Aurora Citizen

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Archive for the ‘Integrity’ Category

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Will Richmond Hill Learn From Aurora’s Experience

Posted by auroracitizen on March 17, 2010

Council Watch #7 – by Richard Johnson

Letter to the Editor RE: Richmond Hill votes for code of conduct, integrity commissioner, by  Adam Mc Lean, March 16, 2010

 Why does Richmond Hill not share the cost of Aurora’s Integrity Commissioner if we both have to have one ? I have to ask if they be too busy to handle two Councils work load ?

“The commissioner [of Richmond Hill] will act as a part-time employee in the town clerk’s office and $25,000 from the town’s council contingency fund has been set aside for the new post.” I find it interesting that Aurora set aside $60,000 annually for the IC, plus legal costs, so what does that say about Aurora’s Council ?

Aurora has wasted tens of thousands of dollars and ignored the opinion of David Nitkin, a well qualified international expert on corporate governance and ethics. It looks very much like Mr. Nitkin was fired the day after releasing his frist decision because he did not render the decision the Mayor of Aurora wanted.  In order to justify her actions, Mayor Morris went to great lengths to discredit Mr. Nitkin at AMO, at Council and in the media.

Adam Mc Lean (the reporter of the above noted story) completely overlooked the political fiasco that has unfolded in Aurora surrounding our new code of conduct and the huge sums of money that have been wasted while we still have a complete mess of a council to contend with.

Aurora seems to be living proof that you can’t legislate integrity or common sense ! Only the power of the vote can really fix our respective councils.

Richard Johnson

Posted in Code of Ethics, Council Watch-Richard Johnson, Integrity, Leadership | 1 Comment »

Guest Opinion: Aurora Is Worse Off Today Than When Phyllis Morris Became Mayor?

Posted by auroracitizen on March 7, 2010

Some might say Phyllis Morris and Evelina MacEachern are liars and hypocrites. Apparently obsessed with their manic egos, they have held Aurora’s Council hostage to their deranged approach to government. The vaunted Transparency and/or Accountability that were promised in their respective campaigns for office in the 2006 Municipal Elections were a complete fraud.

They co-opted four of the stupidest possible councillors to act as their surrogates in following along blindly the path laid out for them.

It appears that Morris and MacEachern embarked upon a mission to destroy the very Transparency and Accountability that marked their election campaigns. Instead we have a repugnant Code of Conduct for Council and an unnecessary Integrity Commissioner.

When the Code of Conduct faltered, the Integrity Commissioner reported on the charges laid by six members of Council against Evelyn Buck, to the effect that they had no merit and were politically motivated. His reward was his unceremonious firing.

The town recently entered into a contract with a new Integrity Commissioner, a former politician now practicing law. It is doubtful that this replacement has anywhere near the academic and professional qualifications of our first Integrity Commissioner. And up to $60,000 is allocated for this activity. Time and events will tell.

Seemingly, Morris is personally responsible for the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of tax-payer dollars, many completely wasted, in hiring a substantially larger bureaucratic staff, renaming and restructuring senior executive staff titles, positions and responsibilities. Has this streamlined our local government? No. On the contrary it has created a larger body of personnel whose sole task appears to be to do her bidding.

It is likely that all of these changes have led to staff concerns; many reports comment about the fear of staff for their jobs. It is inconceivable that the town’s employees are at a higher level of morale than they were when the Morris-MacEachern juggernaut first rolled into town. If staff morale is negatively affected it follows that the level and efficiency of their work will suffer significantly, and consequently impact upon Aurora’s residents.

Our town doles out hundreds of thousands of dollars of public purse dollars to various non-elected Committees; The Historical Society, the Arboretum, the July 1st Parade, the Farmers’ Market. These groups do what they wish with the town’s ‘generosity.’ They spend the money with no accountability to anyone. This is not the way to run a government whose promised objective was Transparency and Accountability. If a public company operated this way it would be subject to the scrutiny of the OSC in Ontario, to the SEC in the U.S., and possible prosecution by each.

Many residents feel that vast amounts of taxpayer dollars have been spent stupidly, whether in financing losing and futile OMB appeals or in needless internal investigations supported by a claque of lawyers whose sole interest is running up their legal fees. Many residents are of the opinion that these parasites care not for what is right or in the best interests of the town. And the bills are approaching $750,000, if not more.

