- obviously we need help in this area I hope several things, that they have a clear plan to pay for this without placing more burden on the taxpayers. That they hire somebody on a contractual basis that either performs or is gone (not a life time position) and lastly they have a method of showing clear results.

River Run-I hope something happens here, the issues only begin with back taxes, infrastructure, piles of dirt, big holes in the ground and many Investors who properly don’t have a whole lot to show for their investments.

MD of Ranchland-Every thing they said about Ranchland is true lots of money, lots of tax base, and very few people. I would assume that administration has provided council with all of the information from 2007-2010 when the previous council attempted to go down this same path, and councilors from previous councils told me that they also approached this issue. I hope that they look at what the City of Cold Lake when through in their “many” years of attempting to tap into the revenue of wealthy surrounding municipalities.

The Crowsnest Centre, the enlightened people that have spent the better part of shouting out for the last twenty years that if you are going to attract any kind of commercial development to this community that is the spot. Must be very thrilled and I am, imagine how much common sense it makes to take 6+ acres of flat property, that is fully serviced and right next to a major highway that has 12,000 vehicles a day traveling past and using it has the centre of commercial activity in the Crowsnest Pass. What a brain wave.

I am assuming that there was no tender for less than $600,000 to get rid of the building, but never the less I cannot wait for those first snowflakes to fall.     

In conclusion, I hope all of the “Announcements” happen, but it is not going to be easy or fast. 


Note: The Mayor and the CAO stated a number of times during the meeting that if anybody wants information to contact administration and it will get answered. I will be doing this and everybody else that has concerns should take advantage of this offer.

Ratepayers Association Meeting

Meeting took place last night at the Hillcrest Miners club. I would estimate that there was close to 100 people there.
People were concerned about the following issues:
Taxes/Utility Bills/Franchise Fees
The large amount of dollars being spent on consultants.
Growth in administration and the associated costs.
Thunder in the Valley
Community policing.
Financing of equipment

It was deter minded that the majority of people there were interested in moving the organization forward. The next meeting will be held at the Blairmore Legion Tuesday June 26th at 7pm, there will be elections held at that time for anybody interested in sitting on the executive.

Crowsnest Pass how to run a community more efficiently using your tax dollars.

It seems almost ironic, just has we the taxpayers of the Crowsnest Pass sit patiently waiting to receive our Assessment Notices. To see how much that overall 2.5% tax increase has affected us as individuals. I finally received the information that I have been asking the municipality for since January 5.

How much have our leaders been spending on Consultants?

Today I picked up this massive two page document at the municipality the first page of which is basically a cover letter that says here is the information you requested.

The second page breaks down consultants that have paid for by the municipality since  Nov 1,2010, separated in to nine specific areas, here are just a few that people have been talking about for months.

Lets look at the first area Planning, Development, and Safety Codes remember the Mayor’s Task Force one of the members was Janet Hyde according to the report I have, she received $5,303 ? I also see on the list a payment of $19,000 made to Abiocon Strategies who could that be? Well very interesting when you google the company, after a couple of clicks on it’s web site who pops up? Janet Hyde.

Next appears a payment of $48,673 to “Friesen Tokar” they are described as a “Architectural, Landscape and Interior design company” with offices in Winnipeg and Calgary.

Then we take a look at the Fire and Enforcement area. We have all heard lots about the integration of the Fire and rescue departments and the upcoming establishment of the Community Peace Officer Program. We have already spent a whooping $140,000 restructing this departments.

Of that amount we spent $43,570 on “All Fire Investigations Inc” which when googled,  pops up has Kenneth Brands of Blairmore Alberta (Fire Chief who recently resigned). Then we see $80,345 spent with Transitional Solutions, finally under this category appears $13,055 paid to “Inn Heaven Bed and Breakfast” which is a bed and breakfast located right here in Coleman I can not imagine why we would incur a cost of over $13,000 to a Bed and Breakfast in Coleman to reinvent our Fire and Enforcement area.   

Lastly I turn to Administration, there we see $123,200 paid to Transitional Solutions. Now within the information an attempt is made to cover off the cost of Transitional Solutions by subtracting the cost of the CAO position and the manager of operations to the tune of $93,425.

The CAO position was vacant from June 15 to Nov 31 five and a half months.

Total on just the numbers listed above $333,146.

