Council Professionalism and Transparency?

The following has been posted with the permission of the original author ...

Are you kidding me? What planet is Council on? Has the seemingly intense dislike of Millbrook by certain Council members affected their judgement so much so that they lost all sense of reality? Do they really believe that all the current residents of Millbrook are simpletons? I can’t believe that they’re actually thinking of asking the people of Cavan Monaghan Township (Millbrook residents especially) to vote on a referendum that, if approved, would give them access to what amounts to an endless source of funds under the guise of a Community Centre project. As if they hadn’t known that this area has desperately needed such a facility for several years. Déjà vue - same old story and same old bag of tricks – little or no information of any kind re costs, funding, environmental impact, time frame, location, service availability, etc. If, or hopefully when, the referendum is defeated, Council will say that it was the peoples’ choice not to have a community centre and thereby absolving themselves of all blame. They must really think they’re made of Teflon. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? I wonder where the water to service this proposed centre would come from?


Is anyone really that naive to believe that the suggested “special tax levy” will ever reach the point when the dollar amount collected will be sufficient for its intended purpose and the “special tax levy” will be removed? I hope not! By now, history should have taught us that there seems to be an ulterior motive to this Council’s proposals. Logically then, any proposals coming from this Council should be considered with a very, very large grain of salt. It seems to me that this proposal is just another indication that certain Council members couldn’t care less what the residents of Cavan Monaghan Township (and especially those of Millbrook) think or need. Then again, this wouldn’t be just a feeble amateurish attempt at a ruse to draw attention away from the issue of diverting water from Millbrook to Fraseville – or would it?

It is odd, to say the least, that Millbrook’s water seems to be a favourite subject of Council. How many of you know that, in 2008, Council approved increasing the cost of supplying water & sewer facilities to the Millbrook Ward beginning in 2009 (By-law 2009-2) and concluding in 2013? Equally important is how many of you knew in advance about or had the opportunity to voice your opinion on this matter at any public meetings before Council’s approval of this increase? I struck out on all counts because I had no idea this was ever in the works! It wasn’t until I realized that my water bill was steadily increasing since moving here 5 years ago. When I enquired about this steady rise in cost this past month and that I had no prior notification/advice to this effect in any of my previous bills, I was advised (about 3 years too late) that “…You are absolutely right, there should have been a note on this billing to inform rate payers of the increase….” This frightens me – how many other municipal matters affecting Cavan Monaghan Township and specifically Millbrook has this Council willingly (or unwillingly) failed to notify us about.

The last time I checked we still have a postal service, municipal employees (permanent and temporary), students, delivery services, a variety of electronic media, etc., all of which are at Council’s disposal to notify its residents on matters directly and indirectly affecting them in an expeditious manner. That’s how they do it from where I come from regardless of how controversial the issue! Like most of you, I would appreciate a little more advance notification and the opportunity to provide input on matters that affect me and my neighbours and, reverting back to evening Council meetings, would be a good start. Professionalism and transparency is something this Council certainly seems to lack in abundance! October 25, 2010 can’t get here fast enough……………Henry Tretjakoff, Millbrook

Emailed to Millbrook Times March 21, 2010.