The Municipal Trifecta…

The Municipal Trifecta... B.A. Psychology Editor/Publisher Central Newspapers ACCOMPLISHED WRITER/AUTHOR OF OVER 800,000 Published Columns in Canada and The United States Municipal elect get elected in to office to represent the electorate to their best capacity. We expect professionals with solid life experience to play the city staff like a fine instrument to the tune of great municipal achievements. After all our futures depend on their ability to work the municipal corporate as any other for profit. Minimize loss, cut waste and maximize performance by having some sort of vision. Unfortunately, in many municipalities we are electing scoundrels that in many cases are nothing short of pension cushioners, former realtors, insurance sales people and the odd lawyer. They make a poor decision. They don’t care. They know they can increase taxes next year to offset the loss. People that have never worked in a corporate environment and the only instrument they ever play is the organ that the God’s have bestowed as a sexual identification token. I say this because many elected have no clue what they are doing including the role they are supposed to play within in municipal corporation. One has to wonder on the intellect of the electorate... they keep voting in the same incompetence and expect different outcomes... Why is it that there are so many carriered politicians. It is as if they found the golden ticket to a hefty pension and are prepared to say and do whatever it takes to ride it for as long as they can. The ‘us’, vs ‘them’, mentality prevails at all municipalities... when in doubt play the political game by creating pockets of collusion in order to substantiate your choice, decision and or agenda. Wrong or right. Take for just about any municipality. They are operated by the strong grip of the Chief Administrative Officer, the municipality clerk and the city solicitor. The CAO plays offense, by being very knowledgeable on policy and infrastructure. The clerk defense, as they control the flow of information and are the go to find information. Then there is the city solicitor the corporate goalkeeper, protecting from a legal position all actions of the administration and council. This trifecta on any matter and opinion of any of the three promise great scores and success for anyone in the click. For those elected it promise re-election for staff, employment longevity. One fine tuned instrument of taxpayers dollars. Taxpayers do not matter... as they are kept in the dark and given no accountability other than the perceived through policy and bylaw. Sadly this is not how it should be. As in any corporation. The CEO is the Mayor. Upper management are all the elected official, staff are there to assist in the decision that the CEO and his fellow upper managers make. NOT as it stands...we have the CEO that in most cases has an agenda that turns to staff for direction. The CAO in many cases will not take any chances as loosing a 200k job is not in the cards... So what does the CAO do? They consult the clerk for procedure and intel gathering. Pass it by the municipal lawyer and VOILA... a direction council should follow. Council votes blindly. This is so wrong and it is costing taxpayers millions a year. Anyone in council opposing the staff recommendation is met with huge opposition... A barege of reason why to support a staff pie in the sky proposal. At their arsenal most municipalities may go as far as have anyone opposing their blinded decision as violation of it’s own code of conduct. A penalty that is as bias as the municipal integrity commissioner that is hired to reside over targeted complaints against anyone opposing the municipal collusion mentality. No municipality may survive in the corporate world with this type of corporate management. Most municipalities have no corporate structure when it come to making real decisions. Then we get what we have.... Huge waste of tax payers dollars. Huge tax increases and the only one really benefiting from the system are those staffers that play the politicians like a cheap violin. After all politicians have no clue what they are doing. In many cases they have no real professional expertise on any municipal or corporate affair... so they are sitting ducks for staffers that main agenda is to keep their jobs.