What does that mean to us as individuals? From a taxation point of view this year the Municipality is collecting an additional $264,162 from us in General Municipal Taxation an increase of 4% over last year and the largest increase in the last four years. All in a year where the assessment base actually shrunk by 2.5%.

I wish somebody would explain to me how your assessment base can shrink by 2.5% the amount of revenue collected by the municipality can go up 4%, and yet we only have a 2.5% tax increase. There is some very interesting number juggling going on. 

Putting the positive spin on the Crowsnest Pass

I was told yesterday that we all need to be more positive that even the local politicians are talking about all the negativity not being a good thing for the community.

So I said it’s time to put on my positive thinking cap get excited, look around us and write about all the “positive’s” we have in this wonderful community we call the Crowsnest Pass.

So I get to work, you can not argue the beauty of this community I think we can compete with anywhere in the world. The people, are incredibly good people who welcome you with open arms. The location of our community nestled in the Rocky Mountains, great proximity to the prairies, BC, USA, Lethbridge, Calgary all within a few hours drive. I thought wow there is a lot to be happy about in our community.

Then boom about 1pm yesterday I get a call telling me that the Devon gas plant is closing down, what a loss for this community 30-40 good paying jobs our largest Industrial tax payer, and a company that has been a very good corporate citizen for a long time.

Bad news, that really deflated my positive attitude.

Later I am thinking how do I get back to that positive frame of mind? it’s Tuesday let’s go to the council meeting and find some inspiration.

What an opportunity it fell right in to my lap.

First good news the Crowsnest Historical Society appears as a delegation they are going to keep the museum open through the summer, thanks to the hard work of the previous board they are getting a provincial grant that will keep them afloat. Positive stuff.

Then the CAO gives a verbal report the municipality put out a Request for Proposals on the Crowsnest Centre Site (previous council had set the direction by rezoning this land to commercial). The CAO informed council that there has been so much interest in this site that they have extended the dead line from April 20 to May 18. A new hotel soon great news. Positive stuff

The CAO informed council that the new “Director of Protective and Community Services” will be starting next week. This gave Councilor Mitchell the opportunity to refresh everybody’s memory to the fact that we used to have four departments with four Directors but now we only have three departments headed up by three directors.More positive stuff.

Then one of the councilors mentioned that he can not understand all the rumors going around about tax increases, especially considering that council has not finalized the budget yet.

I can not see a councilor taking that position this far along in the budget process unless they have some sense of where the process will end.Well looks like more positive news.  

On my way out somebody asked me how much longer do you think the consultants will be here? I told them well on Councilor Saindon’s blog he states the following:

“We only have one consultant on the payroll to date and she will have her programs completed very shortly”   

 That burden on our tax dollars will end soon. Even more reason to be positive.

Then today I was reading the Promoter looking at the comments regarding additional community policing and I am thinking lets be positive the Mayor, the consultants told us these positions will pay for themselves. If that isn’t positive what is?

 Man I am getting so full of positive that I could almost explode. I can’t wait for the next council meeting Inspiration with a capital “I”  

  

Consultants-Is this the price we pay?

Crowsnest Pass-Money is tight?

I like a lot of my readers have been asking the question for months, what are we spending on Consultants.

We all know they do not come cheap and when you look at what CEO’s, Celebrities and athletes are making now days it is getting crazy, but in their defence they can only make it if somebody is prepared to pay it.  

At the last council meeting Councilor Saje asked if Council could be supplied with the amount of dollars spent on consultants, administration answered that they would and in fact they could post the information on the web site, as of today I have not seen anything yet.

Obviously it is not confidential information protected by FOIP rules because the information below is posted on a public site.

It's great for council to see that information but what about us the taxpayers, I have been trying to research what kind of money is paid to the type of consultants we have been using without a lot of success.

Until today I received an email from a very astute follower of my blog and told to check out the following address    http://www.mountainviewcounty.com/specialagendas and to read the minutes from the Nov 5 and Nov 10, 2010 meetings.