Why do we set aside money every year to buy recreational land when it already exists? Instead we are selling off much of Aurora’s public lands, adding the proceeds to the millions of dollars already in the town’s “savings” account.

We will be cash rich and land poor and the land that we will eventually have to purchase will be twice or more as expensive as that of four or five years ago when we already had a huge cash balance in the bank.

It is felt by many that a request should to be sent to the Information and Privacy Commissioner and the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to conduct a forensic audit of the books of the Town of Aurora in order to identify those areas where public money has been gratuitously squandered with no possible benefit to the town and its residents.

A similar audit should probably also be undertaken to determine just how political decision-making in Aurora occurs. Are decisions made by members of Council or by hired lawyers?

To Morris and MacEachern a Code of Conduct appears to be a license to abuse.

AUGUSTINIUS

Posted in Code of Ethics, Community Input, Guest Post, Integrity, Leadership, Legal, Staff Turnover, Town Council | 4 Comments »

Councillor Steve Granger Demonstrates His Leadershp Skills

Posted by auroracitizen on March 3, 2010

The town is positively a twitter with news about Councillor Granger’s latest demonstration of his leadership skills. He must be in full election mode.

After Council was finished last night, Councillor Granger accosted Brock Weir, the new staff writer at The Auroran, about the accuracy of the article in this week’s edition.

It seems Mr Granger took offense to the fact that a writer was reporting the truth — that members of the Farmer’s Market found him “typical self- indulgence of trying to be a leader”. 

There was also excerpts from an email from one of the committee members that described Councillor Granger as late arriving, disorganized, unprepared and “such poor leadership as witnessed by Councillor Granger this afternoon when challenged with effective and direct questions on organization…”

Another email counter these claims stating Councillor Granger “has been working very hard … and he did most or all of this work unilaterally.” However, this writer was Sher St Kitts, friend of Mayor Morris and benefactor of this Council, and hence with limited credibility.

However, even Sher St Kitts indicated that he had developed the constitution “unilaterally” — which our dictionary defines as “decided or acted on by only one involved party or nation irrespective of what the others do”. Interesting, even his supporter admits he wrote a constitution for the Farmers Market without input.

Unilateral decision-making is not the type of leadership usually associated with a community leader anywhere outside of Aurora. However, it now sees to the be the only method of leadership since Mayor Phyllis Morris came to power.

Oh, and then Councillor Grander resigned form the Farmer’s Market committee — or as we used to say in the playground “picked up his ball and went home”.

Well we are glad that The Auroran is reporting the facts for Aurora to make informed decisions and look forward to reading more of the same in the future.

Of special note, Mr Brian Morris (Husband of Mayor Phyllis Morris), joined the fray and accused The Auroran of being a “rag” desperate to “..bring down this council”.

Fortunately Mayor Morris was available to quell the angry twosome and peace was restored.

Congratulations Brock — you have now been officially welcomed to Aurora politics. We look forward to reading another fact based report of the events in next weeks

Oh and the good news for Councillor Granger? There is no such thing as bad publicity 🙂

Posted in Conflict of Interest, Integrity, Leadership, Town Council | 44 Comments »

Does Council Support Racial Based Housing — Or Just Mayor Phyllis Morris?

Posted by auroracitizen on February 22, 2010

Council Watch #5 – by Richard Johnson

Wow. I guess this latest development in York Region should come as no surprise. I understand that Aurora’s Mayor Morris supported this latest brainstorm from the Region with barely a mention of it to the Aurora Council.

I have to wonder what she would say if a developer came to Aurora and asked to build a development for WASPs only ?

If Phyllis feels the Region can support racially based housing with my tax dollars then I trust that she would support self funded segregation of all sorts.

I find it very hard to fathom that my tax dollars are supporting discriminatory policies based on race and religion that have the end effect of limiting where someone in need can actually afford to live. This is a high risk social housing policy if there ever was one, especially for those on the outside looking in. If any given community wants to raise funds and support its own, then fine. Go for it, but don’t use my money to shut people out.

