 By Pepper Parr
December 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
During the 2014 budget deliberations council wasn’t able to find the funding needed to cover the cost of a person to be named as manager of culture for the city.
 The first Culture week for Burlington had a great turnout in Civic Square. Then city manager Jeff Fielding said at the time that while he couldn’t promise anything he would do his very best to find some savings somewhere and crate the position of Manager of Culture for the city.
In 2013 and 2014 the city began to see a different cultural community; the Art Community Collective was formed, the first No Vacancy was put on at the Waterfront to critical acclaim to be followed by a second much larger presentation at the Village Square.
The city held its first Cultural week; the Performing Arts Centre was under stronger management and was making time and space for the smaller community groups – and they weren’t asking for an increase in funding.
The Burlington Art centre underwent a name change and then a change in its leadership.
 Angela Paparizo, now the Manager Art and Culture with Trevor Copp whose delegation brought about a shift in city council’s thinking in 2013 Things on the cultural side of the city were getting more attention and more funding.
General Manager Scott Stewart announced to staff that Angela Paparizo was the successful candidate for the position of Manager of Arts and Culture.
The internal announcement went on to say that “Angela brings more than 10 years of experience in Public Administration, a Master’s Degree in History and Bachelor Degree in Journalism. Angela is continuing her education in Cultural Planning with the University of British Columbia.
“As a Cultural Planner for the City, Angela’s work has been focused on the development of the Cultural Action Plan, Public Art Program, Cultural Mapping, Relationship with Cultural Joint Ventures and Support for cultural community through Community Development and Facility Fee Waiver fund.
“Angela’s experience and passion for arts and culture has helped her successfully develop and deliver Culture Days 2014 in collaboration with artists and cultural organizations.
 Performing Arts Centre – a key cultural stakeholder – where do they fit into the Cultural Plan and how much input will they have? will they be truly an arm’s length organization? “While working in various management positions in the past, Angela’s extensive experience in project management including proposal writing and budgeting has helped her strategically plan highly creative and impactful arts and culture programs that inspire public involvement and provide value to the community.
“As a Manager of Arts and Culture, she hopes to continue her rewarding work in advancing collaborative, community-based programs and services, developing cultural opportunities in Burlington and enhancing the quality of life.”
 With a new name and a brand that is being developed and some bright people running the show – where will the Art Gallery fit into the Cultural Action Plan. The challenge now is to put energy and financial resources into the job as it has been outlined. It is a significant step for the city. In the past culture has resided within the Parks and Recreation department where the focus was on sports and recreational activities.
With new, and hopefully more focused management, culture and the arts will have a chance. The trick is to ensure that we get beyond “Elvis on Velvet” and that the community understands it will take time to pull all the stakeholders together and get them singing from the same sheet music.
There is a very delicate balancing act to be done; diplomacy is going to be a key element and the prime stakeholders will have to be brought on side. Avoiding turf wars will be a challenge.
How avoiding a lineup of artists with their hands out gets pulled off will be interesting to watch.
 By Pepper Parr
December 26, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
It was pretty close to a ten year project but John Taylor, Councillor for Ward 3 knew that he would eventually be able to deliver for the residents of the Mountainside Community – and he has.
 Project Manager Jennifer Johnson point out a detail in the entrance area of the rebuilt Mountainside Recreation Centre that is now open to the public. Last week the marvelously renovated Mountainside Recreation Centre was quietly opened for people in the community. Early in January there will be a public opening – but Jennifer Johnson, city Project Co-ordinator already knows how well the place is going to work.
While she was checking on some last day details she put on her figure skates and tested the rink. It has been some time since Jennifer has skated and gone up on her toes and used the picks to twist and turn on the ice. She had the sheet of ice all to herself – and made the best of it. She did not tell us if she took even one small fall on that perfect sheet of ice.
 The corridor that integrates the swimming – splash pad areas with reception and the ice rink is finished in material that has the look and feel of wood. Johnson was Project Manager for the Haber Recreational Centre in Alton where she worked with the Board of Education to bring in one of the few fully integrated collection of a high school, a recreational centre and a public library in a community that is in the process of finding itself. There are those in Alton who refer to that part of the city as the NEW Burlington.
After 18 months of construction, the newly renovated Mountainside Recreation Centre is completed. It is not your typical recreation centre with that cinder block look to it.
 There are parking lots at the bottom of the slight grade leading to the entrance of the Recreation Centre; a drop off bay and a small parking lot at the top of the site. The architects chose a very fitting blend of stone, brick and paneling that fits in with the wooded location. ZAS Architects did the design work and produced something that looks and feel a little more like a mid-level resort location than a community centre with both outdoor pools and an ice rink.
The use of building material that has a finish resembling natural wood gives one the impression, and a look and feel of natural wood is everywhere.
The contract to build was awarded to Bondfield Construction Company Limited in May 2013. The cost for the project totaled $9.3 million, which included all the hard costs (construction) and soft costs, architect fees, permits, project administration, contingency and furnishings.
 The concession area is set up so that hockey players and those using the pools and splash pad outside have access. The job amounted to a complete revitalization and connection of the existing arena and pool house buildings into one integrated recreational complex that has two community rooms with screens and projection equipment, refrigerators and micro-wave ovens. These are rooms that small dances could be held in.
The customer service area is very pleasing – the concession is set up so that it can serve the people using the pools and splash pad area in the summer and the people using the ice rink in the winter.
 Change rooms on the left and a brand new sheet of ice. The change rooms in the ice arena are as upscale as most of the golf clubs in the community. Hockey referees have their own change room with lockers.
The centre is built into the side of a small mountain. Tree planting, re-forestation, trail installations were part of the revitalization.
The facility is now open for ice rentals and community room rentals. The grand opening will take place on January 2, 2015.
The Mountainside community now has the recreation centre it has waited for – Councillor Taylor just might burst with pride when the place is officially opened.
 Entrance to the Mountainside Recreation Centre. Public art is being done.
It was not an easy project to bring to fruition. Parks and Recreation wasn’t all that keen on the idea and a former city manager tried to kill the project at one point. They don’t call John Taylor the dean of city council because he has a pretty face. He slugged away to keep the project in the budget – next week his constituents can celebrate his perseverance with him.
In the months ahead, work on the public art that Simon Frank, the Hamilton artist selected, will be going forward – it will be interesting to see how this addition to the city’s bank of public art works out.
There have been some clunkers in the past.
 By Ray Rivers
December 26, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Canada faces an important federal election this year. There will be clear choices for the voters because the philosophies of the Liberals and Conservatives are so different. The NDP has been an effective opposition, but few Canadians are convinced that the party has much to offer, and expect the NDP to almost certainly fall back to its traditional third place standing.
The Harper government introduced a fixed-date election law back in 2007, which ordinarily would mean an election be held on the 3rd Monday of October this coming year. But a debate is emerging  about whether the PM will go to the voters earlier, arguably breaking his own law in the interests of political expediency.