To my great interest I found the following which I have copied and pasted from the November 5, 2010 minutes:

Moved by Councillor Good

                                SC10-183      That Council approve entering into a Memorandum of Agreement with Transitional Solutions Inc. for the period from November 8, 2010 to April 29, 2011 and that the funding be allocated from the Tax Rate Stabilization Reserve as follows:

                                                    -     Twelve hundred ($1200.00) dollars per day (plus GST) for each day worked by Kevin Robins

                                                    -     Twelve hundred ($1200.00) dollars per day (plus GST) for each day worked by Donna Tona

                                                    -     A flat rate of fifteen hundred ($1500.00) dollars per month for accommodation and meals

                                                    -     Fifty cents ($0.50) per kilometer for all kilometers travelled from Transitional’s office to Mountain View’s County office

                                                    -     Subject to articles 13 and 14, any time in a twenty-four (24) hour day worked by Robins or Tona beyond seven (7) hours shall be banked until the banked hours total seven (7), at which time Transitional shall invoice Mountain View for an additional day pursuant to articles 16 or 17 of this Agreement, whichever applies;

                                                          and further, that the total contract amount be to a maximum of $194,000 (not including GST);

                                                          and, that the Agreement include amendments as provided by County Legal Counsel. 

Now I know full well the Council of the Crowsnest Pass may have negotiated a better deal! I hope but if its even close to what was proposed above think of the following. 

$1200 per day for a seven hour day,  not bad $171.43 per hour plus $1500 per month for accommodation and meals. Once again nothing against the consultants we would all make this kind of money if we could. But the question is can we the taxpayers of the Crowsnest Pass afford it.  

Cash Grab (Part 2)

Cash grab-Alberta School Foundation Fund Requisition:
The requisition will jump by $214,789.32 for 2012 which in simple terms if the municipality does not off set this with other savings (Thunder in the Valley $160,000 for example).
Taxes will increase by $114.81 on a $350,000 property or $65.60 on a $200,000 property.

Proposed Cash grab-Utilization of Franchise Fees to stabilize the mill rate.
Interesting concept the municipality will increase your Power and Gas rates so your mill rate does not go up as much. We will take more out of your left pocket therefore we can take less out of your right pocket.
By increasing the Atco rate in 2013 to the maximum a further $211,980 will be brought in, by increasing the Fortis rate to the maximum in 2013 a further $124,965 will be brought in.

Incentive for additional cash grab-The census results which saw the population of the Crowsnest Pass drop by 184 people will result in a per capita funding decrease of $78,586 for 2012.

Information-Municipal Reserves now sitting at $ 1,131,328

Information-Municipal debt now sitting at $1,578,507

Random Thoughts from the Crowsnest Pass

Outstanding taxes: Remember all that discussion about the $1,044,000 that was outstanding in taxes back in early November. The stress that it was putting on the municipal cash flow. Forcing council to up the tax penalty from 21% to 52%, which would solve the problem by encouraging people to catch up fast.

Remember my comments on this issue check them out at:
http://crowsnestpasshome.blogspot.com/2011/12/property-tax-penalties-numbers.html

Council was informed at the G+P meeting on Jan 24 that surprisingly only 17% of those back taxes have been paid. (Check the numbers from any other year I would expect the 17% is very typical). There is still $870,000 outstanding and even more surprisingly 67% of that total is owed by Non-residential taxpayers.


Good News story, Economic update: This is what is so great about the Internet it is a great tool to communicate. On Councilor Gallant’s blog, he posts some very interesting information regarding all the exciting “new” businesses that have opened in the Pass since the beginning of his term.
Check it out for yourself at: http://briangallant.ca/wordpress/2012/01/23/celebrate-businesses-old-and-new/
Road Closure last week: Felt badly for anybody that was stranded in the Pass, I expected a much larger problem with our largest hotel shut down for the winter (50 rooms not available). Amazingly two things happened many people heading this way knew about the road conditions so did not come. Which was evident by the fact that there were still hotel rooms available at 8pm that night and as you can read in the Promoter’s editorial, today people pulled together and looked after those that needed assistance.

I thought Sparwood would have been much worse with the hundreds of miners trapped over there, but they did what the Pass and most communities do in these types of situations they pulled together.
http://www.elkvalleyherald.ca/index3.htm despite having much larger numbers of people trapped than we did, only 21 people had to sleep on a cot at the recreation centre.

