We are not the only community with Firework problems

The following was sent to me by one of my readers I see we are not the only community that had problems with Fireworks. Thank goodness at the end of the day common sense prevailed.


 A fireworks cheer for fire chief

Mike W. Bryant
Staff columnist
Friday, December 31, 2010 

Previous columns 

Hats off to Yellowknife fire chief Darcy Hernblad and reasonable regulation minders everywhere.

Hernblad has broken the shackles of free-thinking men and women living in the city of Yellowknife so they can once again proudly purchase fireworks for private New Year's parties like normal grown-ups should, without fear of exorbitant fines and government retribution.

Gone are the dark days of his predecessor who would have had us cower in fear should we dare skip his $150 mandatory fireworks class and light off a Roman candle or cherry bomb without his suffocating hand to guide us.

It seemed incredible to me last year when former fire chief Albert Headrick decreed that henceforth no one in the city could purchase or handle consumer fireworks - the regular garden variety not used in large professional shows - unless they could find the time and money to attend his rinky-dink course, limited to a maximum 20 people.

It was even more incredible that not a single city councillor or MLA found it bothersome that an unelected, unaccountable bureaucrat could make a decision limiting the activities of taxpaying voters without their approval or consent.

How ironic then that Headrick was here barely long enough to witness the fruits of his directive. Two months after all but banning fireworks usage by adult Yellowknifers he returned to Saskatchewan after living in Yellowknife and serving as fire chief for 22 months.

"There's so much damage caused by fireworks displays and injuries that are sustained with them," said Headrick without providing a shred of evidence.

I say that because after poring through this newspapers' archives I couldn't find a single story related to injuries from fireworks in the Northwest Territories in 15 years. There are plenty enough involving, say, snowmobiles.

In fact, there have been two snowmobile-related deaths in and around Yellowknife just this year alone. Yet, as long as one has a valid driver's licence, there is no requirement from the city to take a separate course to learn how to drive a snowmobile.

I might be inclined to argue that driving a car and driving a snowmobile are two entirely different things. Nonetheless, take your snowmobile outside city limits and you're not even required to wear a helmet, let alone have a special licence to drive one of these potentially very dangerous machines.

Yes, in the wrong hands or in the wrong location, fireworks can spell disaster. It seems just as unwise to hand your 12-year-old a box full of Saturn Missiles as it would to fire them at your neighbour's house.

People, especially young people, do get hurt. Thankfully the rules require users to be 18, to have a permit and to set fireworks on ice a safe distance from people's homes.

Happy fireworks days are here again, and just in time for New Year's. It would have been nice to have some forewarning but still we have Hernblad, a Yellowknifer of 30 years, to thank for having the foresight and reasonableness of mind to let common sense rule.

It's a refreshing position coming from a public servant. Too often the impulse seems toward nanny statism and rules for rules' sake. 

Crowsnest Pass Ratepayers Meeting

THE CROWSNEST PASS RATEPAYERS MEETING

 

To be held on

 

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 5 @ 7:00 P.M.

 

In the BELLEVUE LEGION

 

Topics

·     Progress report on the petition

·     Discussion of G&P meeting

·     Open discussion

 

EVERYONE WELCOME

 

There is power and strength in numbers

Linear Taxation In equalities between Municipalities.

In Alberta you have in excess of 400 small municipalities, many are doing well with thriving economies and others are similar to the Crowsnest Pass in that they are struggling financially.

The provincial government allows Municipalities many ways to raise revenues such has property taxation, linear taxation, franchise fees, user fees, fine revenues etc. Most people understand property taxes, unfortunately in the Crowsnest Pass we have a very limited commercial tax base, so fast approaching 90% of property tax is collected from residents. Franchise Fees I am sure after the last six months most people know what they are. User fees are such things as the utility bill we pay every second month, ice time at the arena, rental of a municipal hall, etc. Fine Revenue we now have our own Community Peace Officers who some predict will bring us in large sums of money.

Lastly, there is Linear Taxation, from my conversations with people very few understand what Linear Taxation is. Real simple explanation it is the Tax dollars that CPR, power companies, gas or oil companies, windmills etc pay to be allowed to run their lines through your municipality.  

The Crowsnest Pass in 2011 brought in $587,000 in revenue from Linear Taxation which sounds like a lot, but it’s not when we compare to our neighbours  To the north we have MD of Ranchlands that brings in $4,000,000 a year in Linear taxation its area is large and a lot of oil and gas lines run through its municipality. To the east we have MD of Pincher Creek which brings in $3,000,000 a year just from windmills. Also keep in mind that these municipalities are very rural have little infrastructure and very few facilities to maintain. In simple terms costs are low and revenues high quite the opposite to the Crowsnest Pass.

