Only 6 Sewer Projects

by Alan Halberstadt
http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/

As City Council prepares to spend $66-million on a massive legacy project, the city’s massive infrastructure deficit mounts. The public is being asked to swallow the mantra that the corporation’s finances are in such great shape, we can now afford such elaborate toys.

 

Mainstream media commentators are so pre-occupied waving pom poms over the impending Big Box Aquatics Centre they have neglected to look at the dwindling capital budget for traditional infrastructure like sewers, roads and sidewalks. Remember them?

Let’s start today with sewers. While residents across Windsor howl about widespread basement flooding, Council is spending a paltry $8.7 million in 2011 on a grand total of six sewer projects.

They are as follows:
Gladstone Ave., from Wyandotte East to Erie East -- $1,680 million.
Parent Ave.(engineering only), from Erie Street East to Wyandotte Street E. -- $200,000
Marentette Ave., from Erie Street E. to Giles Blvd. E. -- $1.42 million
Tourangeau Road, from Seminole Street to Ontario Street -- $1.900 million
Tourangeau Road, from Seminole St. to Milloy St. -- $2.450 million
Lena Street, from College Ave. to Millen Street -- $750,000

An additional $300,000 has been set aside for engineering only for 2013 projects. Also added in the 2011 capital budget deliberations were sewer projects, at $1 million each, for Watson Ave. and Frncois Crt.

Funding for those two are being pulled from surpluses accumulated from previous sewer projects in South Walkerville.

WFCU Audit Shipped Out

by Alan Halberstadt
http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/

The Big Reveal on the WFCU Audit has arrived in the mail. Tucked in the back of Council’s first Executive Committee Agenda, to be discussed Monday, May 30 at 6 p.m., is a recommendation from the lame duck Audit Committee for Council to approve the hiring of  KPMG, at a cost of  up to $80,000, for the resourcing of the Auditor General Office to complete the WFCU Centre audit.

Appendix A, attached to “Report No. 49, is a letter of engagement from a KPMG official, to lame duck audit committee chair Max Zalev, dated way back on April 20. It states that work on the Audit, inherited from sidelined Lead Auditor Angela Berry, “will start immediately and be completed by June 15.”

Angela is off work and has filed a violence in the workplace complaint against City Council and the lame duck audit committee which includes Zalev. It seems clear that Zalev, who was previously deemed by Council as ineligible to serve on the audit committee because he is employed by a city agency (EnWin), is hanging around to deliver the WFCU audit.

Here’s another question. How could KPMG’s work begin before Council’s formal approval? Mere formalities don’t seem to count for much around City Hall these days.

It appears we are about to learn what AGO experts meant, ironically including Windsor Audit Committee Vice-Chair Bill Carter, when they advised Council that accounting firms will cost a lot more and work a lot less than in-house staff conducting the business of the AGO.

The Council majority has gone ahead with the outsourcing anyway, and now it is likely that taxpayers will be paying KPMG more than $40,000 a month for the arena audit. When the audit is complete, supposedly in three weeks, it will be interesting indeed who gets to vet this potentially explosive document before it goes public. 

In an interesting debate on April 18^th, Mayor Francis and most of Council spoke in favour of direct reporting to Council, suggesting that the auditor generals in Ottawa and Toronto report directly to the Canadian parliament and the Ontario legislature.

I would suggest that the senior political bodies are quite different than their municipal offspring. Partisan politics prevail at the senior levels so it’s not likely that the opposition parties will allow any critical audit reported to Stephen Harper and Dalton McGuinty to be swept under the rug.

At Windsor City Council, I don’t see anything resembling an Official Opposition.

I have argued that there should be a buffer between the new Auditor General, Todd Langlois, and City Council. So far the mayor has hinted that there may be an audit advisory committee to Council some time in the future, but that would appear to be mere lip service.

I have done a little research on the auditor general models in Ottawa and Toronto, and discovered that the AGs at the senior levels do not report to the Premier and Prime Minister and their cabinets – the equivalent of the mayor and Council at the municipal level.

 The Federal and Provincial AGs are independent of government and administration. They table their audits with the speakers of the house, who are elected by all parties. The department or ministry being audited have an opportunity to respond to the audit criticisms and recommendations, but have no power to alter them.

The way matters are lining up in Windsor, the AG will report directly to the mayor and Council, who act as both the executive and legislative arms of our municipal government. Who knows what checks and balances will be in place to guard against interference before the documents become public?