Driving that speculation is consideration of Canada’s external rather than internal environment. I’’m not talking about ISIS, Iran and North Korea. These are merely distractions from the important global geo-political conflict – the one looming in eastern Europe. Vladimir Putin’s latest aggressions have plunged the world back into cold war mode with a potential for much more significant consequences.
Mr. Harper was foremost among world leaders in condemning Putin’s actions. And he will find enhanced electoral support among Ukrainian Canadians for his strong stand, much as he has found among some Jewish voters, who support his one-sided pro-Israeli policies. But it is the economic consequences of this conflict which will determine his timing on the election.
 Pipes waiting for US government approval before they can be buried and used to carry oil from the Alberta tar sands. It’s mostly all about oil prices. The Saudis and Americans are flooding the market with cheap oil, Russia’s main export and the basis of that nation’s economic strength. Since the price of oil has fallen to less than $50 per barrel, the Ruble has been cut in half and the country is now facing a major recession. In this way, oil pricing has turned out to be even more effective than sanctions at hurting Putin’s Russia, though neither appear to be able to curb his aggressive tendencies
 Harper government waits patiently for some movement on the Keystone pipeline that is supposed to carry oil from Alberta to US markets. Canada’s economy is also dependent on oil prices, though to a lesser extent than Russia. Since becoming PM, Harper has made the export of oil the central pillar of his economic policy, while jeopardizing our agriculture sector through new trade initiatives, and virtually ignoring Canada’s industrial base. Labelled the ‘Dutch Disease’, we have watched manufacturing and other industries in Ontario and Quebec die-off as oil exports lifted our loonie, thereby making Canadian goods and services less competitive globally.
Having cut corporate and other taxes, the federal budget has become more reliant on oil patch revenues than ever. And it was income from oil that was going to take Canada into the ‘black’ just in time for the PM’s 2015 budget. But, now, that is unlikely to happen, and the longer oil prices stay depressed, the bigger the deficit we can expect in 2015.
Harper has put a lot of his eggs into demonstrating his prowess at managing the economy, so showing up at election time with a big deficit in the basket is not what he wants. The betting is that he’ll call a spring election rather than risk facing the public come October when he is deeper in the red.
A spring election would also keep him ahead of the investigations into Senate-gate (Duffy, Wallin). And the Tory election machine is reportedly better funded, staffed and organized than either of the opposition parties. So why not?
Lower oil prices are good for consumers, the folks voting, balanced budget or not. It’s no secret that contented voters often share their good will by voting for the status quo. After-all, when you can put the savings from that last fill-up towards your child’s new I-Pad life looks more pleasant.
Harper’s throw-back social policies (mandatory jail, drugs, prostitution) or his assault on the environment (environmental assessment, Fisheries Act, Climate Change) may seem more academic than material when gas prices are lower and the man in charge seems to look like he knows what he is doing.
The situation in Europe seems relatively stable, if uncertain, but it could change rapidly as these things do sometimes. Recall how nobody expected the first world war to last very long – but it did. And Mr. Harper has cultivated a ‘tough guy’ image which would benefit him were we suddenly thrust into some kind of serious conflict over there.
The truth is that Canada has been criticized by NATO for underspending on its military and has cut defence spending even more – in order to achieve what now appears to an elusive balanced budget. And perhaps, in a time of war, people might reflect on just how poorly this government treats our veterans in need.
So it sure looks like a spring election is in the cards this New Year. Have a happy New Year however you decide to cast your ballot.
Background links:
Fixed Elections Law Russia Conflcit Dutch Disease
 Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province.
Ray will be having his Christmas Dinner in an airport somewhere as he wings his way to New Zealand where he will vacation, ponder and continue working on his second book, His regular column will appear every second week; in between will be a short photo essay on life on the other side of the world.
 By Pepper Parr
December 24, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
A young Muslim boy we interviewed earlier in the year said his family celebrated some of Christmas.
“We call it the Commercial Christmas” he said. And for many it is a commercial season that draws people to churches Christmas Eve.
There is a reason for the season – we all know what it is.
 …and he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. There was a float in the Santa Claus parade that shouted it out for me.
For unto us …
We hope it is a Merry Christmas and that you are all with family, loved ones and friends.
 By Pepper Parr
December 24, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Six months into the job as MPP for Burlington and Eleanor McMahon can look back at a good first session as a provincial politician.
The government passed nine piece of legislation during its first session. There were just three bills passed in the previous session of the Legislature. The government brought back 20 bills that were on the Order Paper before the election was called.
 McMahon was everywhere during the early days after the August 4th flood. We asked McMahon: “What’s it like?” How did you feel when you first walked in the Legislature and took your seat”?
“There are 13 million people in Ontario” explained McMahon. “And just 107 in the Legislature – that fact just overwhelmed me. I am one of those 107 and the 13 million expect me to make good decisions for them.”
It is a demanding job and at the same time a rewarding job explained McMahon. People bring their problems to this office she said. They frequently don’t understand the rules and all too often there are very real hardship cases.
The Burlington office is an all-female operation. The three staff; Meaghan Eisenberg, Executive Assistant and Sydney Grieve, Constituency Assistant. We neglected to pick up the name of the third staff member.
McMahon is located in the Brant Plaza – and she wants out. She thinks a store front operation better serves the public – it gives her more of a profile as well. Finding something suitable and affordable is a concern.
Bill 10, the Child Care Modernization Act is one that gave McMahon a lot of satisfaction. “It meant” she said, “that parents would have more assurance that their children were safe with the people they hire to provide daycare.
McMahon is bilingual which involves her in the Francophone caucus – not something any one in Burlington past took part in.
She serves as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry and is a Member, Standing Committee on General Government and a Member, Standing Committee on the Legislative Assembly
There is some legislation on the Order Paper that is of interest to several people in Burlington – Bill 52, Protection of Public Participation Act, 2014. It is an Act to An Act to amend the Courts of Justice Act, the Libel and Slander Act and the Statutory Powers Procedure Act in order to protect expression on matters of public interest.
 Pulling in the dollars for flood relief had McMahon out at dozens of photo ops. Two Burlingtonians, and the Burlington Gazette have been sued by the Burlington Executive Air Park for what they wrote about the air park’s use of un-inspected landfill at the 200 acre property between Bell School Line and Appleby Line.
The purposes of this legislation is to:
(a) to encourage individuals to express themselves on matters of public interest;
(b) to promote broad participation in debates on matters of public interest;
(c) to discourage the use of litigation as a means of unduly limiting expression on matters of public interest; and
(d) to reduce the risk that participation by the public in debates on matters of public interest will be hampered by fear of legal action.
McMahon wasn’t up on that particular piece of legislation – it has only had First Reading.
The Ontario Disaster Relief fund legislation isn’t being reviewed –
McMahon thinks it needs an overhaul. She became fully aware of what the legislation called for and played a leading role in ensuring that Burlington got to benefit from the legislation.
ODRAP required a community to raise funds locally and then ask the government to match the funds raised in the community in two dollars from the government for every dollar raised by the public.
Burlington raised $905,000 locally and will get $1,810,000 from the provincial government making $2.715.000 available to people in Burlington who suffered significant financial loss when their homes were flooded.
