Mayor's Corner for October, making the Crowsnest Pass a better place one step at a time.

MAYOR'S CORNER  It’s October and fall is here: Clear, bluer than blue skies, trees turning yellow and frosty crisp mornings. Your Council is pressing hard to continue the progress and change we promised. This month we have had an unfortunate occurrence which resulted in a number of our firemen leaving their positions. However our administrative team managed the situation professionally and we are assured of our safety. I understand some firemen are currently re-applying for their position. Our head of Protective Services and our new Fire Chief inform us that the restructured fire service will be smaller, more efficient in its use of equipment and ultimately more cost effective contrary to some opinions expressed. We also met with the ratepayers group. Personally I found it to be an enjoyable civil discussion in which there was an exchange of facts versus rumor, the clarification of Council objectives versus misconceptions, and a discussion of long term Council goals.  Perhaps most importantly we discussed the philosophical lens through which we both view the current and future status of our community. It was determined that Council has  a “glass half full” philosophy as opposed to the ratepayers “glass half empty” outlook. It was a good discussion and we agreed to disagree on some points. At the conclusion of our discussion Mr. Kovach surprised us (after such excellent discussion) by requesting that the administration reverse their decisions regarding the fire service and that the Council resign? After such an excellent productive discussion we all gave our heads a shake of consternation. I note that once again some individual is instigating another Council recall and our ratepayers group is requesting government intervention. This seems to be becoming a habit. If with every Council you disagree with the elected representatives – petition the government and throw them out.  Can you imagine what would happen across this province if this occurred in every community? I wonder what kind of impression we are creating with the government? It appears one of our newspapers is unhappy with us and has contacted the newspaper association regarding our approach to advertising.  At this time I am unaware of the details but I expect we will find out in due course. Now on to more positive items. Please note elsewhere in this issue the various locations in which our newsletter can be picked up. We are receiving an amazing number of requests for the newsletter and many requests to publish it twice a month. I don’t think we can handle that but we will look into it. It seems like people like to have the facts. I am pleased to announce that after months (and months) of hard work we have as promised, resolved the problem surrounding the Crowsnest Learning Centre and “old” hospital facility. The new hotel restaurant truck stop complex - is a go! The last few legal details are being ironed out and early next month we and the developers are looking forward to holding a public session to gather your input as to what you would like to see happen. Watch our website or the upcoming newsletter for information. On the manufacturing plant status, I phoned them last week. They have confirmed that we are the location they wish to locate in. This plant produces a lot of clean hot water which needs to be cooled before it can be put back in the environment and apparently this is proving a major problem for them and delaying their decision. The moment I know what their decision is I will inform you. We are currently in discussion with an international heavy industry which is considering Crowsnest Pass as its base. A week ago another Canadian heavy industry contacted me by phone and will be setting up a meeting with us shortly. I wouldn’t get too excited over these latter comments just yet as I believe these industries are just in the “speculation” stage. As previously indicated your Council is working steadily on all issues. Following Mayor’s Corner you will find a letter sent directly to the Premier regarding our ongoing concerns over Highway No. 3. In conclusion for this month I note that rumor and misinformation is still being propagated by a small minority. This suggests we need to intensify our efforts to bring you the facts and the truth. Please don’t hesitate to contact our municipal administration, our councillors or myself for the facts and the truth.                                   - Mayor Decoux

Mayor's Corner "Shinning a light on the truth"