You might think this situation is unique to the Pass its not, look at Cold Lake right in the middle of oil and gas country, one would assume that they are rolling in money. Over the last ten years that community’s population has more than doubled, putting tremendous pressure on its local government to build roads, put in water and sewer lines, build new facilities etc. You would imagine that they have all kinds of tax base, not to the degree they need most of that oil and gas development is taking place outside of their municipal boundaries, but all the people that are coming there are living in Cold Lake. They attempted to share revenues with the surrounding municipalities and had some minor success, not enough, they even went as far as to dissolve their municipality to force the province to assist them. George Cuff and his company went in did a report for the province the last I heard was that the province refused their request to be dissolved, they made some minor agreements with surrounding municipalities and the province told them to basically live within their means.

   

Back to the Crowsnest Pass, I sat on council for six years it became apparent after a few budget cycles that money is not something the Pass has an abundance of. We looked for other sources of revenue the administration pointed out the opportunity that sat to the North of us with Ranchlands. We met with Ranchlands administration and council a number of times and spoke to various ministers about moving some of those linear tax dollars towards the Crowsnest Pass. You can see how much success we had, maybe this council will have better luck with the powers to be in Edmonton and convincing our neighbours to the north to share with us. I hope so.   

Council is right, previous council was right and I am sure councils prior to the one I sat on looked at this issue. There is an inequality between municipalities on this linear taxation issue and there are municipalities that have much higher costs than others. But  I suspect if a municipality like the Crowsnest Pass was in the financial position of a MD of Ranchlands we would be telling them to get their financial house in order prior to coming to us cap in hand.   

Talk about perfect timing getting the answers in the Crowsnest Pass.

Yesterday I posted the following article http://crowsnestpasshome.blogspot.ca/2012/11/a-community-divided-real-fix-is-eleven.html

Almost ironically, I receive an email this morning from the municipality, it’s the monthly newsletter. I will take a few quotes from the Mayors Corner and contribute my own thought’s.

Quote #1.  “I think it’s safe to say we are all very interested in local politics and hopefully will continue to be. I have to admit I am a bit disappointed in that we have held two budget meetings – with no one in attendance.”

Response #1 Looks like the people are speaking by their absence.

Quote #2  “I understand the current Councils’ “petition” has been delivered to Edmonton. The Minister of Municipal Affairs will ultimately make a decision based on wisdom, expertise, legislation and as a Council we will, as I have indicated on several occasions, abide by his decision.”

Response #2 Did not realize it was the current councils “petition” I had assumed that it was gathered by the ratepayers. Maybe this was an attempt at a little bit of sarcasm.

Quote #3 “On a positive note administration will be rolling out the new Fire Plan probably before Christmas. The plan promises to provide improved service and long term savings. The Director of Protective and Community Services, Mr. Albert Headrick has indicated the plan will provide a cost savings of over one half million dollars over the next two years and ongoing savings thereafter.

Response #3 Are we talking here about the operational budget, capital budget combination of both? The budget for Fire and Rescue (Operational) in 2010 was less than $400,000 if they are going to reduce that by $500,000 in the next two years, it will be very interesting to see what they will do. If it is reducing the capital budget by not going with a $1.3 million Quint and instead buying something for $800,000 that’s just playing with numbers.

Quote #4 “  We are in the process of determining an open house date for our hotel development team to gather input from yourselves regarding the development. I suspect it will be in February. Contrary to rumor no “flag” hotel has yet been determined”

Response #4 Maybe not an “Holiday Inn” looks like we are buying time. I predict that come next September we are going to have all of these “Hot” projects ready to go subject to the developers, manufacturers, corporations maintaining a level of comfort with the direction of the “next” municipal council.

Quote #5 “ The manufacturing company will be flying its executives out from Quebec to view the site again. The hot water situation and environmental regulation is still a problem”  

Response #5 These problems will not get fixed in the short term, probably require another three years see response #4 above.

Quote #6 Your Chief Administrative Officer and I have met with four representatives of a heavy industry once more to discuss further possibilities. They indicated they would make a decision towards the end of the first quarter of 2013 or the beginning of the second quarter. I am amazed at the research and care these companies take to ensure that all environmental and social requirements can be met before they commit. This is a welcome and complete reversal from my experience as a young man. We have come a long way.

Response #6 Love the way all this timing is coming together, see response #4 and #5 above. Does anybody really believe that none of these guys are running in the next election.

Quote #7 “On November 13th Councillors Gail, Gallant, the Chief Administrative Officer and I met with Minister Griffiths to discuss Highway 3 and the MD of Ranchlands. As you are aware the Provincial government has recently indicated it is not adverse to borrowing funds for much needed infrastructure projects – I would like to see our highway at the top of the list. We were able to provide the Minister with a review of the need for a new highway relative to the bright future of the Pass. Our second issue was the need to seriously address the problem of the MD of Ranchlands vis à vis the Crowsnest Pass. There are many complexities involved however we confirmed the obvious inequities and the positive impact on our taxes if an amalgamation could be realized. The Minister indicated he would visit us hopefully early in the New Year for a tour of the Pass and to continue these discussions.”