What is most surprising about all of this is the lack of interest from the mainstream media. The news and opinion hounds were all over the mishandling of the 400 Audit a couple of years ago, but seem to have little interest in more blatant bobbing and weaving around accountability over the WFCU audit.

Where are you when the taxpayers need you Don McArthur?

3rd Annual Bike The Bridge

by Alan Halberstadt
http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/

Ambassador Bridge Allows Cyclists to Cross For Just One Day
Border Cyclists to Meet for “Bike the Bridge” & Area Tour

(Windsor, ON)   On June 12, 2011, the Ambassador Bridge will allow hundreds of cycling enthusiasts to cross the bridge on their bicycles for “Bike the Bridge” 2011. this is the only day of the year that bicycles are allowed on the bridge.

There is only one day left to sign up for this great event!

This is the third year for the tour that was started as a way to bring attention to how difficult it is to get across the river between Detroit and Windsor when riding a bicycle.  Currently cyclists can only take their bicycles across the border if they are driving it there themselves or taking a taxi (bicycles are not allowed on the Tunnel Bus either).

Last year almost 200 riders from both sides of the border crossed the Ambassador Bridge together, stopped for breakfast at Mic Mac Park, and chose from a long or short tour of Windsor and the area. This year riders will tour the Michigan side of the border, exploring William G. Milliken State Park and Detroit’s Riverwalk as part of the 24km short tour. Riders who choose the long tour will also explore historic and scenic areas of Detroit during a 72km ride.

Mary Grant, the Michigan-based organizer of the event, is looking forward to welcoming Canadian riders and showing them what great cycling destinations are on the U.S. side of the border, “This is an amazing opportunity for cyclists!  Not many international bridges allow cyclists on their bridges at all.  In addition to this we have a great, fun filled, day planned!”

Grant has spent several months planning the entire event and representatives of the Windsor Bicycling Committee (WBC) will help coordinate any logistics that have to occur on the Windsor side of the border.

“I am delighted that our American partners have agreed to act as hosts this year, after Windsor did so the first two years. It will be great for Canadians to experience the riverfront cycling and recreation opportunities on the other side of our shared Detroit River,” says Alan Halberstadt, the Windsor city council representative on the WBC.

For $55, Canadian riders get their bridge crossing, breakfast, a commemorative t-shirt, their choice of two cycling tours, and return transportation via bus.  Riders must be 16 years and older, must wear a helmet, and must have a valid passport.  Riders must pre-register by May 27, 2011 at http://bikethebridge2010.eventbrite.com/

About the Event
On June 12, 2011, the annual “Bike the Bridge” event will allow hundreds of cycling enthusiasts to cross the Ambassador Bridge, something that is not allowed except for this event.  Participants must pre-register by May 27; the registration fee includes bridge crossing, breakfast, a commemorative t-shirt, their choice of two cycling tours, and return transportation via bus.  www.bikethebridge.ca

About the WBC
The Windsor Bicycling Committee strives to enhance the safety and viability of bicycling in the City of Windsor, acting as an advocate for the growth of bicycling as a form of recreation and transportation, and advising Council and City departments on matters relating to bicycling in Windsor.  www.cyclewindsor.ca

Robbing From Poor Peter To Pay Rich Paul

by Alan Halberstadt

http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/

It appears a coalition has formed to mount opposition to a City Council plan to consolidate several core area facilities to defray the estimated $1.5-$2-million annual operating loss of the proposed $64-million western anchor aquatics centre.

A flyer is being widely circulated to encourage interested parties to attend the public meeting in the lower level of the Windsor Public Library Wednesday night between 6 and 8 p.m.

This meeting has been called to consult with the public on the proposed closure of the Central Library at

850 Ouellette Ave.

, to accommodate a relocation into a new building attached to the proposed Big Aquatics Box behind the Art Gallery.

The session promises to be more than that, however, since concerned citizens from the other neighbourhood hubs to be impacted have been invited, as you can see in the referenced flyer as follows:

The Mayor and his friends are
Not doing this FOR you, They are doing this TO you.

"Consultation" on Relocation/Closure of the Central Library
850 Ouellette
May 18: 6 to 8 p.m.

TO BE AFFECTED: Central Library and South Walkerville and Budimir branches;
Adie Knox, Water World and Atkinson pools; College Community Centre

ATTEND-BE HEARD
Committees For The Survival Of Neighbourhoods.

Unabridged Water World Letter

Readers may have noticed a letter to the editor from me published today in the Windsor Star, entitled: "Neighbourhood cast as villains." It would be easy to miss since it is wrapped around four columns at the bottom of Page A9 and includes several "tombstones."