These are my tax dollars at work and I don’t appreciate others spending my hard earned money in such a discriminatory and biased fashion.

RJ

———————————————————————————

Housing subsidy blasted

York Region policy of helping lower-income tenants in 4 ethnic residences is discriminatory, critics say

Fri Feb 19 2010 – Gail Swainson Urban Affairs Reporter

Critics say a York Region policy of using tax dollars to subsidize housing restricted to members of certain ethnic and religious groups is discriminatory and condones a form of segregation.

The policy, endorsed recently by regional council, allows four buildings that limit residence to members of their own faith and ethnic communities – one Italian, one Jewish and two Muslim – to receive regional rent-geared-to-income housing subsidies.

“These kinds of special exemptions can get tricky and set a dangerous precedent,” said Newmarket Regional Councillor John Taylor. “These segregated services are not conducive to the kind of communities we want to build. This is also a significant public policy direction that should be debated, but has gone ahead almost unnoticed.”

Although it is illegal under Ontario’s Human Rights Code to restrict housing based on race, ancestry, colour, ethnicity, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, family status or disability, some affirmative-action housing providers enjoy exemptions.

Only Toronto, with four such facilities, and now York Region, have chosen to award exemptions. Read Full Article.

Posted in Community Input, Council Watch-Richard Johnson, Growth, Integrity, Leadership | 3 Comments »

Is What You See — What You Get?

Posted by auroracitizen on February 20, 2010

Why is Council sticking their nose in where it doesn’t belong — the Board of Education and Wells Street School.

Answer: Votes!

Aurora Council has no business messing with the business of the Board of education. Council would be offended if the Board messed with their business.

They hate it when the Province (i.e. OMB) steps into Town business, but don’t share the same view about them stepping into Board business. Why? Because the folks who live around Wells Street School are active and vocal and represent a significant voting block.

Sound familiar? Does STOP ring any bells? That was the group who were upset about Transmission lines being increased backing on to their properties (Richard Johnson can provide significantly more information for those who are unaware).

Mayor wanna be Morris was all over that group when she ran for Mayor. In fact, that group was instrumental in getting her elected.

But what did she actually do for them – nada, zip, zilch. In fact, she rarely attended meetings and when the poop hit the fan, she was long gone and left them blowing in the wind.

To be clear, we are not advocating for or against the interested folks at Wells Street School  — or the folks at STOP — so don’t bother getting mad at us about either issue. That’s not what this post is about. It’s about the Mayor getting involved where she doesn’t belong and making promises that are more about votes than getting anything done.

Even better, she has the nerve to state “It almost sounds like the review process has a bit of a flaw in it”. Well, if anyone is an authority about flawed process Mayor Phyllis Morris would be an expert after the process of our Integrity Commissioner.

We are just highlighting the methodology of Mayor Morris. She will parade around gathering press coverage, fighting a battle she shouldn’t be involved in, for no other reason than  it suits her election plans.

And before you say this was council decision, another quote “I have met with Councillor Gallo and I have contacted Mr Revington, and it has been decided that a letter should go from my office …”

So beware CAWS, don’t be fooled into thinking that you have Town support. You don’t. You just have the mirage of someone who is pretending she cares when all she really cares about is your vote in November.

Posted in Conflict of Interest, Election 2010, Hydro, Integrity, Leadership | 22 Comments »

Tsubouchi is Our New Integrity Commissioner

Posted by auroracitizen on January 24, 2010

Well it appears Aurora has a new Integrity Commissioner with the approval of a recommendation that David Tsubouchi be appointed the new commissioner to an upside of $60,000 per year.

Tsubouchi is a lawyer. One with no obvious experience dealing with integrity issues — but lots of experience dealing with politicians. It will be very interesting to see how he deals with this group of politicians.

It would also be very interesting to have heard the conversations that took place before he was hired to do their bidding regarding Councillor Buck.

I am sure we are all looking forward with great interest to his first ruling.

Posted in Code of Ethics, Integrity | 25 Comments »

Guest Post: Action Required — Not More Words

Posted by auroracitizen on January 24, 2010

Most of the comments on Aurora Citizen are common sense and fully justified.

But all of them are talk, talk, talk. None of the GOS pays any attention.

