Who are these people that are angry? Lots of them in the
last month I have had many, many people talk to me about the issues below.
Thunder In the Valley was deferred for a year (now two) Why?
for safety reasons and costs, fair enough you may agree or not but those were
the reasons given.
Then we go through the event that tore this community in
half the restructuring of the Fire Departments. Why? We were told in the name
of efficiency and cost savings ($37,000) a year by shutting down the Hillcrest
Fire hall.
Then we get to the mess called the 2013 budget on the eve of
finalizing the budget, six months after the process had began (that’s right SIX
months) administration realizes that our assessment base as dropped by 5.7%
instead of the 2% projected when the budget process started. To make the
numbers work after the last moment revelation Council decides that the $100,000
that was supposed to go into reserves for the Seniors lodge should be dropped.
Fair enough sometimes tough choices have to be made to balance
the books we all know we are not knee deep in cash here.
So why are people so out raged in our little community right
now? not the never ending debate about TITV or the fire departments or even the
fact that we did not honor a ten year commitment made by the council of the day
four years ago to our seniors.
What as gotten people really angry is the many questionable
decisions being made regarding the CLC site.
(I would use the term hotel development but why talk about something that is just
a figment of somebody’s imagination at this point).
Our team of Council/administration who to the best of my
knowledge have zero experience in the area of hotel development (I stand to be
corrected) decided to enter into an agreement with a company that had gone
through years of financial difficulties.
The municipality spends $10,000 on a feasibility study that
is redundant a year later. Untold amounts of money on legal fees putting
together a “ironclad” contract with Medican ensuring that within two years we
will have a hotel.
We then find out that we have third parties working for us
(Clay Cup, Group Vachon) to secure a Best Western franchise. One of which (Clay
Cup) informs us that there are many groups that could get a Best Western
franchise. They also tell us that our
feasibility study was amateurish and that they really did not want to work with
this council.
Then our latest (hotel finder-Group vachon) comes to us, and
say’s “I have ownership of the rights to a Best Western but I paid $50,000 to
buy those rights”. Now this (hotel finder) determines that he wants to own
those rights but does not want to “risk” his own $50,000. So in one of those
hard to believe moments Council says not to worry we will take the risk you can
have the ownership of the rights we will take all the risk.
This is why people are anger the “we” taking the risk is “us”
the taxpayers. They are also angry because we had to “defer” TITV partially due
to costs, we had to go through that community dividing exercise of saving
$37,000 by closing the Hillcrest hall. Then in the biggest disgrace of all we
could not find the $100,000 to put into reserves for seniors.
But we could find $10,000 for a feasibility study, $1,000’s
for lawyers to draw up a contract and $50,000 to buy a Best Western franchise
for Group Vachon.
(Believe it or not folks we paid for it but we don’t own
it.)
For the icing on the cake the Mayor’s corner comes out and
attempts to provide a positive spin that says we are actually moving forward.
Despite the fact that we have No Investors, No developers, and
do not even know if we should fill in the hole where the old hospital sits. Due
to the fact that we do not know if the hotel will be built at the East or the
West end of the property.
I had a feeling that some people would be gullible enough to
buy in to this nonsense, but that is certainly not the reaction that I am
hearing around town.
People are pissed off.