 

These are known as layout no-nos in the newspaper business since tombstones make an article difficult to follow and read. I find that the Star tends to run letters critical of the newspaper in such obscure fashion. My original letter was around 450 words, and I edited it down to under 300 words at the Star's request. Here is the original letter:

 

Neighbourhood cast as villains
I have to object to your assertion in an April 18 editorial that I am doing my best to stir up opposition to the proposed new aquatic centre.

I continue to be on record in support of a new 50-meter pool and aquatics centre, but not at the expense of the vulnerable neighbourhoods around Glengarry and Adie Knox. These people are not against the new facility either. All they want to do is hold onto what they have. Yet they are somehow being cast as the villains, something like South Windsor neighbours were when they “whined and carped” to prevent DRTP trucks from disrupting their lifestyles a few years back.  

As part of the efforts to manufacture a business plan to take the water features away from Water World, great myths are being created. The biggest myth is that Water World is hardly used because people from outside the community are afraid to trespass on the “inner city.”

I urge these fear mongers to take a look at the stats. Last year, 83,357 people visited the centre, which includes a lane pool, leisure tot pool, therapy pool, climbing wall and water slide. Many were from all over the city and county.

Despite this, the water component of Water World lost about $450,000. As the new aquatics centre will find out, swimming pools are labour intensive and energy hogs. They lose money no matter how wildly successful they are in attracting users. 

The big box aquatics centre should help revitalize downtown, but let's not forget the spinoff business of Water World to the Wyandotte Steet east business district.
Contrary to popular belief, Water World is not falling apart. The city has plowed a lot of money into upkeep of the 13-year-old facility -- including $300,000 last year on a new roof.

Another belief from the outlanders is that it’s an easy walk from Water World to the site of the proposed big box aquatics centre. In fact, it’s 10 blocks across several major thoroughfares, and many of the hundreds of Glengarry kids who attend summer camp and after school “homework’ programs are seven to 10-years old.
When Councillors make this decision, they need to be reminded what the city’s Official Plan says about the necessity of strong neighbourhoods:  “Each neighbourhood will have a central area that provides a focus for activities and is within a convenient walking distance. Here, people will find shops, jobs, neighbourhood based services, public places that are safe and inviting, and a place to meet with neighbours and join in community life."

Alan Halberstadt
Ward 4 City Councillor

Windsor City Library Wars Two: Kernels of Truth

By Alan Halberstadt

http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/

 

As described in my previous posting, Counc. Al Maghnieh has attacked Windsor Public Library Board chair Andrew McAvoy for “creating fear” among WPL staff that a relocation of the Central Library would probably mean a major downsizing of branch space, staff and services.

When you take a close look at the “business case” being put forward by City Hall spin doctors on the advantages of building a new Central Library attached to a massive aquatics complex near the Detroit River, you will come to realize that the attack on McAvoy is unwarranted.

The spin says that it cost $4.3-million to run the “half-empty” Central Library last year and there are “big savings” to be had at a proposed new library.

In fact, the existing library, built in 1972, remains in great shape and it is not half empty.
It could be functional at about two-thirds the size. But there would be little or no savings in a new building unless there were dramatic staffing cuts.

Of that $4.3 million cost last year, $3.826,583 was paid out in regular salaries and benefits and $198,237 in page salaries. Supply staff salaries equalled $63,812 and $67,432 went to Sunday Service overtime payments.

That leaves only $141,113 for utilities, leases and taxes. Maghnieh is boasting that he is working with private business to create a LEED certified green building as the replacement. Well and good, but any savings on heating and cooling would only make up a fraction of the grand total.

So McAvoy is right on. If there is going to be any real savings it will come out of the hides of staff.

* * *

The Windsor Public Library is not funded 100 percent by the City of Windsor. The province, which oversees Ontario libraries under the Library Act, grants the WPL $470,000 a year. The library also receives $100,000 in grants from other provincial entities for special programs.

* * *

The Windsor Public Library board may be entering another dark era of partisan politics.

People who were bewildered by the force of Counc. Maghnieh’s attack on McAvoy in the Windsor Star on April 18th, might start connecting the dots when they learn that McAvoy will soon by squaring off with Dwight Duncan in October’s provincial election. McAvoy is in line to be the NDP candidate in Windsor Tecumseh.

Counc. Maghnieh is a robust Liberal, having worked for Duncan at Queen’s Park before coming home to Windsor to cut his teeth as a municipal politician.