The provincial government at first said no to the Burlington’ request – it was pressure from McMahon and Ron Foxcroft that brought about a change in the thinking of Minister Ted McMeekin.
McMahon was everywhere during the early days of the flood. There wasn’t an event she didn’t show up at offering support, understanding and an open mind. She was tireless in fighting for her community.
Question Period is her least favourite period of time in the legislature. Her strength appears to be in Committee where a reasoned, carefully thought through approach is supposed to prevail. The cut and thrust of
Question Period doesn’t fit with the McMahon character or temperament.
It helps that she is a member of the governing party. Her predecessor didn’t have that going for her and it had an impact on her effectiveness.
McMahon has taken to the job and its complexities quite quickly and is doing well within the community. She argues that majority government works much better than minority government – she will certainly get some blow back on that position.
While it is far too early to tell if McMahon will look as good in four years’ time as she does today – Burlington’s Tory roots run very deep – she is certainly working the riding.
 We have never seen anyone work a room the way Eleanor McMahon does; she just oozes empathy. There have been consistent rumours floating around city hall that Council member Paul Sharman plans to seek the Progressive Conservative nomination for the Burlington seat. That will certainly be an interesting race – if there was ever two diametrically different people – it has to be McMahon and Sharman.
The Gazette got two tips that Sharman was making himself known within the Progressive Conservative Party. The Gazette asked Sharman to comment on the rumours – he did not confirm or deny the rumours.
 By Pepper Parr
December 23, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The city released the draft version of the operating budget for 2015 – it amounts to a 3.55% increase over the previous year.
The gross budget of $216.1 million for 2015 will result in a net tax levy of $139,912,648 – this includes $4.8 million that is levied to pay for the Joseph Brant Hospital Redevelopment Project.
 There are a number of Business Cases made for increased funding, which is included in the draft budget.
The Gazette will pour over the budget during the holidays and provide detail on a service by service basis as well as detail the several business cases put forward.
The draft budget was delivered to members of Council this afternoon.
 Giving the obstreperous tone at the last Council meeting – the budget deliberations could be tense. Councillor Taylor who referred to members of Council as the “gang of four” will chair the budget deliberations which begin on January 12th with a Community and Corporate Services Committee meeting where an Overview and a review of the 2015 proposed current budget.
That event will be followed by a Council Information session on January 21st and then a Public Consultation at the Mainway Arena on January 29th from 7:00 to 9:00 pm
On February 11th the Community and Corporate Services Committee will hear public delegations on the proposed current budget.
On February 17th and 19th the budget committee will review and approve the current budget after which it will go to Council for approval on February 23rd.
At the Council meeting on December 18th the city passed a bylaw approving an interim tax levy. The city sends out tax bills four times a year and cannot collect more than 50% of the tax levy with the first tax bill. Tax bills cannot be sent out until there is a specific by law passed by Council.
Tax bills are sent out in February and April followed by tax bills in June and September.
 By Pepper Parr
December 23, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Tony Bavota, Burlington’s Fire Chief would like you to buy a gift for your house.
Nothing sexy about what he wants you to buy and no, it isn’t a calendar of a dozen of the hunks that put in fire helmets.
Something pretty simple, that you are now required to have in your home and it could well you’re your life.
 Tony Bavota, a serious minded fire chief – with a sense of humour. Tony Bavota wants to you buy and install a Carbon Monoxide alarm; they are now required by law in most Ontario homes.
The regulations mean any home with a fireplace, gas stove, water heater or furnace that burns fuels, such as gas, must have a CO alarm. The new law also applies to homes with an attached garage.
“We’re experiencing an influx of calls from residents asking about the new law,” said Chief Fire Prevention Officer Joe Wintar. “If the house contains a fuel-burning appliance, fireplace or an attached garage, a CO alarm is required to be installed near each sleeping area, including any basement or main level bedrooms.”
For added protection, CO alarm(s) can be installed in other areas of the home near a possible CO source. Always check the product’s instruction manual for details and installation requirements.
Known as the silent killer, CO is a tasteless, colourless and odourless gas that is responsible for the deaths of about 50 Canadians, including 11 Ontarians on average, every year.
The department recently released a valuable and funny video (They weren’t kidding – this is a funny video – didn’t think the fire department had this kind of funny in them) about the importance of testing both smoke and CO alarms called Test Yours Today that can be viewed on its YouTube channel.
 A number of different brands – check to see that the one you by is CSA approved. Proper placement of a CO alarm is important. In general, the human body is most vulnerable to the effects of CO during sleeping hours, so an alarm should be located near all sleeping areas of the home.
CO alarm(s) should be located near every sleeping area, where it can wake you if you are asleep. Where sleeping areas are located in separate parts of the home, an alarm should be provided for each area.
For added protection, additional CO alarms can be placed on each level of a residence and in or near rooms where CO sources are located (such as in a room that contains a solid fuel-fired appliance, gas clothes dryer or natural gas furnace, or adjacent to an attached garage).
 Once you’ve made the purchase – make sure you install it correctly. Unlike smoke, which rises to the ceiling, CO mixes with air. Recognizing this, a CO alarm can be located at knee-height (which is about the same a prone sleeping height). To work properly, a CO alarm should not be blocked by furniture, draperies or other obstructions to normal air flow.
If a combination smoke/carbon monoxide alarm is used, it should be located on the ceiling, to ensure that it will detect smoke effectively.
By Pepper Parr
December 20, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It was a blood bath.
It was a rude, crude attempt to strip ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward of all her committee and Board responsibilities. And for the most part what Councillor Taylor called the “gang of four” succeeded.
It didn’t start out that way – but there was a hint that something hard was coming at the Community Services Committee earlier in the week when the chair for the next year was selected. Meed Ward was elected as vice-chair and Taylor made chair. Meed Ward had expected to serve as chair. This is the committee that handles the budget and the work load is little taxing for Taylor.
 Last Thursday was not the Mayor’s best day – his council trashed some of his key recommendations and there was nothing he could do to stop. At the Council meeting Thursday evening the Mayor put forward his recommendations on who would serve where. This is usually a quickly approved report given that the Mayor has already canvassed the members of Council.
The recommendation was that the following members of Council be appointed as representatives of Burlington’s Council to the identified local boards and committees, for a term to begin effective immediately. Those shown in red are the ones that his Councillors didn’t go along with.
