Aurora Citizen

News & Views from the Citizens of Aurora Ontario

$#*! My Mayor Says

Posted by auroracitizen on October 1, 2010

 Taken from the recent email published by the Morris campaign.

In fact, one attendee who had been at the campaign launches for some other prominent Greater Toronto Area politicians said it may have been the best-attended in the whole of the GTA this year. 

We guess if you preface a distortion or untruth with the claim that someone else said it, it somehow makes it okay. Really, now Phyllis believes she had more people than either Smitherman, Ford or any of the GTA events. Delusional? You decide.

At the Rogers TV debate  the Mayor talked about how the Town has turned the tables on rising taxes. In 2001, tax increases raced ahead at 9 percent. This year the Council whittled the increase down to 2.8 percent.

Why did she conveniently leave out the tax increases from her last term of Council (2003 – 2006) or that since she became Mayor we have seen taxes rise a combined 13.81%? One would almost think she intentionally meant to mislead you.

Mayor and Town Council have taken strong steps to ease the burden on residential taxpayers and make growth pay for growth. How? Town Council completed the first major reorganization of the Town administration since the 1980s. 

This re-organization resulted in a 20% increase in staff during a worldwide economic downturn — ahead of both tax base growth and population growth. Including a new, full-time personal assistant for the Mayor. How does that ensure growth pays for growth?

She served as one of only two Mayors on a special stakeholder advisory committee concerned with the Watershed, by appointment of the Minister of the Environment.

What she failed to mention was that her role on the committee was to “…provide input and advice to the government on protecting Lake Simcoe…and provide a linkage with the broader community…”.  So aside from attending a meeting or two, just what advice and input from the community did she provide?  Where was the consultation with the community on whose behalf she was appointed?

And a deal that will earn taxpayers more than $130,000 a year in rental income from the former Aurora Hydro building. Worth waiting for.

However, what she failed to mention was that this deal took 3 years and bumped the planned use by our own Parks department because the Works and Parks department have long outgrown the facility they are sharing on Scanlon Court. What is her plan to address that need? And at what cost against this $130,000 windfall?

We are now renting out a town facility that was supposed to be used for town staff. And since when did the municipality become a landlord?  Shouldn’t town buildings be used for Town purposes ahead of rental opportunities?  Surplus buildings and land are supposed to be sold and the revenue used for municipal purposes.  Shouldn’t she know that given all of her “experience”.

Christopher Watts had his own take on this same email you might find interesting. As always, Christopher brings his own special sense of humour to the online word via his personal blog, Temporary Insanity.

Posted in Budget, Election 2010, Growth, Leadership | 2 Comments »

Integrity Complaint to be Filed Against Phyllis Morris

Posted by auroracitizen on September 30, 2010

Council Watch #16 – by Richard Johnson

I would like to inform the public that should Mayor Morris be re-elected that I will be filing a complaint to the Integrity Commissioner along with evidence that suggests that she may have broken section three of the code of conduct in her statements made to the Toronto Star with regards to the reasons why Mr. Nitkin was released from his duties as Integrity Commissioner of the town, shortly after he released an opinion that stated the initial allegations laid against Councillor Buck were “incomplete”, “inaccurate”, “ill-informed” and possibly wholly politically motivated.

Mayor Morris’ statements as communicated to me by the reporter in question were not consistent with what Mr. Nitkin informed me were the actual facts, which may help to explain his cease and desist order against the Mayor, nor were they consistent with the official reasons given by the town for his dismissal as per a Freedom of Information response provided to me, therefore it appears on the surface that the Mayor may not have followed her own code of conduct rules. If this proves to be the case then she is guilty of the same offense that she and her fellow councillors are accusing Councillor Buck of breaching.

Richard Johnson

Posted in Code of Ethics, Council Watch-Richard Johnson, Election 2010 | 4 Comments »

Candidates Debate at Rogers TV

Posted by auroracitizen on September 30, 2010

Yesterday all 5 candidates for Mayor were in attendance at Rogers TV for the first of a number of scheduled interactions.

From what we hear it was a spirited affair – so be sure to look for it both on TV and online.

One of the stipulations was that each candidate was only allowed to bring 1 supporter. Phyllis Morris brought Ken Whitehurst.