They just carry on doing what they have become quite good at doing, squandering taxpayer dollars.

If we did away with the Code of Conduct and the Integrity Commissioner and reinstated Department Head titles to understandable areas of responsibilities all Aurora residents would gain, and the Town would regain some of the credibility that it has lost during the “Rain of Terror.”

What would happen at Council meetings if at least 50 people showed up for each one, both the regular and the general?

If there were contentious issues on the agenda, double this figure.

Bloggers to the Aurora Citizen must make their presence known to Phyllis and the bat-brained quintet that drift along in her updraft.

Organize; and put in a physical presence in the “Fishbowl.”

Politicians only pay attention to numbers of voters, to real people who are concerned and who are prepared to attend and watch; they don’t give a damn about blogs.

Stop just talking; START ACTING.

Augustinius

Posted in Guest Post, Integrity, Leadership, Town Council | 4 Comments »

Role of New Aurora Spokesperson Unclear

Posted by evelynb on January 16, 2010

It’s odd for a sitting Councillor to learn of dramatic new initiatives in town communications from the media.

This week the Chief Administrative Officer, acting as spokesperson for the town (the Mayor) announced the town’s intention to add a spokesperson to the administration to improve communications. Speech-writing and perhaps engaging with Facebook will be part of the job.

Council last met on December 8th. The budget will not be ratified before January 26th.

Already we are off and running. So fast off the mark, no time has been allowed for discussion at the Council table.

Everyone who reads this blog knows, because I say so, I do not present as competent in computers.

But Facebook, for God’s Sake. Facebook !!!! Can anybody at the town hall possibly not understand what Facebook is about.

We are to pay for someone. with a Masters Degree in Communication , at a cost of $100Ks annually, to engage Facebook !!!!!

Oh My God!!!

Facebook is the domain of the Rampant and Reckless, Totally Irreverent and Sacrilegious Youth.

I keep tabs on my grandchildren on Facebook.

The Town has a Corporate Communication Division. The Mayor monopolised it from the start as her personal public relations flack. Along with Notice Board in the Aurabanana which costs probably $75Ks a year. And various and extravagant resources expended in the ongoing effort to vanquish dissent and destroy her enemies.

Despite all that, there’s still an apparent lack of confidence that the community fully appreciates the myriad of marvelous Mormac accomplishments of the administration.

So now we are to have a Masters Degree in Communication on hand to polish that which may be tarnished, in time for the next election.

Speeches will be professionally prepared for the Gala opening of Church Street School Heritage and Cultural Centre, the pitch of the first ball at the new diamond in the summer and all other possible occasions.

We may even have articulate speeches from the Throne at the opening of every council meeting.

If Buckingham Palace has a Spokesperson, why not Mayor Morris’ Town Hall in Aurora? May we not aspire?

The Press Secretary/Spokesperson may possibly hold press conferences with the Town Hall Press Gallery There may occasionally be scripted appearances by her Worship.

All on the taxpayers’ dime.

Remember the admonitions of righteous Professor Robert McDiarmid of York University, an invited guest of Her Worship to read scripture to Council on the evils of incumbent advantage over challengers and how corporate contributions need to be rigorously controlled in election campaigns.

Little did the naive but well-meaning Professor know how many municipal corporate contributions can be used for a campaign without a single red cent showing up in the candidate’s mandated Statement of Expenses.

Posted in Budget, Code of Ethics, Conflict of Interest, Election 2010, Integrity, Leadership, Legal | 20 Comments »

Guest Post: Is Mayor Phyllis Morris proroguing Council?

Posted by auroracitizen on January 6, 2010

In the December 31, 2009 edition of the Globe & Mail, the editor took the very unusual position of publishing an editorial “Democracy Diminished, Accountability Avoided” on the front page.

The editor was taking the federal government and Prime Minister Harper to task for proroguing Parliament – the second December in a row that he has done this. More scathing than the words in this editorial was the fact that it was juxtaposed to a story on the death of 4 members of the Canadian Armed Forces and a Canadian journalist. A stark contrast – people are dying while fighting for Canada and for reporting on that, while the government that tasks those people uses political manipulation to duck responsibilities associated with that task.