Library Wars: The Rest Of The Story

By Alan Halberstadt

http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/

People reading the Page 3 article in the Windsor Star on April 28 must be shaking their heads in puzzlement. In it, Counc. Al Maghnieh attacks Windsor Public Library Board chair Andrew McAvoy for “creating fear” about City Hall’s proposal to close the Central Library Branch at 850 Ouellete Ave. and relocate it as an adjunct to the proposed new aquatics centre on the northwestern edge of downtown.

Maghnieh blasted McAvoy for deciding to go ahead with the regularly-scheduled Library Board meeting in the last week of April. McAvoy told me that Maghnieh previously related a request from Mayor Eddie Francis, in a suspected violation of the Library Act, to cancel the April meeting of the “arms length” board.
Before Magnhieh’s aggressive intervention, existing board members were eager to hold the meeting to provide an opportunity to frame their legitimate concerns around the potential closing of the Central branch, the system’s flagship.

Mayor Franics orchestrated an end run of the library board on the Central Library proposal, working directly with library CEO Barry Holmes. There is suspicion, underscored by Maghnieh’s loose lip in an interview with reporter Dalson Chen on The Star’s You Tube channel, that fancy blueprints are already in place for the new library prior to any official consultation taking place.

This might lead people to question the legitimacy of Maghnieh’s guarantee that public consultation “will be consistent and continuous with the community and with the staff of the library.”

In an administrative blunder, City Hall violated the Library Act which requires municipalities to appoint new private citizens of their library boards within 60 days of the first meeting of the new Council. Municipalities that do not adhere to the Act can put a library at risk of losing its annual grant from the province.
Council is due to finally appoint a new board Tuesday, well beyond the legislative requirement. Given this violation, a legal case could be made that the existing board should remain in place for the duration of the present four-year term.

McAvoy received legal advice to the effect that the existing board has every right to hold the April meeting. Magnhieh, presumably deathly afraid that any board member might speak against the relocation of the central library, ran to the Windsor Star, which like any populist newspaper could not resist a controversial story.
McAvoy called the meeting for Thursday. Magnhieh and Counc. Hilary Payne, appointed as minority Council representatives to the board before Easter, called in their regrets as a way of protest.

That morning, the sensational Star headline appeared: Library chair accused of ‘creating fear,’ and three other volunteer members of the board apparently decided that discretion was the better part of valour. They decided not to attend, and killed the quorum that killed the meeting.

Four members of the existing board – McAvoy, Maxine Jones, Lorena Shepley and Ron Bertram – have applied for re-appointment. Ray Guillet, Jim Stuart and myself did not re-apply. It’s my educated guess that Bertram and Shepley will be re-appointed on Tuesday, along with one or two other citizens, and they will elect Magnhieh chair.

Jones fell on her sword by attending a meeting of residents, along with McAvoy, last week at the Cencourse Building. Magnhieh told the Star he and Payne were not invited to the meeting (McIvoy indicates otherwise), but that he attended anyway.

Actually, there are reports that Magnhieh lurked outside the meeting room and allowed his adorning media to ambush him afterwards, at which time he refuted McAvoy’s presumption that the relocation would probably mean a major downsizing of branch space, staff and services.

Certainly, that would be a reasonable assumption given an April 9 assertion by a Star columnist linked closely to Mayor Francis, that the present library is “half-empty.”

I understand the people who attended the Cencourse meeting have a petition they wanted to present to the board Thursday. Now they will have to wait.

Magnhieh, in his revealing You Tube interview, gave assurances that the new board will fall in line with the city’s vision for a new central library. It’s an educated guess that the new members are already hand-picked by Counc. Magnhieh and Mayor Francis.

As former chair of the Library Board and delighted to be liberated from this kind of nasty politics, I don't have a problem with the WPL having some sort of nominal presence in an aquatics centre setting. Perhaps a book deposit, e-books and some computer stations. But not at the expense of further neglect of other branches in the nine-branch system, and closing the Central branch (which has served seniors and public housing residents in the neighbourhood so well for so long).

The current board, at the petulant urging of Mayor Francis, spent considerable time, money and human resources developing a Strategic Plan. In that document, I don’t recall any immediate concerns around the Central Branch. Quite the contrary. But the board did formulate and set some priorities for South Walkerville, Remington Park and Budimir branches which we all know are less than desirable.

In fact, City Council set aside capital budget placeholders totalling $2.1 million in 2009 for renovations and expansion of Budimir in South Windsor and the expansion of the Optimist Community Centre to serve South Walkerville and Magnhieh’s Remingon Park.

