Chatham-Kent residents who regularly follow council wouldn’t be out of line in seeking a tax rebate for mental health therapy after trying to understand the machinations of our elected officials.
A few months ago, council finally reached the finish line on what seemed to be a never-ending saga of relocating the decrepit Civic Centre to the former Sears building.
The issue was met with much wailing and gnashing of teeth as round after round of debate took place regarding the costs of the new facility versus remodelling the nearly 50-year-old current building, which had been left to decay under successive councils.
The issue became distorted with wild claims of financial ruin, removal of services from the community and intimidation of those in favour of the project. In the end, those councillors opposed to the plan threw everything but the kitchen sink in opposition, seeking more and more information until it was revealed that they already had the information being sought, if only some had read their reports.
Contrast that with last month’s report concerning the soon-to-be-dead Public Utilities Commission.
Council ordered a consultant’s report on the PUC’s future, the results of which mirrored the conclusion favoured by members of municipal administration for years, that being the dissolution of the PUC.
The report also included courses of action, including retaining the status quo and forming a separate municipal service corporation.
PUC Chair Carmen McGregor forced a vote on delaying a decision on the report until February so that councillors can digest information on the 40-plus page report. It passed by a narrow 9-8 margin, with some council members noting that taking the time won’t change their votes.
McGregor even had to fight to get a seemingly unwilling council to share the report with the PUC so those officials could provide some context to council.
To be clear, this issue affects more than $1 billion in spending, but some councillors were determined to push it through in one night.
Either those councillors have suddenly reached an unprecedented level of clarity in decision-making, or they don’t think anyone is watching.
