123 more days til E-Day
Ron Bolin: July 19,2011
Thus far on our electoral journey we have perhaps produced some heat, but, as some of our commenters have pointed out, relatively little light. Perhaps we need to try a different tack, moving on from what we don’t like to what we would like to see done if we could elect people who would do them. We have already had some suggestions, mostly based on holding the line on taxes. This may be difficult given that it looks like the present Council will pass about $70 million in new projects just before the November election leaving the next Council to deal with the consequences. If this is correct, savings may be hard to find, but that will be part of the job. And perhaps there are new expenditures which you feel are necessary.
One place to look for saving is in the report presented to Council on June 13 of this year which provides a list of proposed new City buildings and upgrades to existing facilities. This report can be found at:
(See p. 158 in the pdf file or on paper page 153.) This report identifies some $120 million in programs for construction, including 15.7 million for the City Hall annex and $58.7 million for the new Water Treatment plant. It does not identify the undisclosed expenditure of the Emergency Water deal with Harmac, which will cost around $5 million. Nor are maintenance figures given for any of these facilities
I will start the ball rolling with a plank to cancel or delay the development of a concession building in Maffeo Sutton Park scheduled for 2012. I have yet to see anyone who objects to the concession wagons that serve the park now or are overly concerned with the washrooms. Why spend $1.5 million on this?
Please do not feel that planks are limited to the area of finance. Certainly planning, staffing, services, governance, etc. are equally open for planking.
Let’s see what kinds of planks we can come up with and wrangle a bit about whether they are solid or rest on clay. Are these projects, services, staffing or planning concepts needed or just wanted? Let’s treat them as if we were spending our own money, as in all truth we are. Send in those comments and let’s see if we can build a platform worthy of consideration.
PS: As a side interest you may wish to take a look at the information given to possible municipal candidates in Yakima, Washington, a city of approximately the same size as Nanaimo. See:
Posts and Comments on Nanaimo Governance 
The concession stand is one of the more ludicrous and should be stopped period. Treatment Plant should be put on hold unless the feds and province are willing to pony up a third of the cost each. Even then we need to know if this is the best option. Emergency Water supply should be put on hold as well. A full core review should be done starting immediately after the election………………
While Vancouver is enjoying its increased street food vendors and is planning to issue more licences to vendors, Nanaimo does exactly the opposite thing. I think any further comment is unnecessary.
Just a thought……. but actually applying some common sense to how much we spend would be a good place to start.
When faced with providing areas to cut the budget, staff will often ask whether you want police or fire services cut? Obviously, no councilor is going to say they are against public safety …..but, did we really need to spend $12 million for the new garage for fire engines in Chase River?? On the subject of fire protection, how many assistant chiefs do we need anyway??
On the issue of how much public safety you are going to provide, a month or so ago my wife and I were in a residential area near the Pryde Golf course, when obviously a resident called 911 with a medical issue. We witnessed no fewer that 2 fully staffed ambulance arrive on the scene and a fire truck complete with a compliment of four men. After at least 5 minutes we saw a man from the house talking with the first responders who still had not entered the house. Have no idea if they ever did drive someone to the hospital. But if that is what we are calling adequate public safety, something is seriously wrong.
Staff really doesn’t need a $12 million office, what they have is sufficient, I doubt if upgrading would be necessary if you asked for a more complete engineers report.
Staff can scream blue murder but they absolutely MUST bring in a zero based budget every three years, preferably at the end of each council’s term. I do mean ZERO based, where each department must account for every penny they intend to spend, not just submit a budget with a zero increase over last year. This would route out the bloat that clearly exists, which allows for $12 million cash being available to build a new office.
http://lonestarwatchdog.blogspot.com/2011/07/has-city-hall-declared-war-on-people.html
Roger; the similarities are too too similar.
During the Cable Bay debacle there were some of us that called for a criminal inquirey.
One would like to look at the bank accounts of some of our civic leaders & their managers past & present.
Should the call come again (for an inquirey) I’m sure it will go to an Alternative Voting Process the results of which will be only known to those in a closed door Council meeting.