My role as a Ratepayer

Over the last few days I have been accused of being a Ratepayer, and yes a Ratepayer adviser.

Well folks no mystery and intrigue here, yes about 15-16 months ago I paid my $5 and I joined that group of what some people refer to has the elitists old boys club know locally has the Ratepayers Association, along with about 700+ other concerned citizens that did not like the direction this community was going.

Early last summer I was asked by a number of people if I would be interested in running for a position on the ratepayers executive. I informed them up front that I would not do that because I had made up my mind a long time ago that I would be running for council this fall. But that I would be more than willing to assist where I could, after all I did sit on council for six years so I and a number of other people felt I had something to offer.

Some where around twenty people did put there name forth for the executive positions, from that group nine people were elected. That group decided to meet has an executive to work on the issues that were important to their membership and present back information to those members at their monthly meeting. I was asked at that point along with three or four other people if I would be prepared to help share with them the knowledge that I post on my blog and put that information on paper for the members.

No big secret I do a lot of research and pride myself on my ability with numbers and have spent a lot of time keeping up on local politics over the last ten years just read my blog back to 2008. So yes I guess I could be labeled  a Ratepayer advisor, I was also told up front that having chosen not to run for a executive position that I would have no voting rights and that I was there when and if they asked me to attend.

There are times I disagree with decisions the ratepayers make, does every member of every organization agree with every decision their leadership makes? I sure hope not.

I sat on council for six years and gained a lot of valuable experience are people going to ask me questions or for my assistance, once in a while? I hope so and I have no problem helping any group that asks for my assistance if I have something to offer.

Moving forward in this community I think there is a role for the ratepayers and any group that brings citizens together. What I have heard talking to people around town is they are tired of a council that talks at them not to them. So I think the next council should have members that are prepared to get out there and meet and talk with groups not just the ones that agree with them.

For any of my readers that have further questions or seek my position on any issue. Send me a email at deanward4@msn.com or phone 403 563 4128 leave a message. Thank you


Note: Cost of administration $4325 per day

Another take on controversy in Crowsnest Pass

An open letter to our community of Crowsnest Pass, Councillors, Media and Provincial Officials

We are a group that have given calm contemplation to the discord embroiling our community and wish to represent our views through this letter to express our concern regarding what appears to be a lack of confidence in our current elected body of municipal councilors.

A vibrant community is made up of a number of opinions, the job of our elected officials is to consider as many of those opinions as possible and make decisions through due process within the parameters of the Municipal Act, and the requirements of Provincial and Federal law. We may not necessarily agree with those decisions, however we appreciate that we could never have all the details that led to that decision unless we ourselves were on council.

We are confident we all share a common goal in seeing our community prosper and move forward. The processes and procedures to accomplish this are obviously complex and involve multiple issues of history, legacy, legal and liability concerns and much, much more. We have charged our elected officials with the mandate to move our community into the 21st century while at the same time respecting the generations that came before us. This is a tall order. It will only be accomplished through an endorsement of support of the process of our duly elected officials and their compliance with good governance.

Our group wishes to provide our portion of that endorsement and confirm that there are members of this community who agree changes are necessary and changes are not always easy.

We request however full disclosure and transparency of the process. We understand full details cannot always be made public due to privacy act legislation and confidentiality protocols. However, we do expect a standard of professionalism and accountability by both our elected officials and the administration they oversee. Some have called for an external review of council and administration. We would support such a review with the goal to reinstate confidence by the majority of the community.

We wish to see a focus on good old fashioned dialog. Conversations with all stakeholders consisting of well thought-out, reasonable and pragmatic opinions and the decisions to match.  

Our future depends on it.

We are:

Scott Warris, Deb McKinlay, Vern Harrison, Bern Sawatzky, Elaine Beaudoin, Andrew Fairhurst, Tim Grier, Sheila Juhlin, George Machum, Pat Pichurski, Charli Martens-Carpenter, Heather O’Bear, Erin Fairhurst, Becky Pichurski, Penny Warris

My position on concerns raised at the Crowsnest Pass Forum

Question: Building of a Recreation Centre including a Indoor Swimming Pool.

I have addressed this issue previously here but I will reinforce my position again.
This is something this community needs in the worse way, the issue of course which we all recognize is how do we pay for it and would the taxpayers be prepared to make a twenty five year commitment.
My position would be that council would direct administration to come up with a business plan, design, costs etc, and sources of revenue, ie. Federal/Provincial grants, Corporate opportunities, and fundraising. Then determine what it would cost the Municipality for the capital costs (that's why I use the 25 year number) and ongoing operations. Calculate exactly what its going to cost the individual tax payer in additional taxation.
Provide all this information to the taxpayer and let them decide if they wish to proceed in a plebiscite.

Question: Should we do more to enforce the Bear Smart Bylaw.