LOCAL BOARDS
Burlington Public Library
Rick Craven
Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC)
Jack Dennison, Rick Goldring and Paul Sharman
Art Gallery of Burlington
John Taylor (2015/2016), Blair Lancaster (2017/2018)
Burlington Museums
Blair Lancaster
Joseph Brant Hospital
Marianne Meed Ward
Tourism Burlington
Jack Dennison
Burlington Hydro Board
Rick Goldring
Burlington Downtown BIA
Marianne Meed Ward
 Councillor John Taylor was not a happy camper at the end of last Thursday’s Council meeting. Burlington took a number of hits that damaged the way the city will be run in 2015 Aldershot Village BIA
Rick Craven
Greater Bay Area Sub- Committee
Rick Craven & John Taylor
Burlington Performing Arts Centre Board
Rick Goldring & Paul Sharman
Downtown Parking Committee
Marianne Meed Ward
Licensing Committee
Rick Craven, John Taylor & Marianne Meed Ward
Conservation Halton
John Taylor & Marianne Meed Ward
Burlington Seniors Centre Board Liaison
Paul Sharman
CITIZEN ADVISORY COMMITTEES
Heritage Burlington (HB)
Marianne Meed Ward
Sustainable Development Committee (SDC)
Paul Sharman
Burlington Accessibility Advisory Committee (BAAC)
John Taylor
Burlington Cycling Committee
Jack Dennison
Burlington Mundalization Committee
Blair Lancaster
Burlington Seniors Advisory Committee (BSAC)
Marianne Meed Ward
Burlington Inclusivity Advisory Committee (BIAC)
Blair Lancaster
 Councillor Meed Ward is passionate about her Boards and Committee work: having two of her favorites taken away from her hurt – and that was what Councillors Craven, Sharman and Lancaster wanted to do. Quite why Councillor Dennison went along with them isn’t all that clear. Meed Ward got taken off two boards that were dear to her heart. Councillor Taylor has asked that the city representation at Conservation HAlton be revised to two Council members with Meed Ward being the second. Councillors Craven, Sharman, Lancaster and Dennison voted against that idea. Taylor then withdrew his name which gave that position to Meed Ward.
Councillor Sharman is now on the hospital board and Meed Ward is on the seniors board. The Seniors has asked for Meed Ward to be on their board.
Meed Ward was replaced as the council representative on the Burlington Downtown Business Association by Councillor Lancaster who had complained to the Mayor that she wanted to serve on boards where she could grow.
At the beginning of each term of a new Council the members of Council decide who will represent the city on the various local boards and committees. The established process includes the completion of a form indicating individual council members’ interests in specific boards and committees. Based on each member’s input, the Mayor presents recommendations to the Community and Corporate Services Committee appointing Council members to local boards and committees.
The Procedure By-law describes appointments and includes, in part, the following information:”The Member of Council appointed as a liaison for each citizen advisory committee is not required to attend meetings or to take part in sub- committee meetings. Their role is to be available as a liaison to the citizen advisory committee.
The Council Representative is not counted when considering quorum and does not have a vote at citizen committee meetings”.
Mayor Goldring canvassed the members of Council and put forward a set of recommendations set out above.
Three of his Council members did not like what they saw in the report and actually conspired to ensure that Meed Ward was removed from every possible committee.
 Councillor Rick Taylor “owns” Aldershot; he rules that roost. Were his actions and machinations at council last Thursday a moved to expand his clout? He has said that he hasn’t ruled out a run for the office of Mayor. Councillors Craven and Sharman appeared to lead what Councillor Taylor called “the gang of four”; Councillor Lancaster went along for the ride; a ride it might be added being one she benefited from. Councillor Dennison joined in at the end.
In his report to Council Mayor Goldring said: “I am confident that the unique interests and talents of members of council are reflected in the recommended slate of council representatives to Boards and Committees. These representatives will ensure effective communication between the local boards and committees and council over the next four years.
That one blew up in the Mayors face. There were three amendments to the report that took everything away from Meed Ward. A surprise and somewhat intemperate move by Councillor Taylor had him withdrawing as the representative for city council on the Conservation Halton board which allowed Meed Ward to then take that appointment. Councillor Taylor then withdrew from the Art Gallery Board as well.
What does it all boil down to?
 Councillor Lancaster, on the right, relies on her fellow Council members for guidance and direction. Has she been foolishly led by Councillors Craven and Sharman who is seen here on the left. Mayor Goldring had said he was happy with the Council he had prior to the election – and they were all re-elected. His Worship is clearly not fully aware as to just how dysfunctional his Council is – there is now a very clear divide between the Mayor, Councillors Taylor and Meed and what Councillor Taylor called the “gang of four”; made up of Councillors Craven, Sharman, Dennison and Lancaster. They meant to cut Meed Ward down a peg or two and on the surface it sure looks like they succeeded.
The Seniors are going to love Meed Ward; they didn’t take to Councillor Sharman all that well. It will be interesting to see how Sharman fits into the hospital board – watch for some ego clashes over there.
Getting Meed Ward onto Conservation was a surprise move on the part of Councillor Taylor. She will have er work cut out for her.
Booting Meed Ward off the Downtown BIA puts a dent in the Meed Ward ego – but it won’t make any difference to what happens at that Board: Meed Ward can and will participate fully. The city representative is not needed to make quorum and doesn’t have a vote – and that board will deeply resent Lancaster pushing herself in the way she has. Look for fire works between the two female members of city Council at the BDBA.
Taylor’s intemperate decision to withdraw from the Art Galley is unfortunate.
There weren’t any winners last Thursday evening. what there is however is a very clear divide on city council that is not in the best interests of the city.
Only time will tell if this is what the residents of the city really want. There are going to be reverberations coming out of this for sometime. Getting a budget passed will be great fun!
By Staff
December 22, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Artists want to be artists – they aren’t bean counters – there is seldom enough money coming in to actually count.
For many – the art should speak for itself – so what’s to market.
Artists are seldom “business people” the really successful artists have managers who take care of that stuff.
 The art work sold at the Art Gallery earlier this month does well when it is displayed – the trick for artists is to get their work shown. For those artists who are not at that rung on the success ladder the Art Gallery of Burlington is putting on a series of workshops to give artists a bit if a leg up.
If you are an artist looking to promote your work – Check out these AGB workshops to help increase your visibility to potential clients.
Your Digital Projects (4 weeks)
Tues Feb 3 – 24, 1-4 pm OR
Tues Apr 7-28, 1-4 pm
This four-week workshop will provide entrepreneurs a digital design skill set for creating practical documents using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and maybe even some of your own images and fonts. After an introduction to our Adobe software’s essential design tools and panels we will begin to construct and customize layouts such as greeting cards, advertisements, posters. With the aid of an instructor, a Mac-lab and your creativity let’s digitally stitch your ideas and images together. For beginners or those with some experience. Instructor: Kevin Willson
 This work was shown during the Art in Action event last November. Using Social Media (3 weeks)
Sun Feb 1-15, 1-4 pm OR
Wed Apr 1-15, 1-4 pm
This three week workshop provides a summary of the major developments in social media such as Facebook, YouTube, WordPress, and Twitter. We will examine how social media can be used to stay current about art trends and news, as well as how to self-promote and conduct business online. Participants will be introduced to a variety of social media environments and will gain hands-on experience with many of the leading social media applications. *This course requires active participation of students and a willingness to immerse in social media practices. Instructor: K. Jennifer Bedford
 Burlington has a number of venues for the sale of art. Local artists are looking for ways to break out of this market. Photographing Your Merchandise (4 weeks)
Tues Mar 3-31 (no class Mar 17), 1-4 pm
Students will learn and practice photography and lighting techniques of small objects
such as plants or pottery and larger subjects such as paintings or fashion. This is ideal
for crafts people and artisans who wish to expand the photographic portfolio of their
creations or collection for either print or web. Instructor: Jorj Takacs
We are advised by the AGB that there will be a fee for the courses – they were not able to advise us as to what the fee will actually be.
