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Council Report Card, Deceber 2011 By Sandra Soloman At a recent Council meeting, Councillor Ken Roth remarked that this Council had reached its first anniversary. A while ago I had been asked to consider doing a Report Card on Council – promises had been made during the election campaign and the question was if these promises had been kept. Councillor Susan Fielding was the only incumbent to be re-elected. As many of you know, Susan is a friend of mine and I was her Campaign Manager (a bit of a glorified title in my case!). As this is Susan’s third term in office, it would appear that Puslinchers share my high regard for her and the work she does for the Township. So, as she is not a “new” member of Council, I will not be assessing her: She continues to work hard and deliver, as she always has in the past. By far the biggest issue in the Election last year was the 12% tax increase thrust upon us by the previous Council. I believe the starting number for the tax increase was astronomically high and this figure had been reached at the end of a very long day of haggling and arguing (otherwise known as discussion) over what could be removed to lessen the increase. Two Council Members of the time were heavily influenced by the opinions of the Mayor (despite his often questionable fiscal policies) so it was a foregone conclusion that the objections of the remaining two Councillors would be overridden. This was highlighted when Councillors Visser and Fielding tried to revisit the budget and make amendments to lower the tax increase and were ridiculed by the Mayor and other Councillors. The main reason for the increase was to cover the cost of the Optimists Recreation Centre (then called the MURF) and the settlement related to the Fire Department. These were one-time expenses and would not be repeated (one hopes). So, Mayor Dennis Lever, Councillors Ken Roth and Jerry Schmidt all ran on reducing taxes and Councillor Wayne Stokley promised to monitor spending. How did they do? Tax increases: The headlines blared: Puslinch Council Adopts 2011 Budget with 4% Tax Decrease or something like that. Wow! But before you go patting Council on the back, let us look at what it really meant. The previous year there had been a 12% tax increase based on two ONE-TIME expenses. Not ongoing, just one-time. So those expenses did not appear on the books for 2011. There should have been an automatic decrease of 12% just to get us back to a level playing field. THEN, if they had reduced the taxes by more than 12%, and only then, could they claim to have reduced taxes. Result: Failure. Transparency: Another issue in the campaign was transparency and openness. There had been several deals made over the past few years with no input from the community and, in fact, no input from members of Council: the proposed Big Lake project, the new library and work done on Carroll Pond, to name a few. Residents were upset. After all, this was their money that was being spent and these were big ticket items. The new people on Council all promised to be more open, more inclusive and not to keep the community in the dark over issues. In Camera (Closed) Meetings: I have raised the issue of in camera (closed) meetings on several occasions. I am well aware of what necessitates matters being discussed in closed meetings. I am also well aware that there is a danger that other matters will be tacked on behind closed doors – matters that do not fall under the cloak of closed meetings (Appreciation Night is a new one on me)! There seemed to be a lot of closed meetings in the first year (double the same period under the old Council) and because they are closed, I don’t know if I need be concerned or not. Result Transparency (1): Possibly Failure Community Forums: These were introduced at the request of Councillor Wayne Stokley who had heard from many residents that they would like to have some form of input. A staff report noted that the public had adequate opportunities to access Council, but Council chose to ignore it and go ahead with the Forums. I suppose, you could define them as an opportunity for Council to be more open with the community, more transparent. Initially there were a lot of historical questions/concerns that needed to be answered. At the last Forum in November, most of them had been dealt with and the goal of using the Forums as input for the future direction of the Township seemed to have been reached. Makes you wonder why they were suddenly cancelled. Maybe the Mayor doesn’t want help with the future direction of the Township. Or maybe they were too “transparent” for him and some members of Council. Result Transparency (2): Based on this, I would have to say Failure. Roads: The intersection of Highway 6 South and Concession 1 was a concern to some residents who attended the All-Candidates meetings. This was an issue that the Council of the day was already looking at and the new Council continued dealing with it. The Mayor was very keen to undertake an expensive study (around $8,000), despite OPP statistics showing that the accidents are few, minor and occur at Bryan’s Farm Supply, NOT Concession 1. Fortunately, the rest of Council prevailed and the proposed study was defeated. Council further decided it would be too costly for Township residents and take too much time (dealing with the MTO is a long drawn-out affair) to pursue the matter. Result: Success – for our taxes! (This really is an unnecessary access given the proximity to Leslie Road. However, the cost to remove the intersection would raise our taxes astronomically. Maybe the Mayor should be putting his efforts into pushing the Highway 6 South realignment instead). Individual Members of Council: Mayor Dennis Lever. Council Meetings: · The Mayor implied that, because he had sat through almost every Council meeting over the past couple of years, he knew how to run the Township. I think he has discovered a few facts in the past year. The Township has two bosses: Wellington County and the Province and there is not a lot of wiggle room on anything. · He often gets caught up in the details and has trouble with the big picture. He is too involved in the process and has a really hard time letting go and letting a very able staff do their jobs. A good manager relies and trusts their staff and worries about setting policy and letting staff implement it. · I think the Mayor cannot see the trees since he is often lost in the forest. Staff: · Prior to being elected he had stated that if front-line staff did not work well with the public they should be removed. I am not sure how this really played out but I do know we have lost some very good staff over the course of the year. They “left” of their own free will and were not “removed.” · He wanted to “take back control of planning in the Township” by hiring our own planner (then, as is now, we use the services of the County, as and when we need it, and are very well served by them). Fortunately, this has not come to fruition and would be a real waste of tax payers’ money. Of course, who knows what is being hatched behind closed doors! Community Functions: · He was all over the Township while campaigning; the same cannot be said after his election. He has said he will attend anything he is invited to – not necessarily true. · One of the complaints about the previous Mayor was that his focus had become the County and not Puslinch. At least for the first 18 years Brad Whitcombe worked hard for the Township. It seems that the current Mayor has taken all of 6 months to put the County ahead of the Township. A reminder, Mayor Lever, as the previous mayor discovered, without Puslinch there is no County. Other Points: Nestle Waters: · He thought a cumulative impact study should be done to see the effect Nestle Waters was having on the water supply. One thing I have discovered over the year is that the Mayor likes studies – all kinds, even if they are not needed. To my knowledge this study has not been done and I hope it stays that way. Highway 6 South Realignment: · Prior to the election he thought this should have already been completed and that Council needed to lobby the government. They needed to stress the commercial and safety benefits. For many years the Council of the day had been doing just that to no avail. · In the past year I have not seen much lobbying on the part of the Mayor to get the realignment done, though he did make a presentation to the leader of the Conservative Party at the Good Roads Meeting in February. Result: I am sure the Mayor thinks he has done a good job. I think there is lots of room for improvement, especially when it comes to doing his job and letting staff do theirs. Councillor Ken Roth: Council Meetings: · His focus before being elected and since seems to be how money is spent. Given this, I am surprised that he agreed to what amounted to an 8% tax increase for 2011. Guess, like Rob Ford, he couldn’t find the “gravy”. · It is only in very recent months that he has participated at all at Council meetings. Maybe he doesn’t like speaking in public – sorry, it goes with the job. · For someone who was on a previous Council (in Seaforth), he has shown very little knowledge for how municipalities are run. · He appears to almost always line up behind the Mayor and does not seem to be taking on many Council duties. · His attitude seems to be constantly negative and he is definitely no visionary. Staff: · The word around the Township is that he is not averse to dealing with staff directly – usually when he has an axe to grind. This is not his domain. The CEO is responsible for staff. If he has a problem, he goes to her and she deals with it. Is this why we lost some good staff? · He thought that the Township offices should be open over the lunch hour. This has been done and I hope they take a look at it to see if the extra money being spent and stress on staff warrants it. If only one or two people are making use of it (as I understand is the case), it should be reconsidered. Community Functions: · Has appeared at hardly any. Other Points: Roads: · There is currently a study underway assessing Calfass Road which is divided into 3 sections: Highway 6 South to Settler’s Way; Settler’s Way to the Old Age Home and the Old Age Home to Concession 7. · The only section that is needed (as opposed to wanted) is the first section from Highway 6 to Settler’s Way. · I have to wonder if they would be looking at the whole length if Councillor Roth didn’t live on the corner of Calfass Road and Concession 7. Result: I was not expecting much from him so I can hardly be disappointed. Surprisingly, this Councillor received the highest number of votes in the last election. Based on what I am hearing in the community, people are sorely disappointed in his performance. He can only improve – I hope. Councillor Jerry Schmidt Council Meetings: · Often seems ill-prepared and lost during meetings. · He was also concerned about taxes and spending. He seemed to think before being elected that there was lots of “gravy” in the system but, like Mayor Ford, he has found there isn’t. · By his own admission, he had never attended any Council meetings prior to being elected –and it showed. Some of his suggestions had already been dealt with (many times) over the years and found not to work. Community Functions: · When he is in the Township and is reminded, he will participate in a few community functions – in fact doing outstanding work for the Family Violence Night Silent Auction. Result: I think his heart is in the right place and he seems to genuinely care about doing the best for the Township. He needs to be more focused and committed. Councillor Wayne Stokley: Perhaps the best prepared of the new Councillors so his learning curve was shorter than some. Council Meetings: · Once Wayne settled into his Council role, he was able to relax and became less nit-picky. · He was the driving force behind the Community Forums (keeping a promise he had made to the community while campaigning). Community Events: · He has attended and participated at many community events and open houses over the year. · He has worked hard on any Committee he has sat on. Result: A hard-working Councillor and an asset to Council. In short, most of the new Council Members have a lot of room for improvement. The Mayor was extremely critical of the previous Council, yet I don’t see him improving anything and in many cases things are worse. The good news, for them, is that the first year is usually the hardest. The bad news is that people will now be expecting more from them. Prior to and during the election period these Council Members were very hard on the previous Council. Now they are in the hot seat and they should be prepared to face the same scrutiny. They sold themselves to the electorate as being able to do better than the Council of the day. It is up to them to put their money where their mouth is and deliver – or face the criticism if they fall short. Editor's Note: Thank you very much Sandra, for this detailed report. I defer to your judgment on the business of council, but I disagree with you about the Township Office being open at lunch. In the past I have been very annoyed to get to the office and find it closed. For years I started work at 1:30 so it was handy to swing by on the way to work. In the past year I have used this service twice. I don't see how this service can be more expensive or stressful as only one person needs to be there and s/he would take lunch earlier or later--no big deal. |