Saturday, September 13, 2008

A Big Red Herring...cheque with the Mayor?

I think this is quite a neat trick by our Mayor Clifford Lee and his City Mismanager. They blame the Liberals for not having money the Tories promised them. There’s an old saying “don’t spend what you don’t have” and Cliff and his posse should have thought about that before they spent it. Clifford wants to put it all on our Police Department but I think if there should be any review of how our tax money is squandered at City Hall it should be in the Mayor's office. So how many plum jobs in the recreation dept and public works dept go through the Mayor's office and at what cost? Why did the Mayor sell the land so cheap next to City Hall, as by my estimate alone, he squandered away $1,000.000.00 in missed revenue that taxpayers could have used? What goes on behind the Mayor's closed door? I don't know but I suspect ... yes a FULL REVIEW of the Mayor's office should be done! Some free advice Council, raise our taxes and I’m sure they’ll boot you out…
Here's what one person's comments about this were;
Research what happened in Newfoundland in 1998-02 with provincial members under Premier Brian Tobin - no Auditor General, no accountability. Secret monies were being funneled into the pockets of high ranking gov't officials and politiicians. CharlieTown's City Council is no different, no Auditor General, no accountability.Council runs a $40 million annual budget with public money and NO one is watching or reporting on best practises.And 'important' meetings are held in secret... it smells like the fish on my fingers!!
Charlottetown police to undergo major review
BY TERESA WRIGHT
The Guardian
By Teresa Wright
The City of Charlottetown is commissioning a full review of the Charlottetown Police Department in an effort to deal with growing demands for more police services, Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee announced Friday. With so many new concerts and special events now being held in the city, tremendous demands are being placed on existing police services, Lee said in a press conference at City Hall Friday morning. “We realize there are ongoing issues in the community with regards to policing that need to be addressed now,” Lee said. “The concerns range from late night disturbances, highway traffic act enforcements, visibility of our police department in all neighbourhoods — these are major issues and trust me when I say city council does take these issues seriously.” An independent, external consulting firm will be hired to conduct the review. It will focus on operational, facility, management, administrative and governance issues, Lee said. It will also look at the financial issues impacting service delivery in the city.Because, despite increased demand for police services, the city cannot afford to hire more police officers, Lee said. In fact, the city of Charlottetown has fewer revenues than it budgeted for. Earlier this week, council met with a group of the province’s MLAs and was told the province would not be granting the city an outstanding sum of $230,000 the mayor says was promised to the city by the Pat Binns government in 2007. This financial loss will not only affect policing, it will affect all the city’s resources, Lee said. “The reality is the city is facing financial challenges across the board,” he said. “They will affect every department with the (city) corporation.” That’s why this police review is being done. It’s one of a number of reviews the city is planning for a many of its other departments over the coming years, Lee said. Coun. Danny Redmond, who chairs the city’s police services committee, said this police review is long overdue. “It has been over 16 years —since the department has been examined,” Redmond said. “We want to find areas of improvement and find positive ways and means to bring about those improvements.” Police Chief Paul Smith said the Charlottetown police department is always looking at ways to provide better services, and he’s looking forward to what this review will find. “This review will help us identify are there things that we’re doing that maybe we can do better or do in a more efficient manner, or are there things that we were doing that maybe we don’t do anymore?” Smith reflected. The review will look at visibility of the police force in town, staffing issues, as well as a big drop in speeding tickets issued this year. In 2008, about half as many speeding tickets were issued as there were to this date in 2007. This in turn, has reduced the income for the city that comes from those tickets, Lee said. “That’s one of the issues that will be looked at through the consultant’s report.” The police review will incorporate interviews with elected officials, civic administration, employees of the police department, the attorney general’s office, the Crown prosecutor’s office, and senior members of the RCMP. The city is putting out a request for proposals for a consulting firm to conduct this review. A draft report, complete with a list of recommendations for council, is expected within three months of the consultant being hired.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Research what happened in Newfoundland in 1998-02 with provincial members under Premier Brian Tobin - no Auditor General, no accountability. Secret monies were being funneled into the pockets of high ranking gov't officials and politiicians.

CharlieTown's City Council is no different, no Auditor General, no accountability.

Council runs a $40 million annual budget with public money and NO one is watching or reporting on best practises.

And 'important' meetings are held in secret... it smells like the fish on my fingers!!