Perusing the agenda document released in advance of Tuesday’s double meeting of Renfrew Town Council, I came upon what could only be characterized as an attempt by senior administration to try something bold, something new.
It appears, if you squint, that they’re going to make an effort to — gasp — communicate. Well how about that?
Perhaps the brainchild of our own senior staff, or perhaps something picked up in fruitful discussions with other municipal CAOs and clerk types at the recent AMO conference, it represents a high-water mark in terms of providing insight into the dark mysteries that swirl in the closely-guarded backrooms of Fort Renfrew.
The plan is brilliant.
Take seven council members, and seven staff members, and play a game of what appears to be musical chairs so that each of the seven can speak with each of the other seven. And the time allotted? Leaving nothing to chance, the event planners have put aside a robust 90 minutes for all of these 49 conversations/briefings to take place.
That’s a whole hour and a half, mind you.
The breakdown is simple. One politician will sit with one staffer for a period of ten minutes, the first five being the staffer briefing, and the second five being the councillor asking. Then somebody rings one of those old recess bells from yesteryear, and everybody switches to a new partner.
So, to my eyes anyways, we’ve reduced democracy and a duty to report to something very similar to speed dating.
It’s ideas and gambits such as these that you get for a salary of somewhere in the area of $150,000.
Absolutely breathtaking and absolutely ridiculous.
What two human beings ever invented are going to conduct meaningful business in a ten minute span? And then off to the next to do the same, then off to the next to do the same, and you get the picture.
This is an attempt at transparency? Accountability? Openness?
These are elected councillors we’re talking about here, not parents at a parent-teacher interview. In my view, any information any staffer is going to provide in those ten-minute sessions is information those councillors were entitled to every day of the week. Instead, they’re being treated like they’re part of some sad and poorly thought-out dog and pony show.
How many sets of eyes did this idea pass before being settled upon as the way to go? Because this isn’t an exercise in accountability, it’s an exercise in window dressing.
And what if a councillor asks a question only to be met with the “I can’t answer that” strategy popping up again? The old “File an FOI request why don’t you?”
This is tough to accept.
I’m offended and I’m not even a councillor. If I was a councillor I’d be furious, but I’ll let the actual ones think for themselves and go forward accordingly. But this is pretty bad.
So, in essence, we’re going to “Lazy Susan” the democratic process, and reduce it to a carousel of the absurd.
Communication and duty to report aren’t things that you schedule as one-shot deals. They’re duties and responsibilities that exist everyday and all day. They don’t merit 90 minutes of time to be “granted,” but rather are responsibilities that are enduring and ever-present.
At least in mature organizations with mature leadership.
If I was a councillor, this for me would represent one of those “thanks but no thanks” moments. I don’t need to be granted something I’m already entitled to by virtue of the office I occupy. I’ll not be put into a situation resembling a child’s birthday party.
It’s past time for elected officials to reclaim their territory, and stop allowing hires to run the place as if it’s theirs. Take back what is rightfully yours and stop letting some kid with an admin degree tell you which side is up.
My suggestion would be to flat-out boycott this travesty. Do not lend yourself to this charade. Doing so confirms the power they have over you. Or at least, if you must participate, hold out for some cake and a piñata.
You’ll face no criticism for such a decision, because if the general public ever gets wind of this, there will be much in the way of consternation and head-shaking. Perhaps it may actually come up as subject for discussion in that citizen’s open-house town hall thingy that’s being planned for sometime in October.
As to ideas gleaned from an AMO conference, it might be advisable to sip the Kool Aid rather than shotgun it straight from the can.
Because ideas like this can be embarrassing.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 