Tag: renfrew-town-council

RENFREW STAFF PROVIDE POLICY FOR “CUSTOMER SERVICE”

Kelly Latendresse has tendered a document as part of Tuesday night’s meeting agenda, one where she shares with us her exhaustive review of the town’s  customer service policy, a rather generous term to apply to the rather arbitrary nature by which town employees and many elected officials give the public the municipal stiff arm when anyone has the temerity to ask a question.

Finally, at least, thanks to Latendresse, we have a desk identified as the one where the buck stops, and that would be the one occupied by CAO Gloria Raybone.  Before this, everyone just sort of looked at everyone else when asked who it was that made the final call on these things.  At least now, we have an identifiable in-office postal code.

For a while there, it was tough to figure who exactly Ms. Latendresse was in terms of title and responsibility.  I know that she’s a member of Renfrew’s senior administrative staff, that much is clear.  But every time I see her, she’s wearing a different hat.  And sitting in a different chair.

If this was baseball, and these were the Blue Jays, she’d be the ultimate utility infielder and positional generalist. Can’t hit worth a lick, but a great glove.

A betting line could be opened up for tonight’s meeting to see which of the many possible hats she’ll be wearing this evening.

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IT CONTRACT AWARD UNDER SCRUTINY?

The agenda is out for Tuesday’s Renfrew Town Council Meeting and I didn’t get to the bottom of the first page of the thing before I saw something that made my political radar start to ping.

A certain Ian McFarlane will be making a deputation at the beginning of the meeting, and for ten minutes or less he’ll be speaking on something having to do with the procurement of IT services for the town.

At an earlier meeting back in December, a staff recommendation to give a tendered contract to OnServe was shot down by council since, as councillor Kyle Cybulski said, “I don’t know what it is that I’m voting for.”

So, as is the case for most things that are of high interest, it was resolved that the whole thing would be hashed out in-camera, behind the closed doors they love get behind when there’s any chance that somebody might end up looking stupid or appear to have done something not exactly according to Hoyle.

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TENURED POLITICIANS

There are two types of politicians that walk the floors of town halls, city halls, legislative halls, or agency halls.  A third type frequents the boards constituted by the first two, giving us a full compliment of three very different forms of political figures.

The first, and most obvious, are the elected politicians, the ones who got to where they are the old-fashioned way, by doing all the grunt work, working the phones, knocking on doors, hammering in lawn signs, kissing hands and shaking babies.  The ones who are up front-and-centre when the public gets its dander up and is looking for answers to difficult questions.  The people who have all sorts of things thrown at them, whether it be criticism, profanity, rotten tomatoes, any of it or all of it.  These are the people elected by the other people, the public, and are the forward-facing tier of democracy.  They have something called legitimacy.

And then there are the tenured politicians.

They’re the ones who got hired by the first group, probably with educational credentials out the ears, plucked out of nowhere to be given the task of steerage, of keeping the ship both afloat and headed on the desired course as directed by the captain and other ship’s officers.  They are the ones with their hands on the wheel.

Perhaps the best way for me to make my point is to use Granny, the most wonderful woman in the world, as an example.  Always a warm and encouraging smile, thoughtful to a fault, spoils the grandkids shamelessly to their delight, a member of her church and volunteer for numerous church and civic causes.  She is the apple in the apple pie.

But put her behind the wheel of a car.

This beatific human being becomes something completely different while she navigates the Costco parking lot.

So it can often be with tenured politicians.  They start as one thing, but inexorably make their way up the ladder, in competition with others, but with no need for term limits and things like elections to get in the way.  They become entrenched.  

They aren’t part of the system.  They become the system.

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THE CONE OF SILENCE

What is it about the Town of Renfrew that makes its representatives so rude?

I mean, I don’t know if all of them are, but I can definitely say that any I’ve tried to contact officially are.  So, to be fair, that would be the Clerk, the former CAO-Acting, the mayor, and every single councillor.

It appears I’m not the only one to feel this way or experience this phenomenon.  I just wonder how long it goes, or how many people are rubbed the wrong way, before the pitchforks come out and the mob storms Town Hall.

Actually, that’ll probably happen on its own once people get their property tax bills.  Or lose the front undercarriage of their vehicle in a municipal tank trap that advertises itself as a street, and that’s after it’s been “reconstructed” by Renfrew’s default road construction specialists.

But back to the rudeness.

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BIA SEEKS TO EXPAND ITS BORDERS

Renfrew’s downtown Business Improvement Area is expanding, pushing its borders outwards into the ancillary streets, or streets secondary to the main drag of Raglan Street.

This is no small thing, especially if you happen to live, and/or do business within this tertiary area that is now to be annexed by this entity that derives its authority through Renfrew Town Council, and through them from the Municipal Act of 2001.

My assertion that the Municipal Act is a deeply flawed piece of legislation is not abated by recent events, and this is just another one of those recent events under discussion. It makes me wonder if the authors of that piece of legislation had drafted it while at their local pub, since it causes as many problems as it sets out to solve, and satisfies the argument that the crafters were either egregiously distracted, had agendas to satisfy, or were just functionally incompetent.

