Thank you councillors Morris & Kitras. Despite the hours of rhetoric during and since the 2014 election, your letters are the first public communications from this council that was not severely compromised by perception management (or as Donald trump calls it, alternative facts). This whole term of council reminds me of a quote from Aesop; “After all is said and done, more is said than done”.
Councillors have been very frustrated throughout this term but, the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was the September 7th meeting. We were informed that the Victoria Street Bridge/Mill St. W public realm project was already $800,000 over budget, with another $500,000 forecast for 2018 and the possibility that the bridge design that had been presented to the public by our 1/4 million dollar consultants may have to be cut back because of costs.
While it always seemed like too much coincidence that the project estimate was exactly the same as the first MacDonald Trust grant, this proves without doubt, that there was never a professional estimate. In the rush to grab all of the MacDonald Trust for capital infrastructure work, without public consultation, the total amount available became the estimate. Of course, any overage would be covered by the taxpayers.
This is not the way to run a municipality but, this is proof that citizen oversight is required, as recommended by Councillor Kitras.
We hope changes will be made for the 2018 budget process but, it won’t happen without tax payer pressure. Let us know your thoughts.
Kirk McElwain
Councillor, Ward 2
Kirk McElwain