Crowsnest Pass Council Meeting Oct 15,2013

Council Meeting Oct 15,2013

CAO Report of activities:

RC Strategies are in town conducting interviews with various user groups and will be sending surveys out to residents shortly regarding the Recreation Study

Interviews were conducted last week for the Director of Protective and Community Services new person will be starting in the position Nov 4.

Old hospital should be complete this week, with the contractor commencing on the old nursing home next week.

The new entrance signs are being constructed, with the tender for the bases to be awarded this week.

Fire Chief Munshaw informed us that Alberta as no set minimum standards for training levels for fire fighters, municipalities are allowed to set their own standards.

Councilor Gallant raised the issue with Chief Munshaw that businesses should be seeing reductions in their Fire Insurance, Mr Munshaw advised that businesses need to contact their Insurance companies and if they do not see a reduction then they need to contact:

Fire Chief Munshaw at  562-8833 and he will assist those businesses.

Alberta Municipal Affairs Inspection

Motion was made and passed by council to accept the Municipal Inspectors Report

CAO provided to council his recommendations for follow up actions on the Municipal Inspectors Report, motion was made and passed by council to accept recommendations.

Bylaw 870,2013 Council Procedural Bylaw

Was given second and third reading by council passed by a vote of 5-1 (Gail opposed)

Then council spent the last fifteen minutes congratulating each other and administration on the fine job they had done over the last three years.

That’s it for council meeting during this term of council, new council’s first meeting will commence @ 5pm on October 29 with a meet and greet followed by Official Oath of Office @ 6pm, Official Council Photographs @ 6:30pm, and lastly the Organizational Meeting of Council @ 7pm (That is where council divides up which committee’s they would like to sit on)

Crowsnest Pass Municipal Inspection Part 2

My Opinion of the Inspection.

In the province of Alberta there are roughly 450 municipalities, cities, towns, villages etc of various sizes and populations.

Municipal affairs is not going to get into the business of settling local issues in all of these communities. Once they settle one how many more will they have on their hand’s?

If you want more proof of this go look at the municipal affairs site, you will see there as not been a lot of Inspections and seldom do they go in favor of the petitioners.

What we went through last night and over the previous six months in the Crowsnest Pass was a process where by the Province of Alberta through its municipal affairs department,  said local issues will be resolved at the local level through the election process.   

I understand why the ratepayers started the petition I understand why 2500 plus people signed it. We have a council that implemented “Change”, unfortunately they did too much to fast. During the last three years in my opinion they lost touch with the taxpayers, government cannot please everybody but you must have a majority of the public on your side. I believe that a lot of the 2500 were not just upset about various issues in the community but felt that council was no longer hearing them.

Back to the report things that stood out to me:

The consultant told us that council did nothing illegal, he also told us that they can hire and fire who ever they want, including volunteers, he told us they can raise taxes, and cut spending where ever they want. They can pass policies, bylaws and procedures as they see fit.

The consultant also told us we have a very limited tax base most of which is residential, he told us that a high percentage of our population are seniors on a fixed income. In addition he told us that combined our mill rate and franchise fees have increased our taxes a lot. He told us that council and administration have done a poor job communicating with the employee’s, with the public and at times even with each other (especially when it comes to the issue of change). He told us that labor relations at the municipality are poor, that the relationship between management and CUPE is strained to say the least.   

The consultant also told us that this community should look at the possibility of a “viability study” the possible breakup of the present municipality. The consultant feels that the Crowsnest Pass as never come together as one community since amalgamation in 1979. I disagree with that, as one speaker so passionately stated last night every time there as been a need for this community to come together they have. I doubt for a moment that any future council will take that approach, would any of our rural MD neighbors want to take on any part of the Crowsnest Pass? I doubt that to.  

What Russell Farmer and the Province have told us, just five days prior to nominations closing and thirty three days prior to the election is you the residents of the Crowsnest Pass all have a opportunity to agree with or against council during the upcoming election process.   

The report as really made this whole process simple if you agree with what as happened here over the last three years re-elect this council or like minded individuals. If you disagree with what as happened then you better look at the alternatives.

Think long and hard before you make your choice on Oct 21^st, because if in two years you are not happy I think the Province as made it very clear you will be wasting your time looking to them to solve your problems   

Municipal Inspection Crowsnest Pass

If you want to know what happened at tonight's meeting (I will write more tomorrow after I read the full report) go back and read my post of Sept 11.
http://crowsnestpasshome.blogspot.ca/2013/09/crowsnest-pass-municipal-inspection.html

The only surprise to me was that the report recommends that next council considers the option of requesting Municipal Affairs to conduct a "viability study" of the Crowsnest Pass. In layman terms that would mean dissolving the municipality and having us gobbled up by our neighbours. Can you imagine the arguments some brave sole would make to convince the MD of Ranchlands or MD of Pincher Creek to take us in?