When we get the data we will pass it along to you.
By Pepper Parr
December 21, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Pat Moyle, the interim city manager expects to be able to leave his job at the end of January with a new city manager having been named.
A reliable source has informed the Gazette that there are ten candidates and that “there are some very good people applying for the job”.
 Scott Stewart, on the right, is the “last man standing”. Former city manager Jeff Fielding took a better job in Calgary and General Manager Kim Phillips was given an offer she took and slipped into retirement. One of the ten is current General Manager Scott Stewart who has been keeping the good ship Burlington afloat during the very tough periods of time.
Several Councillors have come to the conclusion that the city will need a serious reorganization and that the seven levels of staffing in place now is not necessary and not effective.
One feels the city doesn’t need any General Managers, there used to be three, and that a reorganization to four levels of staffing would have the current departments grouped differently with each group reporting directly to the city manager.
Another Councillor feels younger talented people are leaving the city because they don’t believe there is the leadership they would like to see in place.
In the past six years Burlington has gone through three city managers. That kind of change in administrative leadership doesn’t inspire much enthusiasm.
There are at least three current senior people that may find themselves having new business cards printed. One of the three has been with the city far too long in the eyes of more than one council member; two others are thought to be ready for something different which would allow a new city manager to recruit fresh talent.
One of the concerns expressed by a number of people is the weak bench strength at the Director level. One a more positive note these same people see very good prospects with a number, close to a dozen, of younger people who can be grown and groomed to take on senior positions.
There are some very bright people in Planning, Parks and Recreation and Finance that many want to see encouraged.
 The camera has always been kind to Mayor Goldring. He is photogenic and people take confidence in a person they like the look of and tend not to want to see if there is anything more than a pretty face. Talent retention seems to be a bit of a problem for Burlington. The Mayor has now gone through two people who served as his Chief of Staff. Tina Depko Denver was recently made manager of communications for the Mayor who apparently has not made a decision on his next chief of staff. A more standard practiced in the developing, or in this case re-developing, of a team is to have the top job filled and have the Chief hire the balance of the team the Mayor wants in place to meet the mandate and the vision the Mayor is working from.
That vision thing is having a tough time getting any traction in the Mayor’s office.
By Staff
December 20, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
The Halton Regional Police need the public’s help in locating a missing 84 year old man.
 Ken Aird – missing
Ken Aird is described as a white male, approximately 5’10” weighing 200 pounds.
He has gray hair and is believed to be wearing a brown swede coat, gray cap and dark coloured pants; he walks slowly using a cane.
In addition to having Alzheimer’s, he has other medical conditions that are of concern. He was last seen several hours ago on foot leaving the Heritage Retirement Home on Kilmer Drive in the City of Burlington.
Anyone who has information or who believes they have seen Mr. Aird, please call 9-1-1 or 905-825-4777 and ask for Communications.
 By Ray Rivers
December 20, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The federal government spends $43 billion (2011/12), which is about half of all direct program spending, on human resources. That averages out to an annual $115,000 salary for each of the 375,000 full time employees who make up your federal government.
Those salaries, according to the Parliamentary budget officer, have been growing at a faster rate than either the private or the provincial public sector, notwithstanding the federal government’s promised austerity program.
 Workers in the Ontario Public Sector also do well, receiving higher pay and bigger raises than their private sector counterparts. This can be a bit of an unfair comparison, given the extensive breadth of private employment.
Still the difference is striking, with an average hourly pay rate of $34 for the public servant as opposed to $25 across the private sector. And, this gap has been widening over the years.
Nobody objects to value for money and most of us believe that a better educated employee should generate improved productivity. So part of the reason for the gap may be that Ontario public servants, on the whole, are much better educated than their private sector counterparts, with relatively twice as many holding university degrees (41% to 20%).
The Harris government introduced the ‘Sunshine List’ which identified those public servants earning over $100,000. Today that list includes almost 90.000 employees, having grown by 39% since 2009. While public sector incomes were once said to be pulled-up by the private sector it is evident that the reverse is true today. Generally one can assume that the public employee is as well or better paid than most equivalent jobs in the private sector, including many non-government senior executives.
So what about all those outrageous and improper executive expense claims? The 2015 Pan-Am games are an important economic event for this province and for Canada. There is a 17 member organizing committee, which will have been paid about $21 million of your hard-earned dollars by the time the games are on. The CEO, alone, pulls in over half a million a year.
 In spite of what most people would consider generous compensation these characters have been submitting their personal expense claims as if they were understudying Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin. Hundreds of airline flights over were made the last four years, including one to watch a wake-boarding championship in the Caymans . Three thousand dollars was paid for fourteen limo rides from the airport ($238 per trip)?
And why do we have to send this ‘high-priced help’ back to school to take courses in strategic planning and writing – at public expense? What were they thinking when they purchased over a thousand dollars worth of Harry Rosen dress shirts, ostensibly for team uniforms? There was a wine tasting, loads of lunches with alcoholic beverages, and don’t forget the overpriced orange juice. Though, caught squirming in the cookie jar, they eventually paid-back some of the claims, again taking a page out of the Duffy/Wallin playbook.
This expense claim business is not limited to the Pan-Am crowd. The Hamilton Spectator uncovered that our Hamilton-centered health executives (including Burlington) had racked up over $2 million dollars in expenses over the past seven years. Fully a quarter of these expenses were claimed by the top executives, including the CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) who earns close to $700,000.
Corruption might be too strong a word but greed pretty well sums it up. We have been taught that money is the major motivator for an individual to perform; and that high salaries are the price we have to pay for good executive decision-making. Yet, we paid over a million dollars to the CEO of Hydro One whose organization was brutally criticized for incompetence by the provincial Auditor General in her latest report. So much for that theory!
So if paying big bucks to a CEO doesn’t guarantee a well run organization, what does it promote? Entitlement? I’d be very surprised if HHS couldn’t find someone else who could run that organization at least as well, for half the salary they’re now paying – much as Burlington’s Joseph Brant does.
Lofty titles, fat salary packages and lavish expense accounts might be very comforting to the recipients of these perks, but personal achievement, peer competition and helping the public likely play a much more important role in motivating public leaders and getting results. Mike Harris was on to a good thing in creating the ‘Sunshine List’ and it is unfortunate he didn’t go the extra step of capping all public service executive salaries, as the Province is rumoured to be considering today.
Yet, the truth is that Ontario’s public sector is already leaner than every other province in Canada. And the government actually has fewer public sector workers and spends less on them per capita than any other province. After all, being the most populous province in the union gives us the advantage of economies of scale.
 But Ontario is in the process of fighting a massive deficit and combating an overbearing public debt. So while reducing senior executive salaries will not solve that problem on its own, it would be a good start. And better expenses management should be a no-brainer.
Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province.