Perhaps a bit of a stretch, but remind you of anything or anyone?

The Aurora Council last met on December 8th and its next meeting is scheduled for January 26th. The procedural bylaw states that there are to be 2 meetings per month, yet there is a stretch of 39 days between meetings. Is the Mayor proroguing Council? What reason (legitimate or otherwise) has been given?

She wouldn’t be trying to duck anything, would she? Like the fact that the Town does not have a legally appointed Treasurer?

This is inexcusable behavior, but sadly, typical of what we have come to expect.

Signed, Junius

Posted in Code of Ethics, Community Input, Guest Post, Integrity, Leadership, Legal, Town Council | 16 Comments »

Councillors Using Town Funds to Fight Personal Lawsuit

Posted by auroracitizen on December 18, 2009

Councillors using town insurer to cover defence of Buck suit

The Banner – Aurora , December 17, 2009

BY SEAN PEARCE

The six members of Aurora council named in Evelyn Buck’s $5.25-million civil libel lawsuit will have the town’s insurance cover their legal costs, The Banner has learned.

Ms Buck has repeatedly stated her intent is to sue the six members of council as individuals and not the town.

However, Ms MacEachern said that may prove difficult as the town’s insurer is paying for the councillors’ defence.

“She’s suing six members of council for taking steps in good faith and for representing the town,” Ms MacEachern said, adding, in effect, she is suing the town.

“We are insured. This is through the town’s insurance.”

Beyond that, Ms MacEachern defended the actions of council in its handling of the formal code of conduct complaint.

“We took the steps that were recommended to us with respect to the comments that Councillor Buck was making against staff and we took the steps to defend town staff, the corporation and the public interest,” Ms MacEachern said.

“We look forward to defending the steps we took and I look forward to the statement of defence being filed by the solicitor.”

Earlier this month, Mayor Phyllis Morris, along with Councillors Evelina MacEachern, Wendy Gaertner, Stephen Granger, John Gallo and Al Wilson, were named in a statement of claim stemming from an advertisement entitled Statement From Town of Aurora Council, published in The Banner and another newspaper in July.

The ad in question outlined the reasons why the majority of council reviewed Ms Buck’s blog and filed a formal code of conduct complaint based on those postings with the then-integrity commissioner David Nitkin.

The statement of claim filed by Richmond Hill law firm MacDonald Associates seeks $1 million for “misfeasance in public office and abuse of power, conspiracy, intentional infliction of mental suffering, injurious falsehood, breach of confidence and breach of privacy” and another $1 million for “infringement or breach of (Ms Buck’s) charter rights and freedoms”.

Beyond that, $2 million is sought for defamation, $1 million in punitive damages and $250,000 in aggravated damages.

The Banner is also named in the lawsuit.

None of the allegations contained within the statement of claim have been proven in court. Defences have not been filed.

For her part, Ms Buck said she intends to continue her legal action regardless of who ends up funding the defence.

“It changes nothing,” she said. “It’s not for me to know who’s covering their defence costs.”

Ms Buck said she remains firm in her resolve to follow through with the suit against the six members of council as individuals. Should the town become involved as a result of that, it will not be because of her actions, she added.

“I will not concern myself with that until further along the line, because I didn’t take this step lightly,” Ms Buck said. “I’m not wavering and I’m not alone.”

Lawyer Kevin MacDonald of MacDonald Associates was unavailable for comment.

Also named as a defendant in the suit, Mr. Granger declined to comment and directed media inquiries to the mayor.

Mayor Morris would not comment on the matter, saying only that she has been advised by the town’s insurance company not to say anything.

However, a statement issued on behalf of Mrs. Morris and the five councillors states, “The remarks complained of were part of a notice to town residents, speaking to the integrity of our hard-working staff and our concern that they were being treated unfairly.

“These remarks were posted on our website in July 2009 and only now, at the end of November, have we finally been served with a statement of claim that repeats the allegations made in the Toronto Star (on Oct. 30).

“We are currently reviewing the statement of claim and look forward to defending ourselves and our staff vigorously. We are confident that we will show that the claims made in the lawsuit are entirely without merit.”

Posted in Code of Ethics, Integrity, Leadership, Legal, Media, Town Council | 18 Comments »

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