Wasn’t that the same fellow awarded a $60,000 dollar job without  advertising the job so other members of the public could apply — per town recruitment policies — and who also sat on the committee that created the job?

Hmmmm? Just asking.

Also, don’t forget to attend the all-candidates event at the Town Hall this Sunday starting at 2 pm, presented by the Library Board.

Posted in Code of Ethics, Conflict of Interest, Election 2010, Integrity, Leadership | 2 Comments »

Candidate Questions

Posted by auroracitizen on September 26, 2010

A number of questions were posed to the candidates for Mayor and Council based on input from readers of the AuroraCitizen.

The questions and answers are posted here.

Posted in Election 2010 | 18 Comments »

Sign War Being Taken Literally

Posted by auroracitizen on September 26, 2010

Is anyone else noticing the theft and destruction of signs around our community?

Is anyone else disgusted by this behaviour?

This is reflective of the type of politics we have seen the last couple elections. It seems Aurora is no longer a community where people are able to disagree agreeably.

Over the weekend, one citizen was awoken at around 3:00 am in the morning by the noise of a youngish man — armed with a baseball bat — methodically smashing their Geoff Dawe and Evelyn Buck signs. They called the police and descriptions were given.

A drive around town revealed that signs for certain candidates are being systematically and singularly targeted by vandals — and in many cases thieves. Some signs were vandalize — others were simply stolen.

Historically, we have seen signs pushed down by young people out late at night as general mischief — but this is different. This is a campaign tactic targeting specific signs like we have never seen in our town before. Frankly we must demand better from our candidates and their campaign teams.

What a disappointing new low for politics in Aurora.

Posted in Election 2010 | 19 Comments »

A Sense of Community

Posted by auroracitizen on September 24, 2010

Let us take the Canada Day Parade and the Santa Claus Parade and turn these over to the Chamber of Commerce and out of the hands of politicians and their friends.

Let our town government create Aurora Youth Scholarships that would provide our young people with incentives to work in their community and in return receive some financial benefit, and beyond this, receive credits toward their education, all the while performing positive acts that would benefit many less fortunate.

Let us impress upon the parents of our young people that their children can play a meaningful role in the community. Let us convince these parents that they should act as mentors to their sons and daughters to assist in the creation of a generation that cares.

Let the parents and their children initiate and create suitable roles and tasks for themselves, ones that would benefit the entire community, and especially those who are the weakest and most vulnerable.

This is too important to be left exclusively in the hands of elected politicians. There should be an umbrella organization formed consisting of service clubs, business and the town. It should start at the grass-roots level and its objective should be the general improvement of our entire community, from assisting the elderly whenever and however possible, shoveling snow and raking leaves, cleaning up the town, planting trees, providing transport to those unable to move about freely.

There are virtually no limits as to what can be done; to bring a smile to people’s faces, a sense of relief to a worried brow, a feeling of being useful, a sense of self-worth and accomplishment.

Posted in Community Corner, Guest Post, Leadership | 4 Comments »

Facts About Senior Staff Exodus

Posted by auroracitizen on September 20, 2010

Guy Poppe, faithful supporter of the Morris regime, has repeatedly challenged readers of this blog for a list of senior staff who have left this term “because of the current Council”. His premise is based on the fact that unless the departing employee writes a letter to the editor stating this, the wholesale departures shouldn’t be linked to the current Council.

We say, real leaders accept responsibility for what happens on their watch. Well, this is Phyllis’s watch.

Mayor Morris has steadfastly refused to even answer the direct question of Richard Johnson, in spite of a Freedom of Information request specifically asking this very question. Wonder why? If there is a more obvious answer, why not illuminate the great unwashed.

Perhaps Mr Poppe would repeatedly ask her for this answer.

So to try to answer the question without the spin, we have simply pulled the list together as best we can based on public information. Please let us know if we have missed something.

Following is a list of senior staff positions that make up the Management Committee. These are the town staff that interact directly with Council and are responsible for all operations of the corporation.

By position we have listed the original employee at the start of this term — followed by any changes where applicable. We have left out employee names to respect their privacy.