Background links:
Federal Employment Provincial Employment
Pan-Am Games Pan-Am Expenses
Pan-Am Expenses More Pan-Am Expenses Still More Pan-Am Even More Pan-Am –
Sunshine List Average Earning by Province
Capping Exec Salaries Motivating Employees Capping Exec Salaries
By Staff
December 17, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington is being considered a major celebration community for the Pan Am Torch Relay, and has asked its citizens to help choose a local resident to carry the Pan Am flame on behalf of the city when the torch relay comes to Burlington next year.
 The Burlington Pan Am Community Engagement Committee accepted applications and nominations until December 14th.
The public is now being asked vote on a short list of names selected by the committee. Torchbearer finalists are, in alphabetical order:
Kelly Arnott
Jaden Bailey
Chris Chandler
Dana Cooke
Oubaida Ikharbine
Dawn Izzard
Kaitlin Jones
Sonia Reynolds
Adam Smith
Alicia Thomson
Ashley Worobec
Eric Xu
There is something either ironic or fitting that Kelly Arnott be on the finalist list. Ms Arnott runs some of the most successful races in Ontario. Just last week she held the Santa Claus run which brought hundreds of Santa Claus clad runner streaming through the city.
Residents are invited to vote for Burlington’s community torch bearer.
“The person with the most votes will become the community torch bearer to run for Burlington when the flame comes to the city during the Pan Am torch relay.” said Alan Magi Executive Director of Capital Projects for the city.
Voting will close on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015. The selected torch bearer will be notified in mid-January.
The relay begins in May 2015 with the traditional Aztec lighting ceremony at the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico.
The Canadian journey for the flame starts with its arrival in Toronto on May 30, 2015. It will then visit five cities in Canada, as well as 130 communities across Ontario.
By Pepper Parr
December 17, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The Strategic Plan was introduced to a Council Stranding Committee.
There is a revised policy or service standard.
The updated Strategic Plan incorporates the principles of the BEDC which they believe will deliver the outcomes the City desires or, in some cases, will redefine achievable results envisioned by the economic Development Corporation.
The updated Strategy includes clear and specific key performance indicators (KPI’s) for all areas as well as defined tactics to achieve these results.
 Zoned commercial, spitting distance to the QEW, minutes from downtown – owner wants to rezone and make it residential. The BEDC has had a difficult four years. Under the direction of the former Executive Director, it was never able to get beyond commissioning report after report. Significant Burlington companies chose to leave the city – at least one was taken from us right under our noses.
The Board decided that it had had enough and dismissed the Executive Director in 2013 – on All Hallow’s Eve – and began taking a look at what was needed. A high powered group of executives was brought in as advisors and with all kinds of input from former city manager Jeff Fielding they looked as if there wasn’t a business they didn’t want to get into.
When Fielding bought a one way ticket to Calgary some of the high flying ideas were given a reality check and a new board was installed; they appointed Frank McKeown, formerly Mayor Goldring’s chief of staff, as the Executive Director.
It is amazing what sensible, proven executives will think of when they feel they have their hands on the public purse and not all that much in the way of genuine oversight. A one point they were going to create close to half a dozen corporations to get into property acquisition and development. Some sanity prevailed.
Through the plan development process,  nor did it conclude that BEDC should compete as land developers with the private sector. The decisions were based on the following:
The City has very little surplus land. Land Development models in other cities are usually based on significant surplus land or considerable land available at very low cost. The Board and City will continue to evaluate the opportunity in this area.
The scale of potential property available does not justify immediate investment in corporate restructure. Other alternatives exist to achieve the desired results with lower risk.
A Strategic Plan was developed to address the key economic community needs which were defined as:
a) Investment and assessment growth; b) Growing local employment opportunity and c) Accessible Industrial Commercial Institutional (ICI).
The BEDC has adopted key strategies to pull this off:
Develop an Economic Vision for Burlington that will fit into the City’s Strategic Plan. The plan will have very specific goals and tactics that are well researched and can be executed.
Develop and maintain critical economic data, reports and policy; this will require an upgrade in capacity but will form a long-term basis for better insight and decision-making.
It is vital that Burlington increase the investment at the Industrial, Commercial Institutional level – relying on the residential portion of the tax base is a recipe for a financial disaster. To make this happen McKeown will be bringing a tighter focus and process to market attraction.
He will develop new partnerships and strategies to work with land owners, developers and the commercial real estate sector. This includes the development, in coordination with land owners and developers, of a 5 year investment profile around potential development and a proactive approach to local development opportunities.
The BEDC is being restructured around services. We must be able, said McKeown to answer the question – How can BEDC help grow our business?
Services being evaluated include access to senior government funding, accessibility to McMaster research for Small Medium Enterprises (SME’s), export growth support, support for start-ups, and key peer networking opportunities. These will be largely partner driven.
A surplus land marketing pilot with the City will be given a go. BEDC will begin marketing identified surplus lands under a pilot model. The City and BEDC will establish principles around land development opportunities that will allow BEDC to develop land development/marketing competencies in a low risk focused way. Surplus lands will remain under City ownership in this process until the transaction is completed.
 The property IKEA chosen for their new location was quite deep but problems with the Ministry of Transportation and difficulties with the Conservation Authority killed the plans. Will the BEDC be able to overcome this kind of problem? There is a reason for the BEDC being located outside city hall – they want to operate at the Speed of Business. Culturally, BEDC will re-tool its processes and activities to respond at the Speed of Business to business and opportunities. McKeown always had a problem with the molasses that seemed to be attached to every document that circulates through the building.
The Burlington Chamber of Commerce will take over the networking events the BEDC used to hold. They were always very well attended but the new BEDC doesn’t see that as a part of their core business. They will work with the Chamber on the events but not be in bed with them – at least not at the networking level.
The BEDC’s 2015 Expectations: 1 Surplus Land Marketing/Sale Pilot, 2 Annual Economic Report established and published, 3 Targeted Market Attraction Established, 4 Stakeholder Process established with land owners and developers – QEW Corridor, 5 Five Year Development Profile, 6 Economic Vision and targeted activity in defined re-development areas. Lakeside Plaza was given as an example.
That is one impressive list. If McKeown wrote it – then it is doable. Memo to the BEDC board – think bonus for the lad.
The proof is in the pudding isn’t it? Many of the areas of focus for BEDC are new or currently unmeasured. The organization has identified how we will measure the organization and will begin immediately to track, measure, and report on these identified measurements. Over a short period of time we will have benchmarks established and performance results published. McKeown didn’t say how often.
 The BEDC needs help telling its story. The one thing it has never had is a commitment to be open with the information they collect. Some of it is sensitive – but certainly not all of it. They have tended to take a proprietary approach – not unusual in the business world.
A dose of retail thinking would serve the BEDC well – and a little less clubbiness wouldn’t hurt. There is a tendency to think they have all the answers – they don’t.
For once we have an agency that isn’t pushing its snout into the public trough and asking for more money. The BEDC proposes to operate in 2015 at the existing base budget level. As we evaluate the pilot land marketing activities we will have a revenue measurement which we will use for future evaluation. In addition, the development of the Economic Vision will include an evaluation of other revenue opportunities including strategic development opportunities.