Of course we live in an area where this issue can not be ignored, we also have to find ways especially in the country residential areas to encourage people to work with this. Lots of them already do but for the ones that don't we have to find ways to help. Enforcement yes but education first.

Question: Road Conditions, Pot holes etc

Over the last few years we have spent $20 million on infrastructure under the ground, we are now reaching the point where the major jobs have been done, we need to focus now on the roads themselves, I recognize that we have a problem I drive these streets every day of the week.
But we also need to take a look at the way we do our road maintenance program, right now we basically take the dollars that we allow for repairing roads and chase the areas that have the worse problems or where the people scream the loudest. That only works short term we need to come up with a long term plan that is maintained year after year.
For example the District of Sparwood does 10% of its roads every year.


Please keep in mind I was sitting at the far end of the forum so if I do not have your question exactly right, please let me know.

Responses to concerns raised at the forum

I wrote down the concerns raised at the forum over the next week I will attempt to answer as many as I can. The first one was the issue of the 4-3 and the secret meeting of council members.





Election 2010-Did you know?

During the debate over the Crowsnest Centre the Mayor created the impression that the 4-3 vote was a common process,

More than 95% of council motions are NOT determined by 4-3.

On the Centre debate it was, but not on many other issues.

All seven members of council dug in their heals and took a strong position. Nobody asked Irwin, Taje or Mitchell why they did not change their stand?

The Mayor and his team raised the issue of councillors meeting outside of council chambers. Was this true? On the Centre issue - Yes.

Now let’s put the whole truth on the table and go to the municipal web site or stop at the office and ask for a copy of the Organizational Reports.

On Page 62 of the Cuff Report (2009) it states the following “Both the majority group on Council and those deemed to be the opposition have met as separate groups before council meetings to discuss the issues”

On Page 39 of the Activation Analysis Report (2000), it states the following “There is currently a perception of block voting by the Mayor and councillors, with many items receiving the same spilt vote”

Its very interesting to hear the group of three scolding the other members of council for what they were doing themselves, and in some cases doing so for ten years or more.

For more information check out my Blog at crowsnestpasshome.blogspot.com/ or phone at 563 4128, email deanward4@msn.com.

On October 18 vote for Dean Ward

Democracy is alive and well in the Crowsnest Pass

Well the political Forum came and went last night, was very surprised and impressed with the turn out, especially when I read about a number of communities that can not even get enough people to run.

The Chamber did a very good job and I was impressed with the way the moderator (Val Danielson) controlled the meeting.

The down side was that we tried to learn about candidates, their positions, and get a sense of their abilities to lead this community in a span of less than three hours.
Very difficult to say the least some people impressed me some did not, but then we only had four opportunities to speak basically four and a half minutes.
Its really tough because there was five people there that I have never met before or heard speak.
Its really hard to judge what if somebody was having a off night?

Anyway irregardless its going to be an interesting campaign for the next three weeks.

Crowsnest Pass politics Mayor Irwin major annoucement.

Mayor Irwin tonight announced his intentions for the coming election.
Stated tonight because of his age and number of years of service, he will not be running for the position of Mayor, but to allow the municipality to maintain access to his wealth of knowledge he will run for the position of Councilor.
Does this really mean that he is looking to lighten his load, or his he looking to install a puppet in the Mayors position and pull the strings in the background.
If the latter is the case who's the puppet?

Crowsnest Pass Council Meeting October 21

Upcoming Highlights

First the Annual Organizational Meeting

Finance is looking for strategic direction heading into Budget

Public Works Cleanup took nine days longer than anticipated

Crowsnest Centre Boiler 4-5 weeks to order 1 week to put in

Direction from council on the future of the centre

Policy for out of province conventions

Repeal of the Bylaw 766 Crowsnest Centre Plebiscite

And many other procedural issues

Interest in politics and the way the Crowsnest Pass is ran check the meeting out starts at 7pm

Crowsnest Centre where it began!

In June 1989 Nokomis Consultants presented a report on the development of the Crowsnest Centre. The following are quotes from that report. You the reader decide if these predications proved to be true or not.

“The old Blairmore Hospital and Nursing Home buildings would be renovated to standards consistent with the markets for learning facilities that the Centre will pursue”

“To develop the centre to an optimal condition $4 million in capital costs are required. These investments would be staged $2 million initially, $1 million at year 2, and $1 million by year 4”

Executive Summary Page 6

“At or around the 5th year of operations, there should be: 25 new full-time equivalent jobs, $490,000 annually in local expenditures, $45,000 in net revenue at the Centre”

Community Benefits Page 7

“The Municipality should invest in the project to help carry the start up years. Approximately $230000 would be required over 3 years”

Organization and Partnerships Page 8

“The Banff Centre would be the major Competition, although indications are that clients would welcome an alternative, comparable facility to consider”

Markets and Marketing Page 10

“The final years of Community Initiatives and Municipality support would occur in Years 2 and 3”

Key Points Overview of the Business Plan Page 68



Check out the Banff Centre Facilities @ http://www.banffcentre.ca/facilities/
I’m sure the market place will choose our old hospital over this aging facility.