Chief Administrative Officer
Original employee – Contract “Terminated”
Replacement in place

Clerk
Original employee – departed
1st Replacement – departed
2nd Replacement in place

Solicitor
Original employee – departed
Replacement in place

Director, Public Works
Original employee – departed
1st Replacement (acting) – departed
2nd Replacement in place

Director, Planning
Original employee – departed
Replacement in place

Director, Building Administration
Original employee in place

Director, Finance
Original employee – departed
Replacement in place

Director, Parks & Recreation
Original employee in place

Bonus Question: Integrity Commissioner
D. Nitkin – Contract “Terminated”
D. Tsubouchi

By our count, the town has lost 8 people from 6 senior management positions; we now have new faces in 6 of 8 positions with only 2 of 8 original employees still in place.

Each of the original employees had years of experience at their role providing the town with their expertise. This expertise and corporate  memory have been lost.

Now of course Mr Poppe will again demand to know which ones left “because of the actions of the current Council“.

It’s a surprising question coming from someone who claims to be a lawyer. If so, he should know that when leaving a place of employment it is not advisable to make claims like “I left because of the boss”. It reflects poorly on your character when seeking future employment and opens the door to possible legal action, something this Council has a reputation for.

Plus, departing staff had too much class to make such statements — something the current members of Council could learn from.

We simply offer the facts and invite you to draw your own conclusion.

Posted in Election 2010, Freedom of Information, Leadership, Staff Turnover | 28 Comments »

Council Watch: Dawe Wins Sign War Survey Number One

Posted by auroracitizen on September 20, 2010

Council Watch #15 – by Richard Johnson

The kids and I piled into the van for a Sunday drive in Aurora and what a drive it was ! The weather is incredible and we had a chance to drive into all corners of this great little town of ours.

The purpose of our outing was to count signs on the lawns of homeowners. We plan to do the same again in a few weeks in order to see if we can determine any trends.

This was a random survey of eight areas in town. Dawe won four areas, Morris won three areas and Kean won one area.

It should be noted that Kean won one area with only two signs while Phyllis won one another area with three signs. Phyllis won a second area because we drove by her home and there were six signs there. Given that we did not drive by the homes of the other candidates as far as we are aware, this should be noted in order to be fair.

If we assume that 12,500 people will cast a vote for Mayor  (which is a safe estimate given the last election numbers)  then we can extrapolate from the more than 100 signs counted that the following results would play out if the election was held today:

  • Dawe        6,146 votes
  • Morris       4,479 votes
  • Kean         1,563 votes
  • Clowater       313 votes

Have a nice day.

RJ

Posted in Council Watch-Richard Johnson, Election 2010 | 10 Comments »

What Concerns Aurora Voters

Posted by auroracitizen on September 20, 2010

Sean Pearce wrote an article that appears on the front page of the Sunday Banner.  It was interesting for a number of reasons.

All 4 challengers indicated that residents continue to be angered and upset by the antics of the outgoing Mayor and Council — which suggests a movement to change.

However, there didn’t seem to be any other defined issues that candidates will be speaking to. Most of the other issues mentioned were pretty typical — property taxes, traffic concerns, the environment and development. However, there were no real suggestions or ideas we can get behind and support.

Challengers need to start differentiating themselves from each other or residents won’t know who to vote for on Oct 25 — and we will all wake up Oct 26, with a vote for change split 3 or 4 ways and stuck  in the same situation we are currently in.

We also noticed an article by Teresa Latchford indicating “accountability and transparency top the list of hot topics” in the Newmarket race. We think the same sentiments would equally apply to Aurora.

Of course, the other interesting point was that outgoing Mayor Phyllis Morris “was unavailable for comment”. Who ever thought the day would come when Phyllis missed an opportunity to have her words (or those someone else wrote for her) in print. Makes you wonder what could have been so pressing she could not pick up her blackberry and return a phone call.

Posted in Election 2010 | 4 Comments »

Magna Hoedown Was a Hit

Posted by auroracitizen on September 18, 2010

Magna Hoedown returned to Aurora with a bang. Great event that raised $514,000 for local community groups. Great food, great entertainment and great friends.

Did you go? Did you have a good time? Share your stories if you have any.

Special thanks to all the volunteers — without you , it wouldn’t have been possible.

Posted in Community Corner, Recreation | 14 Comments »

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