Response #7 It seems a long time ago since the provincial election remember all that talk from the PC’s about balance budgets, surpluses in fairly short order. Remember the opposition parties stating that the PC’s were basing their numbers on overly optimistic oil and gas prices. Now we find out that they were only talking about operational budgets, HWY 3 may be a priority for this community but it is not for Edmonton.

The MD of Ranchlands good luck I went to meetings with ministers to, met with the Council and CAO of Ranchlands, seen many letters go back and forth. I have not met many neighbors that are willing to share there good fortunes with the poor guy down the street. Which way do you think the MD of Pincher Creek and every other wealthy municipality are lobbying on this issue.

Quote #8    “In conclusion, Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “You will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you.” Please make no mistake. Your elected Council knows its duty well and is committed to fulfilling that duty to the citizens of Crowsnest Pass.”

Response #8 No matter what we the taxpayers think or care about the path they have chosen. 

A community divided, the real fix is eleven months away.

My fellow blogger Mr Prince is calling for a town hall meeting, the people that signed the petition are waiting for municipal affairs.

I think this municipality at this point in its short history is deeply divided, unfortunately it is not going to be repaired in the next eleven months. Any one of us can wish for a different out come but realistically it is not coming in the short term. The petition and municipal affairs will run its cause and hopefully something will come of that, if not then people need to be preparing for October 21^st 2013 that will be the communities next real opportunity for “change”.

Why do I feel it’s too late for real change with this council, the issues that have been put in front of the taxpayers over the last two years have been too numerous and two divisive.

Can a town hall meeting fix these issues? I don’t think so, most of the people I speak to could care less about a town hall meeting they have seen them become a platform for our leader to pump his chest, berate anybody that disagrees with him. I was so shocked when I watched a highly educated seventy year old man walk across a room to the sound of a few boos, waving his arms and telling the people to bring it on. (Leadership?)

I sat down last Friday and listened to a veteran administrator tell a reporter the way it is. (Yes it was as bad has it sounds). Communications has not been this council’s downfall in all honesty they have probably done a better job of communicating than any previous council, the problem is not so much communications it is what they have said and done. 

This Council believes in building a Bureaucracy by the time they have restructured they will have gone through more administrators in eighteen months than any other council in our history and have more upper management in place then we have ever seen before. Mean while we have a demoralized workforce that is scared and bullied to the point where a large percentage of them are in fear of their jobs.

This community has no commercial tax base, if we only did what we could pay for three quarters of what happens in this community would not happen. The key for this community is volunteers I came to learn this lesson over the last ten years, are there any volunteers left? Sure there are but not many, with what happened with Thunder in the Valley/Rum Runner Days and the Firemen situation who’s going to step forward. Want more proof of that look at municipal boards despite three months of advertising nine boards are short of members. Why do you think council backpedaled on getting rid of the Swimming Pool Authority two weeks ago? They desperately need to reverse the perception in the public forum as to how volunteers are being treated. What we did not  need is a member of council slamming the public because they didn’t support their way of doing things on the Rum Runner days weekend maybe just maybe the silent majority did not want it to change.  

The public has spoken about how they feel, despite the fact that 2500 people signed a petition in less than three weeks (more than double what is legally required). This council and its members can only focus on the “silent majority still supports us”, “or people were bullied and intimidated into signing”. Tell those people to contact municipal affairs I am sure the powers to be would love an excuse not to deal with this petition. Does it not say that the public has a problem with where you are going?

Look at our tax situation we hear great fanfare about a three year budget that only had annual increases of 2.5%, I didn’t hear anybody from council or administration tell us that Franchise Fees were going to increase more than 300% in three years.

Will the books balance at the end of the year? Of course they will I could spend hours writing about how numbers are shuffled. For example  take a look at Manager of Corporate Services, that position was only filled for three months this year. The other nine months of monies set aside for that position will be used to make the numbers work. My concern is the million dollars a year of administration moving forward how do we pay for that in future years when all the positions are filled year round?

Financial credibility is there any out there, after waiting for three and a half months look at the numbers that were presented for Rum Runner Days, remember the talk about $150-$200,000 not even close.   

Community Peace Officers all those that think these positions are going to pay for themselves raise your hand now. That’s a fallacy that will be proven over time, I can remember the consultant telling council at a G+P meeting that there were 290+ locations in violation of the unsightly premises bylaw how many of them have been cleaned up? Is there a date that they will be cleaned up by? So what happens with the bylaw officers once they are cleaned up?

