My home is my grand-daughter Stephanie's home for now.. The blog type is larger with her assistance.
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I haven't been able to watch Alison's program for some time because somehow the plugin became disabled.
This morning that was fixed as well.
Part of the show was about the culture centre agreement negotiations and in camera meetings relating to same, which are a puzzlement.
Everybody knows where I stand on the agreement and the" arm's- length "board of governance that sucks up three quarters of a million dollars of public resources a year and growing, plus all they can earn in their operation. without accounting for any of it.
We tried it. It's a bust. Money is pouring out of the treasury into the hands of people who have no sense of how inappropriate that is and don't need to give a tinker's damn. .
We have Councillors who think it's fine as well. In their judgement ,all we need to do is tweak the agreement and put a couple of councillors on board. Councillors who have publicly and repeatedly stated everything the board is doing with public money is wonderful and they should just keep right on doing it.
Councillor Pirri thinks it's perfectly fine for property owners to pay the bar bill for whatever brand of art and culture is ordered , when those of a fine arts mind, belly up to the bar to state their preference..
After I've put everything I have into a debate and Council has made a majority decision., there's nothing more to be said in a formal meeting. .
There are people who fancy it means I should forever after hold my peace
If something is rotten in Denmark I'm supposed to pretend it doesn't stink.
It applies in a formal Council meeting. Majority rule is how we govern ourselves. Once the majority has made a decision, the issue cannot be re--hashed over and over again. . When you lose a vote you live with it.
There is nothing in any rule book that determines a majority decision is necessarily correct , If it turns out to be a bummer, I recognise no requirement to deny myself the gleeful satisfaction of saying "I told you so" It's small comfort but it's all there is.
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So, Alison was troubled by the in camera meeting . What could we be discussing?
Mr. Mar, town solicitor, asked for the meeting to advise Councillors on a matter. related to the agreement. It was his advice the meeting be in camera.
Mr. Mar is free to advise Council . Since I voted against the current arrangements I don't have a stake .. They will not ,under any circumstance, satisfy my concern the taxpayers of the town are being badly shafted. How Mr. Mar advises Councillors, whose decision it was, is of no critical importance to me.
I will however put forward a motion next week to waive solicitor/client privilege on the matter to allow it to be disclosed..
We understand from a comment ,Councillor Ballard , who has an interest in maintaining the status quo because he shares responsibility for the mess, is busy coercing the Board Chair to state the board was coerced by Mayor Dawe into agreeing to have Councillors serve on the board..
That should make an interesting dilemma for the Mayor.
His response to my position that we should scupper the contract, was " it would not be honourable' We must think of the town's reputation.".
He said that to me;
The great Gaels of Ireland,
Whom the Gods made mad
For all their wars are merry
And all their songs are sad.
What will it take, I wonder, to make the Geoffrey mad enough to recognise an enemy when he sees one.?
Will he have to fall on his sword, , fatally injured, before he realises how many knives are sticking out of his political hide ?
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