Town Releases FOI Info to the Forester

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Town slanted spin to follow next week for sure. Requester effectively shut out of process. Typical backhand manouver from Town Hall admin.
Rather than me rehash the situation... check out the comments and in particular the fine entries from Brian Thompson and Karin Terziano. They held the session in 'public session' so he is merely reporting to his constituents. The requester will need help getting the final $300 UNLESS the Province steps in and requires the disclosure.

Here's Brian's comments;
Tim:
The FOI information was sprung on Committee today during New Business much to most of our surprise as there was no advisement of an addition to the agenda when the agenda was approved. Mayor Doughty interrupted the meeting just as we were going into closed session to announce there was an addition under New Business. Of course it was allowed by the Chair and Mr Pender then presented a power point outlining the FOI that had been requested and for which the applicant was told the cost would be $600.00...The applicant apparently had paid half that amount but the information was released to council and the reporter from the Forester before being given to the person who had paid for the information. Under objections from myself, Councillor Terziano and Councillor Davis, the power point went ahead..it was revealed that the 20 staff released during the last six years had cost the town just over one million dollars as of the September 15th pay period. This is not the full amount, of course, as there are several former staffers still being paid and the total amount won't be known until all the agreements have been fulfilled...that potential amount of expense won't be released until all agreements have been finished... We do know that just over $800,000 has been taken from reserves to pay for the 9 that were recently terminated or are about to leave by the end of the year.   Councillor Terziano, Davis and myself asked that the $300.00 requested of the FOI applicant be returned as the information was now in the public domain and it would only be fair to return the down payment. The request was refused by recorded vote 6-3 with Davis, Terziano and myself voting in favour, but the rest of committee voting against. That in a nutshell was what went down today
Here's Karin T's comments:
Tim


Follow up: Councillor Thompson gives an accurate account of what happened today. The FOI report also raises a couple questions. How much of the $800,000 cost in 2012 is included in the 1.1 million or how much is in addition. The report also showed the number of employees in 2006 was 83 and the number in 2012 is 83 but 20 plus employees were let go, so I guess we've also hired 20 plus new employees. If you pay large severences and pay new hires, there can't be much efficiency.