Very good editorial from this week's local paper

Check the following out, its does not take a political position either way on the issue, just fair and reasonable comment.

http://www.crowsnestpasspromoter.com/Editorial/index.html

Reinforces once again that it is not unreasonable to provide the public with all the information before they vote.

Crowsnest Centre, the Process as Begun

On Tuesday night June 24 the results of the petition were presented to council, well sort of, we were told that the petition was successful. The number of signatures on the petition? Who knows, the number of names that were valid or invalid? Who knows? Despite numerous requests for this information, the response council received was “the petition was sufficient” Should we be surprised? it happens again and again whenever requests for information are made about the Crowsnest Centre the wall of silence comes up, we can’t tell you because of firstly FOIP, then PIPA. Anyway, what does this mean? Sept 22nd we will be having a public vote on a bylaw that will determine what? The Statement on the petition was “bring to a public vote a by-law ensuring that the continuing existence and operation of the Crowsnest Centre Property (Plan 731227 Block H, containing 3.51 hectares) be used for public and community purposes as a Community and Learning Centre, and for providing other municipal services” what does all that mean? Well there will be many questions asked and many statements made over the next three months, some will be true and some will be “slightly” exaggerated. This is sure to be a fully charged, interesting political debate.
Cost to the taxpayers of the Crowsnest Pass $13-14000.

Politicians Wage Increases, How should it be done?

Reading all the news about the big increase the politicians gave themselves in Edmonton, makes me realise there needs to be a different and better way to set politicians wages.
I think there are two problems with what as happened in Edmonton; First of all the amount of the increase is obscene, if the argument is made that these people have not received a proper increase for years. That they are not in line with the private sector, I say too bad have a proper review system in place and do it on a regular basis. Second problem is that they determine their own pay increase, there are not to many of us in this world that get to be both the employer and the employee at the negotiating table.
Suggestions for a better way to set politicians wages; in the Crowsnest Pass the out going council sets the rate for the next council, the only problem with that is it becomes a political versus a practical decision.
In Hinton they had a committee http://cgi.bowesonline.com/pedro.php?id=17&x=story&xid=405726 made up of community members that reviewed their remuneration, would that work? only if the membership of the committee was seen to be totally non political by the public at large.
Whatever process is decided on, it should not be left in the hands of the people that get to make the decision (politicians), it should be done on a regular basis so you don't see obscene increases of 20-30%. And most importantly it needs to be done in a clear, transparent manner.

Crowsnest Centre Petition, What's happening?

Received a number of calls about the Crowsnest Centre Petition.
Questions I'm being asked!
When will council know the status of the petition?
We has council do not have the answers yet, the petition was presented to the CAO several weeks ago, according to the MGA he has 30 days to get back to council on the validity of the petition.
When will that be? Council is usually the first and third Tuesday of the month, for the month of June the second council meeting was rescheduled to June 24th.
What is required for the petition to be valid?
Putting it in layman terms;
According to Section 223 (2) (a) of the MGA 10% of the Population must sign, based on the last census we had 5756 people which means 576 signatures.
What constitutes a petition? Section 224 (1) one or more pages each of which must contain an identical statement of the purpose of the petition.
What is a valid petitioner? Section 224 (2) (a-d) must contain printed surname and given name, the petitioners signature, street address of the petitioner or the legal description of the land on which the petitioner lives, and the date on which the petitioner signs the petition.
What else is required? Section 224 (3) (a-b) Each signature must be witnessed by an adult person who must sign opposite the signature of the petitioner, and take an affidavit that the signatures witnessed are those of the persons entitled to sign the petition.
Is there enough signatures on the petition? We don't know yet, but if you read the local media a person is led to believe that there are 700 signatures on the petition.
Are there enough valid signatures on the petition? If the 700 signature number is real I would have a tough time believing that they are not valid, I would suspect that the organizers of the petition went over it with a fine tooth comb before they handed it in.
What if there is enough valid signatures? Then my understanding is that we have to hold a plebiscite within 90 days, of the petition being presented to council.
Do you believe that everybody that signed the petition supports the Centre? No I don't but I'm sure some people would disagree with me.

These are all the questions I have been asked so far, I hope the above is informative, if you have any comments or further questions, please place them on here, or email me at deanward4@msn.com

Politics, anybody disagree?

"Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." - Ronald Reagan (R)

Time and place for everything!

Very well written editorial in the Crowsnest Pass Promoter today, please take a moment and check it out.

http://www.crowsnestpasspromoter.com/Editorial/index.html