New Director of Protective and Community Services

Just posted on the Municipal Web Site:

http://www.town.crowsnestpass.ab.ca/




http://www.greenzonefootball.com/photo/fire-department-ng-albert-headrickregina-july-202011/15473

Debating the Numbers in the Crowsnest Pass

The debate over numbers continues on Councilor Saindon’s blog he states the following

“As for all those new  municipal staff hirings that keep coming up on certain websites, I would ask that when you make comments you should do the research as to the actual net numbers that have been hired to replace those who have left through retirement, resignation or termination. Once you have actually taken the time to get the facts you might be surprised of the results you get”.

Well lets take a better look at the numbers, when the election took place in October of 2010 the municipality had the following positions between administration and office staff.

Administration

CAO-1

Director of Finance-1

Director of Public Works-1

Director of Community Services-1

Director of HR-1

Hourly and Contract Employees

Finance-3

Rec and FCSS-2

Taxation-1

Utilities-1

Inter Departmental-1

Reception-1

HR-1

Development Officer-1

Bylaw-1

Safety-0.5

Public Works-1

Building Inspector-0

(Inspections + safety codes done by Park Enterprises)

Agricultural Fieldman -0.5

Assessor-1 Working on a contract basis  

That was a total of 19 municipal employees comprised of 5 Administrators, 14 Hourly staff and Park Enterprises and the Assessor working on a contract basis

Today we have the following  

Administration

CAO-1

Director of Finance and Corporate Services-1

Director of Planning Engineering and Operations-1

Director of Protective and Community Services-1

(At this time being filled by Transitional Solutions)

Manager of Corporate Services-1

Manager of Operations-1

Fire Chief-1

Hourly and Contract Employees

Finance-3

Rec and FCSS-3

Taxation-1

Utilities-1

Inter Departmental-1

Reception-1

HR-2

Development Officer-1

Bylaw-1 (Will be increased to 2 soon)

Safety-0.5

Public Works-1

Building Inspector-1

(Inspections + safety codes done by Park Enterprises)

Agricultural Fieldman -1

Assessor-1 Working on a contract basis  

That is a total of 24.5 municipal employees comprised of 7 Administrators, 17.5 Hourly staff and Park Enterprises and the Assessor working on a contract basis. I have also only counted 1 bylaw officer at this point, but I am anticipating that this will increase by June 1. So the number then between administration and other office staff will be 25.5 employees.

Now I understand that since the last election the Taxation Clerk and the Development Officer retired. But you can see those positions are filled today and included in the numbers both  in 2010 and now.

If the above positions are not accurate anybody is welcome to email me with the corrected information and I would be glad to change the numbers.

Nobody still wants to answer the question what have we paid consultants? 

I was informed  that the "Weed Inspector" is actually called the "Agricultural Fieldman". It is now corrected, I have not received any other comments regarding errors in my numbers. 

Confusion in the Crowsnest Pass

Below is a Municipal "Press Release" simply titled "Press Release" can anybody clarify what is going on here?

This "Press Release" seems to say what?

Maybe tomorrow there will be a "Press Release" that says "the municipality will continue to perform business as usual, and we will update you when there is something different going on"   

"The Municipality continues to transition the Fire Services and Search and Rescue Departments towards a single integrated department as per the structure change approved in November 2011.  Council and Administration wish to thank All Fire Services Incorporated for the assistance and support towards the initiation of this process.  The Municipality will continue to move forward in the restructuring process as the new Director of Protective and Community Services assumes their duties." 


On March 6,2012 the following motion was passed by council:
M#6441-12: Councillor Mitchell moved that Council through resolution appoints Donna Tona, CTS Interim Manager of Enforcement Services and KJ (Ken) Brands Interim Manager of Protective Services with all the permissions and requirements for decisions within the Departments of Fire & Rescue Services and Enforcement Services.