Thunder in the Valley: This is Councilor Saindon’s project he stated this week that the committee would be meeting in council chambers on the 30th, with the RCMP. He also reported that the committee as now had three meeting and is moving forward; anybody that is interested is welcome to attend the meeting. In conjunction with that, Mayor Decoux started reading a letter from the Blairmore Fireworks committee requesting a meeting with council at the Blairmore Fire Hall, Mayor Decoux stated that if they wished to meet with council they could come as a delegation in front of council.
Sad to read that unless some new volunteers step forward there will not be a show and shine this year, I know many people including myself that really enjoyed that.

Stupid story of the week: I was confronted this morning by an older fellow who was really anger because somebody had “alleged” that previous council had spent $1 million moving the tenants from the Crowsnest Centre to the MDM. I asked him three things; one do you or anybody else have any kind of evidence to substantiate that number. Two was the source of this information the same one that “alleged” that we would lose our Food Bank and Education Consortium. Three this council is now entering its second budget process, it will have its second opportunity to put the funding in place if the centre is truly such a high priority for this community.

Cost of consultants: Sounds like we the taxpayers are going to receive this information on Councilor Gallant’s blog today in a response to a question about the cost of consultants he replies with the following:

“I do not know offhand how much we spent on consultants. We need to hire professionals for specific projects from time to time and I suspect it’s no higher than any other year. I believe we paid approximately $5,000 to have the Task Force document written but I could be wrong since I do not have the information here. There was also a small gift given to the members of the task force of approximately $200 each, and they had travel expenses covered by the municipality. All of this information will be available in March when we receive our audited financial statements. If you want it earlier, please contact Finance at the municipal office.

Stream lining of the municipal office: I hear through the grapevine that the new Director of Public Works, Engineering and planning will be commencing his duties shortly.

Questions are being asked in the Crowsnest Pass.

Often I have people ask me questions about the political situation in the Crowsnest Pass. So I will take the time to address the most common questions being asked over the last couple of months.

What is your opinion of this new schedule for council meetings?

Since Mayor Decoux and his group of councilors took over there as been 55 meeting of council (Including Council, G+P, Special meeting, Organizational etc up to December 6th 2011)
The average duration of those meeting has been 2 hours and 28 minutes of which 58 minutes on average have been in camera. That means the average resident has had the opportunity to see their council at work making the decisions that impact every one of us for a grand total of six hours a month.
Now I know that most people don't go to council meeting, lets face it the majority of people don't vote.
Why not lessen the number of elections?

But that's not the point, the public must have the opportunity if they so choose to see their council at work, in a community that has a lot of people that work 12 hour shifts and out of town the opportunity must be provided.  
Previous council met every Tuesday (as recommended by the Cuff report) this gave every person four opportunities a month to drop by the municipal office and see their council at work if they wished.

During December, January and now February council has been testing a schedule where they meet on only two days a month one day for just a council meeting. A second day for a G+P meeting in the afternoon and then a council meeting at night. Depending on shift schedules a person may never have the opportunity to attend a meeting.

Is their a lot of debate at the council meeting?

I don't think so, I keep telling people to come to a meeting and check it out for themselves. Some more interesting numbers,  most of us know that you can't make motions In Camera at the average meeting there are 14 motions made, council is only in the public realm for 90 minutes a meeting that means on average a motion is being made every six minutes. Would anybody consider there to be a lot of debate?

Do you feel the strategic plan as been successful?

I respond with what do you think? outside of the Bellevue Library closing, name me one other change. Believe it or not I still get people saying well they consolidated the Blairmore/Coleman shop.

How much are we spending on consultants?

That comes up again and again I am going to request those numbers soon from the municipality, will I be provided them who knows.

Are my taxes going up this year?

My answer is I believe so, but I always caution don't just watch your taxes. Follow franchise fees, user fees, etc. 

Do you think the back tax rate increase had a significant effect on the amount of outstanding back taxes?

Financial statements will be out near the end of April I will compare this years numbers with last.

Just some things to think about and hopefully create some debate

Happy New Year, Looking ahead to 2012 in the Crowsnest Pass

Well the turkey was gobbled down and the fireworks were set off now its time to see what 2012 will bring for us the good residents of the Crowsnest Pass. Weather you live in Crowsnest Pass East or Crowsnest PassWest I am sure one or more of the following will be of interest to every one of you.


Strategic plan: The fanfare will continue there will be lots of talk, more studies, great plans, procedures and policies will continue to be created, reviewed and rewritten. Tangible changes that actually affect the lives of the residents in positive timely ways we will see.