The BIA invasion into the surrounding environs is another one of those seemingly endless staff-driven things that appears before a somewhat perplexed Council for approval, almost after-the-fact, because the timelines tend to be pretty tight.  I wonder what the actual reasoning is?

Is the tax levy that members pay into the organization not enough to fund their projects?  Is it an attempt to broaden their tax base to beef up their financials?

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RECUSALS AND LAME DUCK COUNCILS

Comments made by Councillor Andrew Dick in a previous council meeting resulted in an investigation by the town’s Integrity Commissioner, an investigation resulting in a recommendation that the councillor offer a public apology and receive a censure from Council.

I’ve seen Councillor Dick’s comments in text form, but have not reviewed the YouTube record of the meeting in question.

In question at the time was a contract tendered for renovations undertaken at the Town Hall, a project that ballooned in cost and went significantly over budget.

At issue was the fact that a councillor at the time, one Arlene Jamieson, owned a decor business in town, Venture Interiors, that had put a bid in to undertake some of the work on the Town Hall.  It’s important to point out that Councillor Jamieson declared herself to be in conflict, and did not participate in any approvals specific to her business. It should also be noted that former Councillor Jamieson did nothing wrong, nor anythng illegal or untoward.

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INTEGRITY COMMISSIONER REPORT

I’m going to hate writing this.

Mostly because it will fly in the face of what everyone else likely thinks.  It’s not like I’m looking to be contrary for the sake of being contrary.  And I don’t do it lightly.

This has been percolating in my mind for 36 hours now, and I know I could have left it alone and see it wash downstream, but then again, I also knew I couldn’t.

No offence intended towards anyone.

Tuesday night, Integrity Commissioner Tony Fleming attended Council via Zoom and delivered his findings on two separate complaints filed under the Council Code of Conduct.  His presentation was professional and coherent, and everything you’d want to see from someone tasked with the resolution of these complaints.

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THIRD PARTY REPORT: SCRATCHING THE SURFACE

In a previous article I referred to the Third Party Report by WSCS Consulting into the Ma-Te-Way situation as a flawed document.

I should be clear that in no way am I questioning the integrity of the authors of the document, nor am I diminishing the level of rigour, depth, and detail that was put into what was, essentially, a very difficult job.  I want to make sure that I come across as applauding the work done, and the report proffered.

There can be no such thing as a perfect document because there’s no such thing as a perfect investigator, author, or subject matter, all involving three heavily involving human elements.  In the case of this report, it’s the third part, the subject part, that made the compilation of information and the cobbling together of that information more than just your average challenge.  It made it virtually impossible to get down to the absolute brass tacks of the issue, although the authors did successfully pull back the curtain on much of what transpired in what has to be the Town of Renfrew’s biggest debacle ever.

One needs to be careful when bandying about allegations regarding others, and that need for care can often lead to an extraordinary level of caution when attempting to report on items that may involve measures of incompetence, negligence, and malfeasance.  And sometimes that can lead to a report that hovers around the periphery rather than drilling into the potentially dangerous areas.  This report navigates those difficulties about as well as one might hope for.

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COUNCIL BACK IN CHAMBERS

It’s been a long layoff, with council stuff sort of taking a back seat here over the course of the holidays, but with the arrival of the second full week of the month, open council meetings are now part of the crunch.

And they’ll start with a bit of a crunch if the most recent agenda is any indication of what may happen when we all convene in chambers this evening.

Two cases being investigated by the Integrity Commissioner will have reports delivered, one involving Councillor Andrew Dick, and the other Reeve Peter Emon.

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LISA ROBINSON: UGLINESS IN MUNICIPAL POLITICS

There’s probably a lot of different ways in which to view somebody like Lisa Robinson, and I have made that attempt, but in the end, it’s always pretty much the same for me.  That is to say that, if I were to ever meet the woman, I’m fairly confident I wouldn’t like her.  And I’m equally confident she wouldn’t be lining up to join my fan club either.

Lisa Robinson is a councillor for the City of Pickering, just northeast of Toronto.  When I see or hear about people like her, it makes me want to offer up prayers of thanks for the elected members of Renfrew Town Council that we have.  As critical as I can sometimes be, there is nothing on offer here in Renfrew that can be considered as approaching what Robinson is to Pickering.

In a charitable rendering, I’d put her on the same footing as your Marjorie Taylor-Greenes, or your Lauren Boberts, Sarah Palins, or Kari Lakes of the political universe.  Maybe even a Cheryl Gallant type of figure, although that’s cruel.

A mean-spirited, sneering, and unnecessarily provocative human being bent upon one thing and one thing alone, that being the political chaos she sews that serves as her preferred working environment.  There is nothing sacred when it comes to these women, in that they’ll attack you at the drop of a pin yet cry indignant persecution if ever confronted or challenged.

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