When McKeown got into involving the public in economic development his report said: “Earlier discussions regarding BEDC reorganization identified some public engagement requirements. BEDC is not reorganizing the corporation at a level to trigger this requirement. BEDC will be actively engaging stakeholders and the public during their development of the Economic Vision.
Not exactly an invitation for the public to voice an informed opinion is it?
The Strategic plan says is has a new Board is in place and fully engaged. BEDC has quickly established an operating plan to address the economic needs of the community and will continue to measure performance and report to Committee on its economic achievements.
 Current BEDC Executive director Frank McKeown tended to have to battle with ward 5 council member Paul Sharman who brought experience as a consultant to the table. Not much in the way of proven operational experience which McKeown does have. The Burlington Economic Development Corporation 2014 – 2015 Board of Directors
Gary Graham, Chairman, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP – Partner; Rick Goldring , Mayor; Paul Sharman, Burlington Council member; Jack Dennison, Burlington Council member; Ruta Stauskas, Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. – Vice President, Human Resources; Bonnie Prior Appraisal Institute of Canada – Ontario – Executive Director; Randall Smallbone, Portland Investment Counsel – Dealing Representative; J. Michael Hanna, Kylin Developments Inc. – President; Gordon Kack, MHPM Project Managers Inc. – Vice President – Operations; Dr. David Conrath, Conrath Communications Ltd. – President; Scott Stewart, City of Burlington – General Manager, Development and Infrastructure.
This time around there is a board that is in place to get a job done; no longer are there a bunch of people who sat at the BEDC board table to protect the interest of the organization they represented. A welcome change.
The ball is now in McKeown’s hands – that assumes the Board he reports to acts as a Board and not a group of people with personal agendas. McKeown has a proven track record – he can pull this off if he is given the room and the resources. He is financially prudent and knows what risk is and how to measure it.
The biggest unknown for McKeown is what his former boss is likely to do. City Council has to create a vision that is real and compelling. They need to provide the sizzle – Frank McKeown will sell the steak.
 By Pepper Parr
December 17, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
What’s the rush?
Has your city Council let the holiday schedule deprive you of an opportunity to review what they have done at their Standing Committees before they rubber stamp their deliberations at Council where bylaws get passed?
The Standing Committee of Development and Infrastructure met on Monday and got a solid briefing on what the Economic Development Corporation has planned. There was a public meeting on a sub-division application for Twelve Mile Trail.
 Route 6 and 52 will stay as the are for now. Took close to an hour to make that decision. There was a review of transit service for the Headon Road part of town – routes 6 and 52 during which Councillor Dennison managed to use more than half an hour trying to work out all the twists and turns the buses on that route should take.
There was a lot of huffing and puffing over what a municipal council can and can’t do with development applications.
The following day, Tuesday, the Corporate and Community Services committee met and accepted the staff recommendation to sell the lands along the edge of the lake between Market and St. Paul Street.
 Mayor Golding mastered the art of the photo op during his first term of office. He is photogenic and that is apparently enough to get elected. We heard, for the first time, what the Mayor’s thinking was on that momentous decision. It was kind of wishy washy.
The Standing Committee approved 56 pages of changes in rates and fees – those are dollars that you will pay for the use of facilities that your tax dollars paid to have built.
The chair of each standing Committee diligently explains that the Committee does not make final decisions – they make recommendations that go to Council where final decisions are made and by laws are passed.
The practice in Burlington has been for there to be a full week, usually more, for the public to make themselves aware of what has been recommended before it goes to Council.
The public then has some time to think about was has been recommended and appear at Council if they want to offer a different opinion.
In a democracy the elected would welcome – maybe even encourage the public to appear and make their views known so that the elected could make decisions informed by the public.
Some might suggest that the media is in place to inform the public. And it is – but there has been a strange twist. The Burlington Post usually has a reporter at the media table covering meetings.
Tina Depko –Denver covers city hall for the Post – she is a good reporter – she frequently does a better job as a reporter than I do.
She wasn’t at the media table on Tuesday. Why?
We learned at the end of the Standing Committee meeting that Ms Depko –Denver has been hired by the Mayor as his Manager of Communications.
We congratulate Ms Depko-Denver and hope she serves the Mayor well and that she chooses to take direction from the Junius quote atop the Globe and Mail editorial page: “The subject who is truly loyal to the chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures”.
Junius, a pseudonym, wrote letters between 1769 and 1762 to inform the public of their historical and constitutional rights and liberties as Englishmen.
The Depko-Denver appointment probably means that the Post will not carry much in the way of news coverage unless they pick up the meeting from the webcast.
The Gazette will publish several pieces on the two Standing Committee meetings and go into some depth on the atrocious decision to sell waterfront property.
City Hall will close down at the end of the day on Tuesday, the 23rd and we won’t see anyone other than the people who keep the building secure until after the New Year. The holiday schedule for city hall is CLOSED between Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014, reopening on Monday, Jan. 5, 2015. Sweet!
 Is there a good reason for not deferring the Council meeting until after the New Year? Well one reason is that would be a lot of time for people to become informed and perhaps “mad as hell” and decide they don’t want to be treated this way anymore.
We did get the municipal government we apparently wanted less than 60 days ago.
What have we done to ourselves?
By Pepper Parr
December 16, 2014
Burlington, ON
It was a train wreck in the making. Two powerful engine going in different directions on the same track.
During the selection of the Chair for the Corporate and Community services Standing Committee WHO nominated Meed Ward as the vice chair – that vote wasn’t quite unanimous – Council Craven sat on his hands.
 John Taylor to serve as Chair of Standing Committee that will handle the budget proceedings. Then Councillor Sharman nominated Councillor Craven as chair who accepted readily. Then Councillor Dennison nominated Councillor John Taylor as chair. For a few moments we watched as the divide in Council was plainly and brutally evident.
The vote was called: 4-3 for Taylor as chair. A crisis had been averted.
Councillor Taylor did have a question. He asked if the Chair of the Corporate and Community Services Committee had to vote for the budget.
City Clerk Angela Morgan explained that the Chair of a Standing Committee normally does not vote unless there is a tie.
One gets the sense that Taylor can see problems with the budget this council may have to pass.
Councillor Craven is the best Standing Committee chair this city has – he just can’t work in the same room Meed Ward works in. Having them serve as chair and vice chair of a Standing Committee would be painful to watch.
 Councillor Rick Craven, centre, with a copy of the 2013 budget on a memory stick. He lost out to Councillor Taylor for the chairmanship of the Standing Committee on Corporate and Community Services. Many months before Burlington got itself into election mode Councillor Craven casually commented that he had been thinking about running for Mayor.
He didn’t throw his hat in the ring this time. Is he lining himself up for that job in 2018? Too early to tell – but there is a sense about him these days that makes one wonder.
 By Staff
December 16, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The Burlington Community Foundation announced early this morning that they have received a total of 310 applications for financial support from the August the 4th Flood Victims.
