Death by Policy

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Policy Zombies Invade Town Hall

Policy Wank/Zombie invades Town Hall

The Corporate Services Committee will be meeting on Thursday morning while I hope to be having coffee with someone who has the ability to be a great councillor.

I took a look at the agenda and it is a yawner. However, this stuff gets my blood boiling and I like to refer to it as ‘Death By Policy’. Have you ever worked at a company where the number of policies are enough to choke you to death. No sooner than you think you have seen the end when the administrative wanks craft a policy about choking the policy wanks.

First up is bylaw 2010-108 that has to be amended to reflect new amounts to be charged for geomatics services. Folks, who writes this crap. Under financial implications it says this “2013 Budget - Revenue increases based on User fee amendments will be minimal for Corporate Information - Geomatics. Current map revenue is $1,527.00 with a 2% increase we be approximately $1557.54. Representing a $30.00 increase over the year.”

Our councillors are discussing a $30 item when we have a $7M unfunded amortization charge to somehow finance each year for the next 20 or so years! Gees!

The Clerks department has come up with a novel way to finance the shortfall. They are amending their fee schedule and you will now have to pay $10 for a burial permit. I’ll learn to keep $10 in my pocket just in case.

The balance of the meeting will review two critical policies; Cash Handling Policy and a Credit and Debit Card Policy. Funny how the Town has survived over 100 years without a cash handling policy. Did our Auditor say something in their Management Letter? I hope not because it was never made public whether such a letter was written. The last one that I remeber seeing was from the previous auditor who commented that the year end adjustments were so large that they doubted Council had any ‘good’ numbers during the year.

Town staffers AFTER Policy Training

Did Municipal Affairs demand that a policy be put in place? Once again, I don’t think so.

The Credit and Debit Card Policy is another head scratcher. It is unclear as to whether I will be allowed to pay my equal billing installments with my card. I’d earn about $100 in Westjet $$$ and the cost to the Town might be around $200. No wonder they are silent on this plan.

So, what does this stuff tell me. Too many people have too much time on their hands and there is no vision. The KP’s of this world usually have a drawer full of policy assignments to dole out to keep people looking busy and usually away from contact with the public. We need jobs, not policies. The power flickered a couple of more times on Wednesday afternoon... we need to look for a replacement for KC that doesn’t require a reliable source of power.