Council has now re-allocated that money to the library component of the proposed downtown aquatics centre. That action would tend to lay bare Counc. Maghnieh’s claim that WPL is “not anywhere near” finalizing the future of the Central Library Branch at 850 Ouellette Ave.

I suspect the finalization will materialize in a hurry-up business plan for the aquatics complex, to be tabled at Council as early as mid-May. Expect glitzy pictures to be attached.

Meeting Called On Windsor's Central Library Future

By Alan Halberstadt

Residents in the neighbourhood of the Windsor Central Library have called a public meeting tomorrow night, April 20th, at 7 p.m. at the Cencourse Building, 30 Tuscarora Street, to vent their views on the proposal by City Council to close the building at 850 Ouellette Ave. and move it to the western edge of downtown Windsor.

The proposal by Mayor Eddie Francis would have a new library built within an new aquatics centre complex and to sell the existing building on the open market. Many of the residents around the present library, built in the early 1970s, live in seniors apartment buildings and frequent the library, travelling by foot, walkers or motorized wheel chairs.

Tonight's meeting is in the Friendship Room on the second floor of Cencourse.

Windsor Aquatics Centre Pushback Brewing

By Alan Halberstadt

http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/

A public meeting has been scheduled Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at the Drop-In Centre of Thompson Towers to allow residents in and around Water World to vent over the proposal to close the 15-year-old facility and consolidate its activities at a new aquatics centre on the other side of the city core.

Water World has become a fabric of the Glengarry community, and outrage has been the initial reaction to the sudden news of the pending doom of Water World and Windsor Arena. The feelings run the gamut as follows:

• This arbitrary decision is not fair. The city is always taking things away from us.
• This happened without consultation. Since we are low income, our voices don’t matter.
• There are already many properties sitting empty in the neighbourhood and criminal activity is already in evidence. This will turn the east side of downtown into another Detroit.
• Many of the over 1000 inhabitants of the Glengarry housing units are on Ontario Works or Ontario Disability pensions. They have discounted admission fees to Water World.
• Transit Windsor buses to the western anchor lands, and admission fees to a proposed new $64-milllion aquatics centre, will be prohibitive.
• The bus route is circuitous across town and a round-trip costs $5, which adds up in a hurry for low income people, especially those with children.
• The Water World gym is used for community meetings, health care events and after school programs for Begley and Immaculate Conception School students.
• A successful, five-year-old homework club has been drawing 40 kids per night five days a week. Free swims and basketball games in the gym – which normally rents for $75 – have been a vital drawing card to the homework club, run by the University of Windsor's school of social work.
• The programs delivered by the university partnership have been stuck together with band aids and bubble gum as it is.

The common room at Thompson Towers can pack in 80 people. Many of the Glengarry inhabitants are new Canadians and have a hard time articulating in English. But except the room to be overflowing for Wednesday night’s meeting.

A second pushback to the aquatics centre development will be the impact on 1000 vulnerable residents at 920 Ouellette Ave., another public housing property with a population of seniors and people with disabilities and ethnic origins.

The city’s central library is next door, and many 920 residents attend programs there after a short walk. Mayor Eddie Francis plans to shut down the central library and attach a new one to the aquatics centre.
I anticipate a public meeting or two is on the horizon over the library situation also. I have recently stepped aside from the library board, and the central library is no longer in my ward. Nor, for that matter, is Water World in my ward.

Both facilities are in the new Ward 3, represented by Counc. Fulvio Valentinis.

The negative  impact spills over into Ward 4, however, with Howard Ave. being its western boundary. So I do feel obligated to stick up for people who may have a hard time articulating for themselves. 

Windsor City Council - Democracy Deficit...Two

By Alan Halberstadt
http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/


It’s official. Cogeco Cable will not be televising live Monday’s critical City Council strategic planning meeting at the WFCU Centre unless it is staged on the ice in the main bowl.

Rob Scussolin, manager of TV coverage for Cogeco, made that joke while ruminating on the problems experienced by the station in covering Council meetings outside Council Chambers.

Cogeco’s fibre feed at the WFCU is set up for Spitfire hockey games and it is buried under the area that houses the Zamboni machines. Scussolin tells me the possibility of Cogeco filming the meeting and running it on a delayed basis is very remote as well given the late notice from the city on the change in venue.

The Cogeco truck would need to be set up outside the front of the building, and the lighting and microphone systems would need to be compatible in the Michigan Room, on the second floor above one of the community rinks, where Council will meet.