A total of $905,000 has been raised which will result in $2.9 million available for distribution.
By Pepper Parr
December 16, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
City Council met for the first time as a Standing Committee since they were all re-elected.
One of the first tasks they complete is selecting the chairs and vice chairs of the four Standing Committees.
Last night Paul Sharman was chosen as chair of the Development and Infrastructure Committee with Blair Lancaster as the vice chair.
The Committee of the Whole will have Councillor Craven as the vice chair and Councillor Jack Dennison as the Chair. Craven said he would accept the vice chair of the COW with some conditions. He wanted there to be a half day workshop for Council members on the use of the Procedural bylaw and how Standing Committees should be run.
Craven, who understand the Procedural bylaw better than anyone else on Council and has used it to his advantage on more than one occasion, want to see more discipline on how Standing Committees are run. He also wants Council members to deal with their own wards and not butt into what takes place in other wards.
Councilor Meed Ward sees her self as a Councillor for the city with specific responsibilities in ward 2. Easy to see why those two don’t get along.
Expect some very messy debate on this issue. Councillors Craven and Meed Ward don’t get along all that well personally and each has a decidedly different view as to what a Council member should do.
Meed Ward tends to run her ward with a very wide open approach – Councillor Craven is more comfortable with everything buttoned down and under control.
 Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman can be smooth as silk and tough as nails – he chooses which he wants to be to suit his purpose. The original bluster we saw during his first year in office has moderated a bit. In 2011 Sharman was exceptionally vocal on the budget that was passed that year. With a number of important development applications coming before Council we can expect Sharman to voice some strong opinions.
This Council is very frustrated over what they feel they are not able to do with development applications that get presented to the Planning department.
A meeting in November on the application to build two towers on Pinedale in the Appleby Mall on New Street drew 300 people who were very unhappy at this kind of development in their community. Sharman said both he and many of his colleagues were frustrated about the procedure they had to live with.
There are several issues at play here. The province has said Burlington must grow. Councillor Craven pointed out that with the urban boundary ending at Dundas – the growth can only happen with intensification. That’s the price we have to pay said Craven if we want to keep that rural part of the city.
Councillor Meed Ward told her fellow council members that “people want to be part of the vision casting” which she added could be very exciting. Right now she said Council is battling the one offs that get brought to the Council Chamber. “Community should be at the centre of what we are doing – Council are the enablers”, John Taylor broke into one of his mile wide smiles and said he supported Meed Ward’s thinking “whole heartedly”.
The biggest issue he heard at the door during the election, said Taylor, was intensification. “They don’t understand it and they fear it.”
The province has said Burlington must grow. The projection is for the city to grow to 220,000 people between 2031 and 20141 with an additional 55,000 people shortly after that.
 Councillor Meed Ward wants the public deeply involved in creating the vision for the city. Councillor Taylor supports that view. No clear yet where the Mayor stands on this – he does want the public to fully understand what intensification will mean to the city. Mayor Goldring said “we have to engage the public in this issue”. He put forward a Staff Direction “… for a “fully defined and integrated communications program to provide community engagement, dialogue and participation with Burlington residents as to how and why we will transition development in urban areas of the community.”
Expect some heavy debate on this one as well. Council doesn’t yet have a cohesive vision and they are far from agreement as to how they should go about working with the public to create one.
With neither a vision or a clear understanding and deeply rooted commitment to engaging the community, Burlington has four interesting years ahead.
By Pepper Parr
December 16, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
For some reason getting application forms for funding under the province’s ODRAP program became a mad dash to the finish line on Monday. Some people said they didn’t even know about the program that made funds available for victims of the august 4th flood that dumped 191 mm of rain on the city during a single day.
Where have they been?
 Burlington Community staff worked through the pile of applications to get everything entered into the data base the Claims Committee will work form as the approximately $2.7 million is now distributed to the flood victims. At the close of business yesterday the Burlington Community Foundation sent an email to members of Council saying they had received 305 applications. That number may get revised when a reconciliation is done.
On Monday close to 100 applications arrived – some consisted of a box with a collection of receipts.
Forms that were complex and confusing were still being picked up on the Monday.
With $2.7 million available for distribution and 305 people applying there would be just a little under $9000 for each applicant. That is a rough approximation. The available funds will be distributed based on the merits of each application which will now be reviewed by the Claims Committee made up of Mark Preston, Preston Insurance Services; Bruce Russell, Wardell Insurance; Nancy Swietek, Dan Lawrie Insurance and Rick Burgess, Burgess Law Office. It is their job to approve a claim.
The Claims Committee now has to buckle down and basically adjudicate on each application.
Eight weeks from now they will have to have completed their task and distributed all the funds.
Colleen Mulholland, president and CEO of the BCF will be in a position to distribute some of the funds before the end of the year. Those who got their applications in early will be processed quickly.
There are still a few formal cheque presentations to be done but anything that comes in after the close of business will not get matched by the province.
The ODRAP program required a community to raise funds locally which the province agreed to match on a two for one basis.
 Completing the forms was an exhaustive task. The BCF had staff on hand to help people work their way through the document. More than 300 applications were received. To date, the people and business of Burlington raised very close to $900,000 which when matched by the provincial contribution produces $2.7 million that will now be distributed to those who filed applications before the close of business on Monday.
The funds raised locally was a mammoth effort by individuals and large corporations. Burlington’s banks came through for its customers.
There are some in the retail side that seemed to forget just who their customers are. Those selling the washers and dryers and the new furnaces perhaps didn’t know where to send their cheques.
By Pepper Parr
December 16th, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It was a short terse announcement.
There will be a meeting of City Council at 11 am on Tuesday December 16th:
Single item on the agenda:
Discussion concerning the City Manager recruitment.
There will be two to three minutes of public session then they will move into Closed session and get an update from the interim city manager Pat Moyle on where he is in his search for a city manager to replace him.
Moyle has a commitment to be in his car with his wife and on their way to Florida February 1 – and there is no way this side of the 49th parallel that he is going to get out of that.
Will Moyle be ready to make a recommendation?
Or will he pass along a list of his top three choices and leave it to Council to decide what they want to do?
If past experience is any guide – Council will have met off site somewhere and gone through interviews with the candidates Moyle put forward.
 General Manager working his way through the 2011 Strategic Plan with council and staff. One of the candidates will most certainly by Scott Stewart, current General Manager for Development and Infrastructure and the guy who has carried the city ever since Jeff Fielding caught a flight to Calgary and took up residence in that city.
Stewart can certainly do the job and if the past three years mean anything – he has earned a crack at it.
What isn’t known is – who is Stewart up against?
 Scott Stewart on the left worked tightly with former city manager Jeff Fielding. Stewart had the job of making all the Fielding ideas work. Is this Council likely about to make another Jeff Fielding type decision? There had to be all kinds of telltale, red flag signs during the Fielding interviews. Stewart was a candidate in last city manager search. Many thought he should have gotten the nod then.
We might get some interesting news Tuesday evening.
And if the choice is for someone from somewhere else – a local moving company might get a call.
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