MAYOR'S CORNER

Hello everybody! Welcome to the first edition of our attempt to bring you the facts and truths about “things” we are doing to improve our community. Why are we doing this? Well the fact of the matter is we are getting a lot of questions; questions about what people have “heard” and “read”, heard from the local “barbershop quartet” and from the “coffee-time guys and gals” and read in the local papers. When people phone or ask the Council and myself or the administration about “what they heard” they are given the truth – without the extra little “twist” that makes gossip so spicy. As for the newspapers we have very little to do with what they write. We have received numerous complaints regarding local blogs and the numerous letters to the editors which are frequently the uninformed ramblings of unhappy people. Many of our taxpayers are concerned over the blogs, the newspapers and the letter writers. However, your Council is concerned that the information you are receiving is simply not the truth. Further to this, we now live in the age of the internet. Think of it this way: when a blogger writes a tasty bit of “twisted” gossip (or twists the truth) or when a newspaper uses a negative spin to describe your Council’s efforts, or  when the papers print a letter to the editor it goes on the internet, Alberta-wide-Canada-wide-Worldwide – forever. Now, if a person drove through the Pass and thought of moving here or starting a business the first thing they would do is go to the internet to find out about this place called Crowsnest Pass. Guess what they will see? Please remember: we are all painted with the same brush by those who are painting our picture. Only the silent majority can change this unfortunate situation. 

These are the reasons we have decided to embark on a journey of providing you with facts and truth. We are expanding our website with more and more information, we have started a Facebook page and this is our first attempt at a regular newsletter. Your Council and Administration can place only so much information on these three sources so if we miss anything please call myself, the Councillors or our Administration for the unvarnished facts and truth. I am busy but never too busy to talk with you.

Comment: Well I am sad to say that the end is near for all forms of media in the Crowsnest Pass the freedom to express one's self is coming to an end.  We will no longer need newspapers that use the "negative spin" those people writing the letters to the editor based on "the uniformed ramblings of unhappy people" or the "twisted" gossip on  blogs.  

The silent majority needs to change this "unfortunate situation, we no longer need radio, newspapers, blogs, just call the municipal administration or a member of council they will tell you "the unvarnished facts and truth".

Where will we get our hair cut or go for a coffee? maybe the "barbershop quartet" or the "coffee time guys and gals"  will want to talk about politics, will they have the "unvarnished facts and truth" to have a proper discussion? Will they need to just contact administration or your council prior to discussing politics with their friends or customers.

The only question I have is who will determine  the correct positive spin in the paper, that letters to the editor are probably informed and only written by happy people, or that only untwisted comments are placed on blogs.  Maybe the next administrator that's hired could be in charge of the Department of "Unvarnished facts and truth" and make sure that all newspapers, letter writers, and blog owners conform.     

Please take a moment and answer the poll on the right hand side.

   

Never Ending story-Advertising in the Crowsnest Pass

It really is a never ending story.

Some facts to think about:

Some councilors can not understand why the advertising budget dropped so drastically from 2008 to 2010.

I will answer it again and hopefully it gets through, in 2008 the municipality was paying up to $800 a page two times a week. Simply put 2 x $800 (1 page each paper) equals $1600 per week.
Thanks to a competitive tendering process 2010 $180 per page, one paper equals $180 per week.

Certainly explains to me the drop from 2008-$66111 to 2010-$8444 does it not?

Why did previous council not focus on radio? first of all we only have one local radio station if we were going to allow non local radio stations in to the bidding process should we also have allowed the Prairie Post in to the paper process?
Second of all the advertising budget in 2008 was $87057 of that amount $13158 was radio or 15% of the overall expense. The local papers were 76% of the total cost, paper advertising took five times as much taxpayers dollars as radio.

Several members of council talk about enhancing the flow of communications to the public!
That's nonsense anybody that's looking for announcements on bylaws, public hearing etc will check the municipal web site or the paper that has the contract for the year, or contact the office.

In the last year and a half the number of complaints the municipality, or council received about having difficulties finding out municipal information due to the fact that it was only advertised in one paper? Zero

Council members this week spoke about other ways of getting out information to the public, Facebook, Twitter, Municipal web site, etc. (Maybe the taxpayers would be glad to advertise on blogs?)
Silly question, if these suggestions work, would it not make even less sense to advertise in both papers?

You can make all the arguments you want but this advertising in both papers as been done for one reason and one reason only, because some people are feared by the flack previous councilors took in the local media over the last couple of years.

Interesting to hear one of the councilors refer to how he heard at the convention, the importance of maintaining good relationships with the local media.

Dec 7th they did.

At least thats the way I see it!