2011 census: First results are expected to be out in February last census our community saw the largest decline in population in the province (percentage wise 8% +) and we became the oldest average aged community. Will all the hiring at the mines over the last couple of years change that?

2012 Cupe collective bargaining, there will ultimately be an agreement between the two parties. How will the process play out, some people ran for office based on finding the “efficiencies” this is their opportunity. Efficiencies in collective bargaining usually involve somebody giving something up. Will that happen? John Irwin used to always brag about the last time CUPE walked out, it did not snow for the next two months. We have had an awful pleasant winter so far.

Municipal Financial Audit: It is like a report card for Council and Administration usually comes in around April, I anticipate based on the numbers so far that the municipality will show a slight surplus for last year. Watch the revenue side of the audit it will probably be $2-300,000 higher than anticipated a great way to make one’s self look good.

It will also be very interesting to see what the outstanding taxes are in the audit at the end of the year after everybody had the fear of 51% penalties waved in their face for the last two months.

Three-year budget: Council is working on having a budget in place for the end of March. Areas I and I am sure many other taxpayers will be watching. Tax increases (lets not forget some councilors ran on the position of no tax increases), plus lets watch for the old fashioned tax increases that we don’t call tax increases; franchise fees, user fees, new revenue sources, (water meters, etc). Will council continue down the path of increasing the number of staff, while not replenishing the municipal reserves in addition to increasing the municipal debt load 2012 will tell?

Crowsnest Centre property plan: I’m sure in the not to distant future there will be presented to council a consultant’s report that will surprisingly state the centre sits on a prime commercial site that’s serviced, accessible to highway 3 and has 12000 vehicles a day traveling along it. The issue that will raise its head, is nobody will touch that site without the old hospital being removed, unless the municipality gives the site away. Will the taxpayers be willing to take on a million dollars worth of debt to remove it?

River Run properties: Somewhere in 2012 I suspect some of the investors will approach the municipality looking for a break on the back taxes in return for some minimal development on that property.

New recreation facility: Many people are talking about this; there is even a group that has recently been formed to work on this project. My argument was that this community did not have the tax base or the willingness of all those that live here on a fixed income to subsidize an indoor swimming pool. In fact I listen to a councilor at the last public forum talk about how the taxpayers have had to bear the “burden” of subsidizing a ski hill for years, quite a revelation when you consider that Pincher spends yearly 6-7 times what we spend on our ski hill to maintain there indoor pool. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that this group does not only have the intention to fundraise to build a facility but also to raise additional funds to operate it. I wish them nothing but the best an Indoor facility with no addition costs to the taxpayers I would support that in a heartbeat.

Note: For those that wish to help with this worthy cause I would suggest that check out the following: Crowsnest Can Do Cultural and Recreation Society page on
Facebook, or email crowsnestcando@gmail.com

Bigger government: Remember how the municipality was stream lined from four departments to three. Remember at the beginning of this council’s term there were five management employees. Soon there will be seven. Will that number get even larger when and if the municipality stops using consultants?

Consultants: Wouldn’t we the taxpayers like to know what its cost us so far? The interim CAO, putting together our community peace officer program, the Crowsnest Centre, the new Fire Chief. Will we find out in 2012 will there be an end to this costly process? Remember the moment a consultant says everything here looks good our job is done the paycheck stops.

The democratic process: The last council was slammed consistently for 4-3 votes (which if anybody was counting happened in less than 5% of all votes). Up to now watching this council over the last fifteen months it has appears quiet the opposite, meeting with very little debate and very often decisions made by unanimous vote. Over the last month, I have seen Councilor Sage be the exception to this rule a few times. It will be interesting to see what this year brings; there is a name for governments that operate with no opposition.

Optimistic: How could you not be, we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, there are lot’s of good people that live here. I hope this community stays affordable for all those that are, or soon to be seniors. I hope this community is careful to remember that its great to have dreams and aspirations but somebody must pay for them. We must also live within our means not just now but down the road.

Lastly “Consolidation of Blairmore/Coleman shop” will this really happen or was that press release last July just a poor attempt to show us that “change” was happening? On the other hand, is this a great example of how change will be instituted in this community?

2012 will indeed be an interesting year.

Feel free to leave your comments regarding these issues or any others.