In my view the lack of consideration for Cable TV is a major oversight. Mayor Eddie Francis was quoted in today’s Windsor Star that Council will be in a position to announce three key transitional projects for downtown within two weeks, including a major family-based attraction, museum and downtown marina.

It is obvious that these matters will be the sole focus of Monday’s meeting, although it has no agenda.

I presume the mayor has lined up the Council votes he needs to speed forward with these initiatives without so much as a Council report on feasibility and financing, both capital and operational.

While other media will be there, this is hardly fair to average Windsor citizens who religiously watch Council meetings. Scussolin describes the telecasts as “extremely popular.”

In May, Council will officially reduce its regular meetings to two per month. On the off weeks, six standing committees comprised solely of Councillors will meet alternatively.

The Cogeco people will huddle with the deputy city clerk in April to discuss arrangements to televise those lesser meetings. Scussolin says Cogeco will not be prepared to go to the trouble of setting up for rubber stamp meetings that might last only 30 minutes.

“If they are substantial meetings, yes we are interested,” he says.

Windsor City Council - Democracy Deficit Amidst Mega Projects

By Alan Halberstadt
http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/

I am starting to regret my support for the resolution to reduce the number of Windsor City Council meetings to two per month. There now appears to be an even further retreat from wide public scrutiny and visibility.

Mayor Eddie Francis has cancelled the March 21st regularly scheduled meeting in Council Chambers at City Hall in favour of another strategic planning meeting, this one at the WFCU Centre. There was no regular meeting this week, due to Spring Break, so Council watchers will be experiencing only two meetings this month, March 7 and 28.

And we have yet to hit May, when the every-two-week cycle is set to begin.

As of Tuesday morning, Face-to-Face host John Fairley informed me that Cogeco Cable had yet to be informed by the city that the venue and the nature of the March 21 meeting had changed. In checking with the general manager of Cogeco, the news came back to John that Cogeco would not be covering the proceedings at the WFCU Centre.

The City Clerk's office subsequently informed me that Cogeco, along with all other media, was sent a fax last Friday advising of the change. The GM obviously didn't see it. And Tuesday, the deputy clerk called Cliff Danby, a guy involved with the Council telecast, to fill in some more details.

Hopefully, Cogeco will be able to set up its equipment in the second floor Michigan Room on Monday, but all of this begs the question -- why couldn't the strat planning session be held in Council Chambers? I trust it's not because a light dinner will be served to Councillors and staff at the WFCU, and policy doesn't allow us to have meals at City Hall.

Another concern is that there is no agenda for the strat planning meeting. Of course, anyone who has not just fallen off the turnip truck knows full well what it is all about.

Mayor Francis, through his media messengers, has told Council that he will be talking about “legacy projects,” specifically a transient marina and aquatics complex, both costing mega millions.

Windsor Star columnist Gord Henderson tells us that "sources" told him that the mayor recently broke bread with Windsors’ own Provincial Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, and Duncan told him to hurry up and get the blueprints for these mega projects together so that he and Sandra Pupatello can hurl pork-barrel money at them before the provincial election in October.

More along these lines in this space later this week.

WIndsor City Council - Volunteer Committee Shakedown

City Council is proposing to reduce the number of meetings to a maximum of four per year for what is termed advisory committees. Committees such as the Seniors Committee, the Mayor's Youth Committee, the Small Business Panel and the Windsor Bicycling Committee (WBC) have been surprised to learn of this turn of events, expressing fears that this action will trigger the eventual redundancy of their advocacy and volunteer work in the community. Attached is a letter from the Bicycling Committee addressing its concerns.


Dear Mr. Mayor and Members of City Council.

The WBC has recently become aware of the possibility that advisory committees like ours will have our meetings cut back from monthly to quarterly. We are concerned that the implementation of this will make us ineffective; where our ability to influence city council, make recommendations, conduct research and most importantly, advance issues that affect cyclists, motorists and pedestrians, will be severely impacted in a negative manner.


The WBC also understands the recommendation calls for a more limited work load for advisory committees, specifically, event planning. It is our goal to promote cycling as a healthy, safe and fun activity for the residents of our fine city. We do this, in part, by organizing public events that promote cycling (for example, the Bike The Bridge event and Bike To Work Week). We work with Windsor's not-for-profit organizations, giving support for their events (like the Health Units Rediscover Your Bike). These events also highlight the city’s livable and natural spaces (like our parks and trail systems), they also educate residents on safe cycling practices, and they remind residents of the many opportunities Windsor provides for healthy, active recreation.


