CLARITY REGARDING COUNCIL CLAIMS OF OPEN AND TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT!

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A well respected voice concerning Wasaga Beach politics reached out and reminded me that the Town has created seperate municipal corporations that allow them to make important decisions without public oversight. As he said… this is a BIG ONE! So, there is another assault on true open and transparent government.

Leading up to the last election, most successful candidates and particularly the online bullies who supported them complained about a lack of an open and transparent council.

So what has our current Council done to improve openness and transparency?

they quickly eliminated the recording of in-camera meetings so that any investigator would no longer have access to what was discussed.
They decided that they would block all tax-payers that post comments critical of them from seeing the Towns Facebook page. Yes, they select who can see what they are claiming.
They have eliminated question or comment periods from the agenda on Council meetings. You can no longer just show up and speak. You need to seek permission and share ahead of time what you want to say.
There is a MASSIVE INCREASE in the number of in camera meetings (that is when everyone else is excluded and the cameras are turned off- the secret discussions)
They have changed the meeting schedules and formats. It used to be that something was discussed/ voted on at committee, then it would go to council weeks later, allowing public examination and possible comment to influence the outcomes. Now, it is all crammed into same day processes. No opportunity for even the Council to have adequate reflection.

There are more practices I think people consider as assaults of the open/ transparent government we used to have, but I will leave them for you to discuss below.

Now to be fair, they have offered up a few practices for the appearance of open and transparent government.

They are allowing you to attend town hall during a particular time for a private “ask the CAO” session. I don’t know anyone who has attended these, but why not simply add that to the beginning of recorded Council Meetings.
They have hosted a couple of “town halls” at the RecPlex where their supporters can shoot dirty looks and boo those not in support of Council decisions. There is no attempt to curtail this behaviour. It appears to be encouraged.

Again, feel free to discuss any additional practices below in the comments. Brian, Andrew, Joe… this includes you.

What I would like to point out is one of the things that is strongly influencing our Councils decisions. That obvious influence is the “social media activity” that criticizes them here on Facebook. (including but not limited to these discussions). Want a clear example? Let’s reflect on the Cheque Registers.

In early days, the cheque registers were posted as per previous practice. Unfortunately for Council, they did not realize that $600 lunches would be displayed publicly. The public criticism for some of the early spending appeared to suddenly cause long delays in the release of the cheque registers. Once the public complained loud enough… the registers would eventually be shared. (Sometimes several months at a time) But, everyone wondered WHY? Why did a routine practice of throwing information into a spreadsheet and posting it publicly now take MONTHS to process?

We can only make assumptions, but for me that assumption is that SOMEONE is controlling the process and possibly redacting information. The clearest example of why I feel this is to look at how certain entries are listed.

Prior to April of 2024 (seek discussion #94- April 2nd) the various department heads would have their Visa card purchases posted and the items or services purchased were actually shared in the details with descriptions. Then after a few complaints from the public about some spending, the process changed dramatically. Now, the entry simply lists that the payment is to the appropriate credit card with NO DETAIL.

Check out the attached screenshots. In most, I have highlighted (in red) a few of the CAO’s purchases. (I use him as the example, but all Visa cards are treated the same) In each cheque register there used to be several entries per active card user. (All department heads) Then in April (in Yellow) note the change in practice.

If you, complain enough, it certainly will result in a response. What are your thoughts on this new process? Is it open/ transparent disclosure, or… is it hiding transactions that may be open to public ridicule?

Sorry to have fallen behind a bit on my “daily” discussions this last couple weeks. Family time comes first and I have been struggling with health issues. Will get back onto a daily schedule after the grandkids are back in school.