Ramara's New Townhall

Ramara's next mega-project will be building a new city hall. Provincial law now mandates all buildings will need to accommodate persons with disabilities (which is a good thing). The cost to renovate the existing town hall in Brechin, to comply with these requirements, will be significant. Building a new structure, at another location, may better meet the needs, of the township, and its' ratepayers.

At the Nov. 26th meeting , I challenged council to take steps to ensure their decision making process was open, transparent and free of any politically motivated bias, by establishing Terms of Reference for this project. No one on council was will to endorse my request, at that time.

These terms are important as they clearly define:

• the goals and objectives for the new facility
• define key decision making criterias
• define sites within Ramara suitable to this facility

It is my personal opinion that this council will skew this process so that will ensure that a new facility will be build at the current Brechin location. Council, or the township's unelected leaders don't want to see anything that takes away from their ability to bias their decision making.

Fortunately for council their actions are yet again dictated by the inaction of the majority of ratepayers to that the time to see what their elected officials are up to!

Locating the new structure, at the current Brechin location, may indeed be the best decision. But how will we ever know? If this council doesn't take the time to define what the key decision making factors are, what ever decision is made, it won't pass this ratepayers "smell test".

Key factors to be considered:

• What is the commercial value of the current town hall property? Would it's sale allow for a $$ windfall? Will the township undertake a study to determine it's commercial potential?
• Does the township currently own property large enough to build a new townhall? Disclose where? Pros and cons of these sites?
• Brechin already has existing municipal facilities, and should consider spreading the wealth in our locations, within the township. Are their existing policies, on this matter?
• How will we be paying for it? How much has been saved to date? Or will we need to mortgage the farm to have it built?
• What is the timeline to have a study completed?
• Will delays cause result in a non-compliance with provincial accessibility laws and what would the consequences be?

The decision where, when and what to build needs to be open and transparent. To accomplish this Ramara needs to clearly define its goals, objectives, and a methodology it plans to use to deliver this project.

This is not going to happen if ratepayers don't step up to the plate and demand it of their elected representatives. Don't expect them to change on their own. They're enjoy their unaccountable status!

Upcoming Battle of the Haves vs Have Nots in Simcoe County

One of the (few) successes of Ramara Council was to make public the honey of a deal Casino Rama made with Ramara Tsp. ( a have not community), Simcoe County and the Province, to built a beauty of a road to and from Hwy 12 to the Casino. Unfortunately Ramara's council, in the beginning, never negotiated a deal for Casino funding to maintain this roadway.

The response from Innisfil Tsp. is typical for a have community, in Simcoe County. They have their cash cow, and they don't want to share. If that is their position then Innisfil should also keep their garbage, and not be allowed to send it to the Site 41 landfill. Fair is fair!

Ramara asked the government to intervene. Politely they said no. Will take our $0.20 of every dollar, and use it to buy votes in the GTA. Afterall these $$$ probably originate in the GTA anyways. The province told Ramara that there is nothing we can do. Your fight is with the Ramara First Nation.

There is a big difference between Georgian Downs in Innisfil, and Casino Rama. Casino Rama is located in a sovereign nation, an aboriginal first nation. Therefore Ramara Township had standing to effect the Casino's development. Georgian Downs, is not situated in sovereign territory, so Innisfil, with their ability to issue building permits, controlled how development proceeded. Big difference!

Until Innisfil has a change of heart on revenue sharing, all Ramarans should boycott Innisfil businesses. Let's send a message to those greedy bastards!

Keep of the fight Ramara Council..... Well done!

What about a toll get south of the Casino? $50.00 from every bus going north? $5.00 from every car?

Ramara (and its’ Non-existent) Roads Policy

At last nights Ramara Council meeting there was yet another heated roads debate. Councillors voted to reverse the wrongs of the previous meeting (ie the politically motivated selection of roads to pave in ’08), and allow for further debate in committee.

Clr. White noted, at the Meeting of Nov.19th, that it felt like a gun had been placed to his head, as Deputy Mayor Clarke coerced his fellow councillors to decide right now, where to spend approx. $1,000,000 that’s going to be added to our tax bill in ‘08? Being witness to this meeting, Clr. White was bang-on in his comments! No other member of council challenged the Deputy Mayor, as to his tactics and its’ inappropriateness at a meeting of council.

Deputy Mayor Clarke placed his foot in his mouth, (yet again), last night as he reaffirmed his support for the township’s undocumented roads strategy of “As it needs Fixing”. During question period I asked council why, during this year they were unable to ratify a common Roads Policy that could serve as an objective policy framework to guide their roads strategy.
I viewed the Deputy Mayor’s response to me, as that there is no need for one, as current practices are working just fine!

So what is this current practice that township apparently doesn’t want ratepayers to know about? The Roads Manager recommends to council which roads need fixing and council votes on his recommendations. That’s it people. Ramara’s Roads policy, one guy determines our roads priorities! But what processes does this one guy use to decide. The Deputy Mayor did not elaborate, and no other member of council took the opportunity to probe further.

Prior to all meetings, elected officials are required to "disclose any pecuniary (conflict of) interest with any item on the agenda. This requirement does not apply to municipal staffers, like the Roads Manager.