Promises even though they were followed with a “you can take this with a grain of salt”

CLC gone before first snowfall, sharing Ranchlands tax base, Quebec manufacturer, deal with the hotel developer done in two weeks, two more, thirty days, heavy industry with up to 700 jobs. Politically you can sell hope all you want but sooner than later it has to be realized or you lose creditability.    

I think we have reached the point where the majority (be they loud or silent) do not pay a whole lot of attention anymore to what this council has to say or do. Most people are counting down the time until Oct 21,2013. Will a town hall meeting change that?   

Numbers, Figure this mess out and win a big prize.

After numerous requests to compare the various numbers that have been presented on the Rum Runner Days I will attempt to provide that information. It’s very hard to do because to have a true comparison you need to use the same categories in each case but that was not done so it becomes difficult. All the numbers in black were the ones presented to the Rum Runner Days committee on Feb 22, the numbers in green were the one’s provided by Councillor Saindon on March 13, finally the numbers in red are the one’s provided to the public at the Nov 6 council meeting.

Total revenue of $93,750 made up of the following:

Cash on Hand $0    $16,000

Municipal contribution $50,000  $50,000 $40,000

Carnival rides $2,500 $2,500

Business Licenses $2,250 $3,000

Vendor Permits $4,500 $6,000

Camping $16,500 $10,000

Thunder in the Valley $3,000 $2,000

Lions Club $2,000 $2,000

Parking Shuttle $13,000 $9,500

Municipal Soft Costs $25,000

Friday Night Wine and Arts $1,500

Saturday Night Concert $15,000

Saturday Night Food and Beverage $2,500

Merchandise Sales $15,000

Show and Shine Revenue $2,500

Sponsorships $19,247

Revenues from Venues and Merchandise Sales $16,944

Cost Recoveries $9,260

With costs of the following which added up to $168,880:

Municipal staff costs $32,280 $19,200 $9,010

Municipal equipment $10,000 $0

Municipal office $11,200 $6,600

Advertising $3,000 $3,000

Website design/modifications $3,500 $3,500

Promotion $2,000 $2,000

Washroom rentals $16,500 $12,500

Waste pickup and disposal $4,000 $4,000

Security Fencing $500 $1,500

Tent and Accessories rental $1,500 $2,500

Lethbridge Search and Rescue $7,500 $0

RCMP Policing $35,000 $20,000

Regional Peace Officers/Sheriffs $25,000 $15,000

Bus Rentals $9,600 $1,920

Donation to Boys and Girls Club $2,000 $1,500

Donation to Coleman Society $1,800 $1,500

Donation to Kanaskis Rodeo $2,000 $1,500

Donation to Quad Squad $1,500 $1,500

Wine and Art night $1,500

Saturday Night concert $8,500

Gazebo Park Entertainment $3,000

Kids Show $3,500

Stage Rental $13,500

Show and Shine Merchandise $4,000

Merchandise Purchase Costs $20,000

Advertising and promotions (Including T-shirts) $25,642

Bank Charges $76

Entertainment, Parade and Show and Shine $33,316

Licenses, permits and Insurance $390

Printing, Copying, Paper, Postage $3,420

Transportation $640

Port a potties, Handwash Stations and Dumpsters $5,561

Security (Includes RCMP) $18,017

Signage $2,394

Confused? I am typing this and pride myself on being good with numbers but this boggles my mind.

Let’s try to decipher things a little bit maybe the confusion and hysteria that came with these numbers were created for a reason.

Revenue Feb 22, $93,750  March 13, $160,500  November 6, $85,452

Costs Feb 22, $168,880 March 13, $151,720 November 6, $89,456

Loss Feb 22, $75,130 March 13, $8,780 (profit) November 6, $4,004 (loss)

Now let us compare a few of the categories that make up the numbers above:

Municipal staff costs went from $32,280 to $19,200 to $9,010

Municipal equipment from $10,000 to zero to zero

Washroom rentals, waste pickup and dumpsters $20,500 to $16,500 to $5,561

Policing/Peace Officers $60,000 to $35,000 to $18,017

 Just in the four area’s above you have numbers going from $122,780 to $70,700 to $32,588.

Anybody get the feeling that the numbers were inflated for a reason? Imagine if they were going to buy a piece of equipment and the first quote they received was for $1,227,800 then the second quote was for $707,000 then the actual price was $325,880. You would look at the salesmen like they were idiots.

The Prince of alternative Media as struck again with another story about the cutting edge changes we are seeing in the Pass

Dealing with the Media Policy

Well when the media prints something you don't like or fell is wrong: do the following

http://blog.johnprince.ca/2012/11/exclusive-news-story-pass-herald-being.html

and if you think this is a one time deal check out the following :

 http://crowsnestpasshome.blogspot.ca/2012/03/control-name-of-game.html


Pretty soon should we have all the reporters present their stories to administration to check for accuracy before printing them.

Had to feel bad for those two young ladies the other night first lose their mothers home and then be berated and the way I heard it lied to.