Below is the link to the full report


http://www.crowsnestpass.com/component/docman/doc_download/2284-alberta-municipal-affairs-municipality-of-crowsnest-pass-inspection-report?Itemid=

Crowsnest Pass Municipal Inspection

Wednesday night September 18, 5:30 pm at the MDM.

Expectations? Mine not a lot the report will find that according to the MGA council did nothing illegal. They will tell us that Council has put in place strategic plans, process and procedures. All those wonderful things that thrill and employ consultants and help feed the never ending bureaucracy we call government. The report may even mention that some of the things done here were very unpopular (again not illegal) they may even mention that council needs to look at some better approaches as far as communicating with the public. Then we will spend the next six weeks listening to everybody that has a interest picking apart the report to support their own positions.

What we all need to appreciate at this late point in this council's term this report is now a diversion.

The voters of this community really do have a simple choice ahead of them, if you support what this council as done then you need to vote for them or like minded individuals. If you do not support them then you need to look at the alternatives.

It is time now for the Crowsnest Pass to move forward, yes change is necessary but it needs to be change that the public supports and feels a part of.

Municipal Inspection, Crowsnest Pass

Was just informed by Russell Farmer that the municipal Inspection report will be presented to the public on September 18th. He stated that the municipality will be responsible to book a venue and advertise times etc.
So we should be seeing something soon. Reports will be made available to the public at the end of the presentation.

NOTE: In error I had posted Oct 18 what Mr Russell told me was Sept 18 just five days before nomination day.

Now is the time to speak up....Property Assessments and Municipal Inspections.

Property Assessments

I'm sure by now almost everybody has received their Property Assessments if your fine with what you received no problem. But if your not, do a little research call some of the local realtor's ask if the values of properties similar to yours have gone up or down. Look around you we have a number of situations in the Crowsnest Pass where people have seen a reduction on their assessed values due to where they live, plus if your living next door to an eye sore that will affect your values. If you feel your  concerns are valid contact the Municipality 562-8833 and ask to speak to the Assessor. (Glen Snelgrove who I have found over the years to be very reasonable to talk to.) I have spoke to so many people over the years that may have had a valid concern but they did not call, remember just because you call does not mean you will be in the appeal process, Mr Snelgrove usually resolves 95% of these issues prior to an appeal.  

Municipal Inspection

The Inspection is still ongoing it's not to late to speak up, if you wish to add your comments or concerns pick up the phone and call Cell: 403-966-7259 or  email @ russ@rfconsulting.ca

Municipal Inspection Team for the Crowsnest Pass

The Municipal Inspection team will be in town next week to conduct interviews, if you are interested in talking to these people the contact information is below:

Chris Hutchinson, Principal

Cell: 403-966-7259

Email: mailto:russ@rfconsulting.ca

Russell Farmer Inspection team coming to the Pass

I have just been informed that Russell Farmer will be in the Pass conducting interviews in 2-3 weeks everybody that wishes to speak up this will be your chance.
To contact them and set up an appointment here is the information:

Chris Hutchison, Russell Farmer Associates – 780-966-7259

 E-mail – inspection@rfconsulting.ca

The Blame game and moving forward Oct 21st

Just spent a couple of days thinking about what my fellow blogger John Prince posted  http://blog.johnprince.ca/2013/03/ratepayers-blame-game.html regarding the Ratepayers meeting the other night and who is to blame for our situation. Before I ramble on about my opinion of where we go from here I would like to make a couple of statements.

1. A lot of what John said is true.
2. Who's to blame? most of us I will be the first to admit, I voted for some of these guys. Let's be honest how many people got caught up in the "he's so educated, he's young, he's got some great idea's, he's going to cut our taxes once he gets everything in order....." the list could go on and on but never the less people got caught up in it.

What happens now? The municipal Inspection will come in listen to a lot of people, various organizations and then throw this issue back into the hands of the taxpayers on October 21st.
Even though this council has done a lot of things that a lot of people disagree with. When you read the Municipal government act, there is no clause  that says you can't raise taxes, franchise fees, hire administrators, bring in peace officers, get rid of fire departments, or for that matter spend tons of money putting a bunch of triangles together.
I am not saying for one second that the petition should not have been done I understand fully why people did it, but council instead of taking the attitude of listening to the statement 2500+ people made signing that petition, took an attitude of "bring it on you won't find anything wrong". Maybe if they had Calder Bateman working for them at that time they would have took a different approach.

What the Municipal Government act states is that we the people of this municipality get to make a choice on where we go from here. Even in the remote chance that  the province threw this council out we would still be faced with the same issue October 21st.

Now we can keep blaming, pointing fingers or we can start preparing for October 21 which ever route we pick  will ultimately come back to Oct 21st. So now we need to talk about moving forward, come Sept 23 (Nomination Day) I expect that most of the incumbents will put their names forth for the next term. So for those people that support this council the issue is very simple they will mark their x and look forward to four more years of what they have just had.

