Sir: This is an open letter to council, municipal staff and supervisors. I would like to respond to an article in The Chatham Voice on Feb. 11 about the budget.
I applaud the six councillors who voted against the budget. Michael Bondy knows what needs working on. It is the municipality that needs working on. Staffing levels need to be reduced, plain and simple. There needs to be accountability for work being done, or as the taxpayers see it, work not being done.
The union needs to be met with and negotiate a reduction in pay. All big companies know their limits and negotiate a reduction in pay when things get bad. In Chatham-Kent, there is no such thing as bad times. People leave and the remainder get a tax increase.
I myself have called parks and recreation numerous times but have never seen any long-term improvement because of lack of supervision, and I am only one taxpayer. If all taxpayers watched for waste of tax dollars, you would need to hire a full arsenal of operators to take the calls. Every department needs accountability.
Apply for a job at the city, no experience needed as long as you know how to lean on a shovel!
Leo and Carol Caron
Chatham
Agreed Agreed… last time went to pay the exorbitant water & hydro bill at civic centre, I stood behind several people in line waiting. I have other things to do and waiting causes me lost earnings… but I would be fine with the wait and be patient if it weren't for the fact that some woman had brought her infant in behind the counter to socialize with one of the women who was SUPPOSED to be WORKING and could have sped up the wait in line!! Apparently the infants mother had no sense of how inappropriate this visiting time was… But worse, the woman who SHOULD HAVE BEEN WORKING didn't seem to have the common sense to put an end to this inappropriate visit in front of all of us standing in line!!! Does she not realize we are all paying her to work and she can coo over the infant on her own time in a more appropriate place?? I was disgusted. BTW, did the city workers ever find the 4 missing defibrillators the municipality owns??