On the Pass Herald site http://passherald.ca/archives/120327/index.htm they have announced that Interim Manager of Protective Services Ken Brands has ended his relationship with the Municipality.

Control the name of the Game.

Somebody once told me that when a new government is elected they go through a period of time where the electors are very patience, very understanding and accept that every thing does not change over night.

This period his often referred to as the honeymoon phase, during my two terms of council this phase lasted about six months.

Since the election I was not at all surprised that things were pretty quite then for the first six months, I was a little surprised with the next six months (Apr 11-Oct 11), then I was shocked that the last six months have been so subdued.

But I have to keep in mind that our local government has been acting like the good folks at the Lotto 649 they were selling hope (Strategic plan, Municipal reorganization, Improved efficiencies etc, etc).

Suddenly the last couple of weeks it was like Spring came early, a rebirth around town, people started talking about local politics and not in the Pollyanna sense that I have heard over the last eighteen months, but in the sense that they are starting to ask questions and have expectations.

“When is the strategic plan going to do something for us”, “why is the municipal hiring so many new people”, “where are the inefficiencies”, “how much are we spending on consultants”, “are our taxes going up”.

Then two weeks ago “the cancellation of TITV” all of a sudden the local media jumped on board, editorials were written that put our local government in less than a positive light, they have started to ask questions. Maybe just maybe the honeymoon is over, let’s be honest folks I have lived here for almost 30 years and this council has gotten a fairly easy ride from the media compared to previous councils.

On my first term on council I was told if you can’t handle the heat get out of the kitchen. So I felt it would be interesting to see how this council reacts over the next few months to feeling a little bit of pressure from the public and the media.  Well I did not have to wait a few months, Tuesday night March 20 I went to the council meeting. I expected just a regular council meeting, they went through the normal course of business. Just prior to going into camera the Mayor announces that he is going to do something different. He is going to allow the media the opportunity to ask a question each to clarify anything that may have happened that night. Didn’t seem like a bad idea until suddenly the Mayor seized the opportunity to chastise the media for some “blatant errors in both papers reporting over the last few weeks”, then the lecture turned to how critical it is that they report the council proceeding “accurately”. When a member of the media attempted to respond to his comments she was shut down very quickly and told this is not a “debate”.  

Wow, I realized at that moment why there is so little debate during the council meeting, (debate to me is not taking a moment to agree with the party line, or making the right motion). If this had been 30 years ago in the old USSR I think those members of  the media would have been carted off to the Gulag.     

During my six years on council I always believed I had the right to disagree with the media, to not like what they were printing. Never once did I feel like I had the right to control what they had to say to make sure that they reported “accurately”.

It will be very interesting to see how the media reports from this point forward!.            

Where have all the Volunteers Gone?

I think the editorial in this weeks Crowsnest Pass Promoter says it all.

http://www.crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3506785

Very well written.

Fireworks To ban them or to ban them

Tuesday night on the agenda is the second and third reading of the Fireworks bylaw.

March 6 first reading passed by a vote of 4-3. With councilors Gail, Gallant and Saje opposed.


There was a presentation made by the Interim Fire Chief about the bylaw he spoke in support of banning the sale and use of fireworks in the Crowsnest Pass. He was questioned about the possibility of allowing fireworks under a regulated process. But made it very clear that where other communities have allowed it the process was so Onerous that in reality Fireworks are allowed but people do not sell them because simply the procees is so complicated that nobody can be bothered.

So hence the title of my post "To ban them or to ban them"

Now I am sure  some of the councilors have been feeling a little pressure on this issue (especially with Fireworks being such an hot topic right now) so maybe somebody will flip flop on the vote Tuesday night time will tell.

But really if the process is going to be so difficult that nobody will bother, you really are banning them you are just providing the decision makers the opportunity to say "I didn't support banning Fireworks, I voted to allow them" .

But on the other side of the arguement the more laws in place the more potential for the Community Peace Officers to pay there way.

  

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.