If you are not part of that group, you need to start thinking about either running for office yourself or looking at people around the community that could and will represent what you are looking for over the next four years.
The qualities required to sit on a municipal council? Some say that it requires common sense  that's true, it also requires that you can understand numbers, If you can't that first budget Administration will bury you with paper, past experience with budgets is a great asset.  Then you better have a back bone, very quickly you will be labelled one of the Mayor's puppets if you do not speak up. You also better understand it is impossible to please everybody, some peoples expectations are very high and at times unrealistic. There will be a need to make some very difficult decisions over the next four years if you do not have the stomach for that, please don't step forward. You also better be a person that is a good listener, people need to feel like you are really listening to them.
Most importantly if your going to help this community to move forward start of by being honest, do not tell the public you are going to fix everything over night. Do not tell people that once you get a handle on things you will cut taxes. Do not tell the people your are one of them and then spend the next four years looking down on them.
We, by that I mean the residents of the Crowsnest Pass that are not satisfied with the direction of this community over the last three years need to be preparing for some hard work and to start making some good choices or else we will get the same as we have had and maybe even worse for the next four years.

Municipal Inspection begins in the Crowsnest Pass

You can read the full article on the Crowsnest Pass Promoter site at the following address:

http://www.crowsnestpasspromoter.com/2013/03/15/municipal-inspection-begins

There is an address available for anybody that wishes to either be interviewed by, or willing to provide documentation or information you can do so by contacting Russell Farmer & Associates Consulting Ltd at 


inspection@rfconsulting.ca

Spoon fed the truth for Christmass….. Hallelujah

Available on Brian Gallant’s blog in response to Peter Rosners comments it looks like we are getting spoon fed the “truth” for Christmas. Available at the following address:

http://briangallant.ca/wordpress/2012/12/11/municipal-inspection/

I would like to address Councillor Gallants comments, first impression for anybody that did not know better would be that everything is good in our little community:

1. He addresses the volunteer boards issue, looking from the outside I would have the impression that everything with volunteer boards is good. Did it not take six months of advertising to fill all the boards and committee’s if they are indeed filled. Question for my readers does anybody think council would have backed down on the Pool authority prior to the petition, the authority had two letters from administration telling them they were done. Did council not know? Is this one of those cases of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing?
2. He appears to place all the blame on the firemen because they walked out. What did he and the rest of council expect? What would happen at the mine if a Union President was fired on the spot. No suspension pending investigation, no external review by an independent agency.   
3. Peace Officers have given almost no tickets for bylaw infractions (10 in the past six months) despite hundreds of complaints. That would lead me to believe that the community has been cleaned up? Very good. They have given a number of tickets to non-residents, so are our Peace Officers treating residents different to non-residents? I can speed on 20^th avenue but not my friend from Sparwood can’t.. This will work well for community branding “Crowsnest Pass Alberta’s best kept secret home of a little piece of paradise and the non-resident speed trap”.   
4. He speaks to Peter’s comments on the Municipal Inspection, still does not get it 2500 taxpayers are not happy, with the exception of the hundreds upon hundreds that were bullied and intimidated to sign.
5. He addresses the “bureaucratic monster” has no substance. So it’s just a figment of everybody’s imagination at this point in time we really don’t have a CAO, Director of Finance and Corporate services, Director of Planning Engineering and Public Works, Director of Community Services and Protective Services, Manager of public works, Fire chief, Deputy Fire Chief, plus advertising for a Manager of Corporate Services. This is not a “bureaucratic monster” but then has councilor Mitchell very proudly stated a year ago, “The public should keep in mind that we now only have three Directors when we used to have four”.
6. Tax increases no increase in 2011 and only 2.5% in 2012, yes Councilor Gallant puts all the blame for tax increases on the Provincial government and the seniors. Check out the mill rate bylaws in 2010 the Municipality collected $6,432,821 from the municipal taxpayers in that year. 2011 with no increase the municipality collected $123,000 more in general taxation than the previous year (0% increase maybe it was all those new houses going up, or our increased home values). In 2012 with just a 2.5% increase the municipality collected another $265,000 in additional general taxation (2.5% increase once again maybe it was all those new houses going up, or our increased home values). Lots of new homes and greatly increased property values I’m sure most home owners that are deciding to sell are doing well. Then lets not forget the additional tax increase (more commonly known as the Franchise Fee). Some will even attempt to argue that this is not a tax, 2010 it sat at $295,000 increased to $570,000 in 2012 and would have gone to $907,000 in 2013 had it not been for the uproar from the public. Instead, it will only jump to $682,000 next year being Christmas I guess we should be thankful that this little tax only jumped 231% in three years instead of the proposed 308%.
7. Thinking about the Tax increases and the Franchise Fees I guess us Taxpayers should be thankful again, that the municipality as decided over the last two years to take less money out of our left pocket and more out of our right pocket.
8. And now I will present the opportunity for anybody to comment on my points or to list for us all the good things that have been achieved.
9. Being the Christmas season every time I drive by the Blairmore shop I get to say hoe, hoe hoe.