For two days, we have been discussing the motion that our Council just passed where they are going to be paying $447,000.00 per year to four select employees to form an entertainment corporation. As part of today’s review, I want to remind everyone that the legal and “set-up” fees are to be on top of the $500,000 initial fund they approved. Those “fees” will be paid out of our reserves. The original $500,000.00 bankroll will come from municipal funds they received as part of our casino revenue. Here is an important observation, in the first year of operation, after wages it leaves $53,000.00 for contract deposits and all other expenses this corporation may require. I guess they had better make at least $447,000.00 profit in their first concert series or they will come back seeking additional funds in order to continue being paid into year two.

Considering the above financial impact on our community I personally think it is disgusting that after hearing what I consider a flawed, misleading report, they voted 5-1 to go ahead with funding and creating this corporation. More importantly… conversations at the council table were less than ten minutes in duration. So… that is about a 2% tax increase with very little debate. Reminder from yesterday’s discussion. Councilor Dileo was the only one who stood up and spoke/ voted against this poor decision. Councilor White couldn’t be bothered to even zoom in for ten minutes from his sunny vacation.

The town has claimed that they made in excess of $100,000.00 profit from a recent concert series. They use these numbers to justify their big spend. I personally do not believe they have provided an accurate accounting of the concerts they refer to. An over-simplified chart showing absolutely no detail is what they use to create this false appearance of profit.

As part of their justification to form this Corporation, they talk about how much work it is and the hours it takes to organize everything. Where are all of these costs captured in the financial report of the original two concerts?

Let’s look at the staffing situation discussed by Deputy CAO Marshal.

HE STATED THAT THIS WAS A NO COST HR ISSUE! Really?

OUR MAYOR AND COUNCIL DID NOT QUESTION THIS BIZARRE ASSERTION!

So, let’s look at SOME of the costs involved;

So we need to ask (and our elected Council SHOULD have asked);

Where are the time logs for our town staff that were involved for months of work for the events used to demonstrate this “profitable” example concert series?

Even Councilor Belanger mentioned it takes 12 volunteers to work the planning of the Blues fest. So, are we to believe the four new Party Corporation employees are going to run this without imposing in existing town staff?

They mention sponsorship. It is great that our local businesses step up for charity organizations and some events. The recent concert series was part of a grand opening week. Many retailers / businesses had great pride in the building of the incredible facility. However, with only a population of 25,000 how are these small businesses going to continue to do hand outs to all these future town events? It is NOT realistic and was not questioned by Council. Perhaps their lack of experience is showing.

Approving the formation of this corporation was WRONG in so many ways. I’m not even sure it is legal when considering the Municipal Act. What would concert organizer think of this government backed competition for their businesses. Perhaps that is why I can’t find a single example of another municipality in Ontario doing this party planner corporation thing.

However… it is done. The vote was taken. We will soon have a concert promotion company as one of our municipal assets.

Yesterday, I said I would talk about St. John’s. It was one of the municipal examples they touted in their Council Report. Again, like others… St.Johns does promote entertainment. It is a priority for them. However, I do not see a separate corporate body within their municipality taking the risk of becoming true concert promoters. What I did find however was very interesting. St. John’s has an entire section of their website dedicated to identifying, preventing, reporting and dealing with corporate fraud.

I found their “what is fraud” section to be of particular interest.

At the end of the day, Brian Smith talked about this during his first term of office in 2014-18. He failed then and this is his revenge term. He is reviving all of the things that got him turfed the last time. But , there is one important difference. This time he has publicly said he will do things so fast that they will be done before the public realizes what has happened. He is standing tall on THAT commitment.

Talk about this people. Not just here. Make it a dinner conversation. Let everyone in town struggling to make ends meet know that with no solid supporting evidence, our Mayor is giving $447,000.00 a year to four new employees of his choosing.