In addition to promoting the city to its residents, the WBC also collaborates with other organizations that strive to increase tourism in our area. Last year’s inaugural Bike Train visits saw many out-of-towners come to the city and use the riverfront trail and our bike lanes, and visitor reactions to our facilities were positive and encouraging. Without regular, timely meetings, events like these could not take place.


The strangling of Windsor’s advisory committees will affect more than the city’s budget. Decreasing the number of meetings per year may cause volunteers to feel their efforts are not needed or appreciated, and the WBC fears this perceived apathy will cause many volunteers to quit. The city has resources that can be tapped in each of the volunteers sitting on the various advisory committees. The loss of these dedicated individuals would be a great detriment to the city, especially since they provide a vital service at almost no cost.


We ask that, before any decisions are made regarding this recommendation, all committees are given the chance to understand why the city believes it is necessary. We ask that all committees have input into this matter so that our effectiveness isn’t compromised, and so that we can work together to determine the best path forward for all of Windsor’s advisory committees.

Thank You,
On behalf of the members of the WBC
Mark Lindquist
Chair

City of WIndsor Audit Committee -- Max Hangs Around

By Alan Halberstadt
http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/

On January 17th, at the end of a long strategic planning session at Hiram Walker, City Council effectively voted to remove Chair Max Zalev, Geroge Sandala and myself from the audit committee. Counc. Bill Marra said he didn't believe Councillors or employees of agencies such as EnWin Utilities ( Zalev) and Windsor Utilities Commission (Sandala) should be on the committee. Mayor Francis wholeheartedly agreed.

Last night, the last day of February, after an elongated in camera meeting attended by lame duck audit chair Zalev, Mayor Francis made a proposal, passed by Council, to hire an auditor general and have the mayor develop a plan on how to properly resource the function. Part of the proposal was to have EnWin President Max Zalev, the mayor's captain at the Hydro Utility, develop the audit "resource" plan with him.

It poses the question: If Mayor Francis thought a month and a half ago that Zalev should be removed from the audit committee because of a real or perceived conflict, how can he now be the guy who is helping him shape the committee's future? Stay tuned for the Francis-Zalev plan on accountability, transparency and audit independence at City Hall.

Windsor Auditor General's Office - The Elephant In The Room

By Alan Halberstadt
http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/

If City Council decides Monday night to fire the three staff in the Auditor General's office and become the first city in the province to outsource this function, the question arises -- what will become of the long-awaiting WFCU arena audit? The completion of this audit has been delayed since before the October municipal election, one of the reasons being the shortage of staff in the Auditor General's Office.

Now that the hiring of the Auditor General has been delayed again, and the specter of outsourcing has raised its head, there is legitimate concern that the WFCU Audit may never see the light of day.

Why Not Windsor?

By Alan Halbersadt
AlanHalberstadt.com

St. Catharines’ to spruce up downtown with performing arts school, theatre.

MICHAEL POSNER From Monday's Globe and Mail Published Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011 9:40PM ESTIn a novel attempt to resurrect its economic fortunes, hard-luck St. Catharines, Ont. has chosen Toronto’s Diamond and Schmitt Architects to build a new $94-million performing arts school and theatre complex in the heart of its decaying downtown.

What’s unusual about the rejuvenation project is that it’s being done in tandem with one of the city’s major institutional citizens – Brock University.

If everything goes well, Brock will move its Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts – 500 students and faculty members – from its main campus at the city’s south end to a retrofitted Canada Hair Cloth building on historic St. Paul Street in April, 2014. The historic textile factory, built in 1882, closed in 2007.

At the same time, just up the hill, the new, 150,000 sq. ft., multi-venue St. Catharines Centre for the Performing Arts will open. In addition to a 700-seat main theatre, the plan includes a 300-seat recital and rehearsal hall, a 200-seat cinema, and a 300-seat community dance studio. Brock also intends to move its entire commercial theatre program, about 60 events each year, to the new downtown main stage.
Diamond and Schmitt won the design competition for both projects.

The city government has been assembling land near the southwest corner of St. Paul and Carlisle Streets for a few years. To finance construction, Ottawa and Queen’s Park are jointly providing $36-million for the $54-million Performing Arts Centre, while the Ontario government is contributing $26.2-million to the 104,000 sq. ft. Walker School, which has a construction budget of $39.6-million. To cover its share, Brock University aims to raise about $20-million through its current capital campaign.