December 10, the township meets again to debate the Roads Manager's recommendations for '08. Will these recommendations pass the smell test? Will council take active steps to ensure the objectivity of his recommendations?

This can only be guaranteed by filling the Joyland Beach Community Centre with concerned ratepayers.

Australian Federal Election

The Aussies voted today to kick out the right-of-centre government (Australian Liberals) of John Howard, and elected the Labour (somewhere between our NDP and Liberals) party of Kevin Rudd. In 10 years PM Howard had virtually eliminated Australia's federal debt, but that was not enough. Follow the news from Australia, and you would think your reading a Canadian publication. Crubling infastructure, doctor shortages, and concerns about climate change were issues not addressed by the Liberals, so they are now gone.

Of interest to me was the successful showing of the Green Party. While no Greens were elected in the lower house, 3 Senators were elected, bringing the Green total to 5, in Senate total of 76. With neither of the 2 main parties having a simple majority in the Australian Senate, the Greens will hold the balance of power. Canadians now will be able to observe how Greens will participate, when given a legitimate mandate. Given there position, in the Australian Senate, the big boys will now have to take Green concerns seriously.

Here in Canada, Stephan Harper has taken a somewhat, "shit, or get off the pot" approach with our our Senate. While I support more radical Senate reforms (ie eliminate completely), the Canadian PM knows our Senate is a political minefield, especially when it comes to appeasing Quebec.

What should be of interest to Canadians, in light of the recent voter reform in Ontario is the way politicians are elected in Australia, where they use "preferential voting". I preferred this method over MMP, and would like to see it adopted in Canada, instead of "First-Past-the-Post".

How Low can Ramara Council Go?

Can't be any lower then what occurred on November 19th. Again I witnessed a lack of decorum and focus, resulting in the need to go beyond 11pm. In order to do so, it takes the unanimous consent of council. This was not given and the meeting ended before allowing a small gallery of concerned ratepayers to comment, on the nights proceedings. This was a shameful act. As one of this small group that sat for 4 hours and play our role, in this participative democracy, that decision was a shameful display of this councils ongoing contempt for ratepayers.

In these four hours I witnessed:

• Personal attacks by councillors against one another, and against township staff.
• Councillors acting surprised when a road project to upgrade 2.9km of Conc. 9 cease 1km short, when allocated funds were exhausted. In typical Ramara fashion, requests fwere made for additional funds to complete the final 1km, since it would be foolish not to complete what was started. Unchecked and unaccountable leadership. In the real world heads would role, for such unacceptable performance. In Ramara, this performance is rewarded.
• Statements from the Deputy Mayor declaring their is no need for public input on proposals for a the design and location of a new town hall. Shame on you Basil. Your attitude towards your electors is comtemptuous. You no longer have the respect of this voter!
• Councillors attempting to get have another local matter (cost of street lights) put on the general ratepayers, and take the cowardly position of not having the vote recorded.

The members of this council is far removed from the group of individuals who presented themselves to voters, in the fall of 2006. As individuals they promised a new approach of openess, transparency and harmony. This has not occurred. This council has been a huge letdown, but I don't put the blame on their shoulders. It belongs to my neighbours, whose in action and apathic attitude toward local governance has allowed this council to evolve into the body it has become.

How Ramara decides whose Road will be fixed next

If you were not at the November 19th meeting of Council there is a good chance your road won’t be one of them. Ramara Township does not have a documented roads policy to guide their decision making, so the decision was purely political rather than logical.

Council reviewed the 1st draft of the 10 Year Capital Forecast. It proposed spending $1 million each year, to upgrade or pave roads. But whose roads are given priority?

This is what I observed:

Council scanned the public gallery to see if there was anyone in the crowd who lobbied to have their road at the top of the list. Seeing none they took this as a good sign. Now they could dispense of any logical decision making model, and implement their own politically motivated “roads in my ward are more important than roads not in my ward” one.

That’s it! Follow citizens this is what happens when you don’t check in on what these clowns are doing. This group is getting a free ride because ratepayers don’t make the effort to see what their up. In the end don't be surprised when your taxes explode, and your neighbourhood sees no improvements either.

Well Done Brock Township

I came across this article today regarding Brock Township’s move towards a more participative, open and transparent form of government. Brock will make public their ’08 budget proposals and ask for the public to comment prior to their council’s deliberations.

Contrast this approach to the way Ramara budget process in ’07. Seconds before council met to debate this year’s budget, a proposed a draft budget would have been posted to the web, (and if I recall the townships’ website may have also been malfunctioning, and public access never occurred). As well council suspiciously met at 9am. Was this an attempt in order to keep prying ratepayer eyes away?

As a result Ramara ratepayers were unable to comment or list their concerns. Councillors now had the luxury of approving a lucrative 41% pay and expense windfall. Months earlier, during the campaign I heard pledges to reform Ramara governance, but I never heard of any plan for pay rises!

’07 was a year of missed opportunity for this council. This should have been the year to implement those reforms that would lay the foundations for a more open, transparent and participative style of government that Brock appears to be interested in establishing with its’ ratepayers.

Hat’s off to Brock Council