By Pepper Parr
July 20th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
During the Special Council meeting last week Staff released reports on what had been done after the 2014 flood.
The yellow highlighting was put there by the city. They wanted the public to know that they had done what they thought was necessary.
Some of the funds came from the federal and provincial governments, who in turn got the funds from taxpayers – same pockets.
Eric Stern, a Burlington resident who has been banging away at the rate at which tax increases are piled one on top of the taxes levied by the Regional government and the school boards.
Mayor Meed Ward chose to use the % Impact number rather than the actual tax increase when she spoke of the budget. There was never a definition given on just what an impact was.
Eric Stern
Many in his group look for a zero tax increase, which is just not possible. Asking for a tax increase equal to inflation plus 1 percent for a couple of years might be what is needed. Whatever the Mayor produces in the way of a budget – it is now her responsibility to produce a budget – she is going to have to pay heed to this small group that have done their homework – expect to see something in the way of a semi-formal group going public and challenging the Mayor and her Council members.
Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte floated an idea – holding a referendum asking the public what they would like to see in the way of spending. The response in the Gazette comments section was brutal.
During the Special Council meeting on Thursday, City Staff put out a report that the Mayor couldn’t stop talking about. The city did spend a lot of money after the 2014 flood. Creek channels were cleaned up, widened and made to be able to handle more in the way of rainwater.
The task of keeping those creek beds clean wasn’t part of the mix.
There was a time when Burlington’s Jack Dennison served as Councillor for ward 4; he held that job for two decades I think. He knew every nook and cranny of the city – I wonder what Jack would have said about spending less on the big things and doing more of the common sense stuff.
To add some perspective, The 2014 flood was 10 years ago and the capital allocated is indicated as $25.5 million. The cost of the 2014 flood itself exceeded $90 million. Still waiting to hear what the cost of this flood will be.
We will look to the budget experts to put this in perspective of the total City budget and some of the priorities that the City has had or might have going forward.
At the council meeting I heard the question asked if alarms were installed at the time of the improvements that had been made. If I remember correctly the answer was no.
There is a saying “past history indicates future behaviour”. With regard to the coyote issue last year residents were told to call or email any sightings. The reality was that there were no staff available after 4 PM during the week and no one answering emails that were sent. Definitely no one taking calls or monitoring emails on Saturday/Sunday.
I don’t care how many alerts, alarms etc. that this council thinks will solve the problem. There needs to be staff mulching dead tree limbs and leaves on a more consistent basis ( not once a year or once every three years) and there needs to be a system in place that a staff person responds to 24/7.
In the past I know that at least one supervisor of the community centres was on call to deal with any emergency situation after hours and on weekends ( this was shared by all the supervisors on a rotating basis).
Why are the most simple, sensible solutions not implemented?
Absolutely agree Penny. We had a dangerous Coyote situation last year and the number given to report besides being at the top of a tall pole which needed our binoculars and gave us an unacceptable response.
Just heard another quote from MMW this time on CHTV News. “The work that we did really paid off” . Showing without a doubt the difference that doing what she said to the 2018 electorate, that she clearly knew needed to be done for effective flood mitigation; BUT CHOSE NOT TO DO once elected Mayor, could have made a huge difference in the damage control and the costs to homeowners and taxpayers.
Let’s not forget that the results of not doing what was a clear unequivocal duty; doesn”t just impact homeowners’ finances. This is the stuff heart attacks and strokes are made of. Some may not have the ability to overcome this kind of stress, seeing their homes destroyed and families displaced to accommodations they would NEVER EVER choose to live in. Our strong Mayor has a personal liability in this regard and our Premiere and his Ministers must deal with it without delay.
As I read this article, it appears that the “2014 Flood Capital Improvements” were done by our previous Mayor and Council in the amount of $25.5 Million shortly after the August 2014 Flood.
What has our present Mayor and Council spent on “Flood Management” since taking office in October 2018?? What infrastructure have they built or updated in Burlington over the last almost 7 years to mitigate any future Storm Damage for Burlington Residents??
This is what we need to know?? So this does not happen a third time!!
Of course the response to Stolte’s referendum was brutal. Council does not respond to the clear position of the public on will of council versus mandatory compliance with legislation in terms of several major decisions. Stolte wants to be re-elected and then be guided by what the public wants to spend their money on.
Have not heard anyone pick up on the Mayor’s statement. It’s not best practices but better practices. With a thought process like that with strong Mayor powers to over-ride common sense solutions to understand and implement best practices we are toast. The sooner the Province fulfills its responsibility to understand how we got where we are and takes corrective action as has occurred in other provinces and Ontario the better. For crying out loud they responded to the low level threat of Coyote attacks on people with a Bylaw and huge fines but not to the clearly identified role in flood disasters of private property owners who fail to keep the water flow free of debris. We need to demand the province acts before better practices rather than best practices further affect us all with yet another disaster.
We had some outstanding Councillors a few year ago .I had a lot of respect for both Mike Wallace and Rick Goldring in my riding.
Graham we must agree to disagree on that. Get in touch if you wish to know why our audits do not support your position; our contact info was part of our Regular July Council meeting spoken delegation.
In our opinion the city missed their best opportunity to have a terrific MP who would then have made a great Mayor when in 1997 they elected Paddy Torsney over Mike Kuegle.
Mike Wallace then later left municipal politics to take the Burlington MP spot. We voted for Mike several times but in fact the last time he ran for MP it was really Dorothy Lundy his Office Assistant we were voting for. What an amazing woman Dorothy still is working diligently behind the scenes for best election ougcomes and volunteering at Legion Fish and chip night. Thankyou for your quiet but effective service to our community Dorothy.
If anyone knows where Mike, who was a practicing lawyer , is right now we would love to challenge him to join with those who see our city doomed with this Council occupying their seats for any longer than 2024.
And did all this manage, less rain, the same rain, or more rain this time? Irrespective of the answer to the above, obviously not enough.
B.T.W. rain gauges and creek flow monitors are not a solution they are a harbinger of what is about to happen. As are tornado, hurricane, and tsunami warning systems.
Joe the Special Meeting again showed how a selfish Mayor My Way operates in her own best interests. Pepper will confirm that we had requested of Hurley, Yew, Kearns and Meed Ward that first time delegates on the flood update under discussion be allowed ten minutes rather than the five permitted under the Procedure Bylaw.
With over 30 years speaking at the city and region lectern, we do not need more than 5 but believed Council should allow flood victims 10 mins. We were shocked to hear the Mayor propose that the bylaws be waived to allow councillors to speak longer than bylaws permitted and THOSE THE COUNCIL WANTED TO HEAR FROM; AN EXTENSION OF THEIR TEN MINUTE DELEGATION. NO INCREASED TIME FOR THOSE WHO SUFFERED THE MOST AND PAY THE BILLS. Guess the Mayor made it very clear as to who she does and does not want to hear from before she wields her sword of the strong powers put in her hands contrary to the will of the majority of our democratically elected council – or so we are all led to believe.
2026 is too late for a change in this city’s governance. Send appeals to all our MPPs and Doug Ford that they must exercise their municipal accountability powers in the form of a 1988 Cabinet Directive N O W!!!!!!!!