Cloak Not Lifted For New Councillors

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EnWin Utilities management is holding an in camera orientation session for new City Councillors Wednesday morning, with the hydro portion starting at 8:30 a.m. at the Windsor Utilities Commission corporate offices at 787 Ouellette Ave., and lasting until noon.

I have learned that the meeting will be closed to the media and the public because part of what will be discussed is the EnWin strategy as it relates to submissions to the Ontario Energy Board.

This could mean that EnWin is making application to the OEB for another rate increase. If that is the case, it is strange that the meeting with the new Councillors Hilary Payne, Ed Sleiman and Al Mahgneigh is secret.

Council has regularly heard from Mayor Eddie Francis, head of the EnWin empire, that rate increases contemplated by EnWin are completely transparent, allowing objectors to dispute the need for the local hydro distributor to raise rates.

For several years now, I have been calling for EnWin to open its books to the media and the public. The appeals have fallen on deaf ears, with Fortress EnWin defenders claiming that confidentiality is required since, by Ontario statute, the hydro distributor is a private corporation.

In January, as a member of the city's audit committee, I proposed the following audit be conducted by the Auditor General’s office:

Potential audit topic:
As previously discussed I would like to submit a proposal for the Auditor General's Office to commence a value-for-money audit on our two city-owned utilities -- EnWin Canada Limited and its affiliates, as well as the Windsor Utilities Commission (WUC).

I conducted a survey of voters in Ward 4 during the recent municipal election and the number one priority of the respondents was the “End Hidden EnWin Utilities taxes. Another constant complaint from taxpayers has been the rising cost of water rates, and all the fixed fees attached to the combined EnWin-WUC bills.

In my research as a layperson and City Councillor, I have confirmed that WUC pays EnWin over $10 million a year for services provided by EnWin. KPMG has apparently determined that this is a good deal, however, the work has never been tendered, which might be a concern to any Auditor General.

A value-for-money audit could also look into the advantages of having EnWin apply to the Ontario Energy Board for non-profit status. If that occurred, there could be an opportunity for EnWin to provide the services to its WUC affiliate without tacking on a profit charge.

Another alternative, and one that might be cleaner, would be to transform WUC into an independent agency. The current model, in my mind, is broken, since WUC’s top managers answer to the president of EnWin, audit committee chair Max Zalev.

Because they double as VPs of EnWin, and EnWin is a profit corporation, the salaries of the WUC managers are not disclosed to the public, a transparency issue given the consequent exemption from the provincial Sunshine laws.

I am aware that an EnWin audit was conducted in the past by KPMG, but that audit was severely limited in scope, and it is my understanding that value-for money was not paramount in the reviews.

Since that audit, EnWin received several million dollars from the provincial government to implement the smart meter program, and ratepayers have not received an accounting on that file.

I believe it is incumbent upon EnWin to disclose how that money has been spent, how much remains and how effectively the program is being implemented. The lowering of legal and consulting fees is also high on the priority list of Windsor citizens, and I am aware that both EnWin and WUC make liberal use of these external services.

This would be another focus of a value-for-money audit.

At the meeting where my proposal was heard, Audit Committee Chairperson Max Zalev spoke against an EnWin Audit, claiming he was not in conflict of interest even though he doubles as President of EnWin.


The Committee decided not to go ahead with the audit.

Now City Council is contemplating eliminating the Auditor General function entirely, again delaying the hiring of an Auditor General in early February. The matter comes before Council again on Feb. 28 with much at stake.

The demise of the Auditor General Office would pretty well eliminate any chance that the cloak will come off the EnWin books, and terminate the arms-length, independent auditing function at Windsor City Hall.

Alan's CBSA Resolution

http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/

That Windsor City Council urge Canada’s Public Safety Minister Vic Toews to establish a moratorium on the Canada Border Services Agency decision to locate a regional headquarters in Ft. Erie, initially resulting in the loss of 18 jobs at Windsor’s CBSA administration offices, until such time as the full disclosure of the impact on jobs, security and trade are made available to the public.


Approved unanimously on Feb. 14

Background
· On January 31, 2011 the Canada Border Services Agency announced the creation of a new southern Ontario region amalgamating the Windsor/St. Clair and Niagara/Ft. Erie regions.

· As part of this announcement the CBSA has decided that it will locate the new regional headquarter in Ft. Erie-the decision will take effect April 1st, 2011.

· This decision is part of the Federal Government’s Strategic Review Initiative that has as its goal to maximize efficiency and effectiveness in the Federal Public Service.

· In the immediate future we know that 18 positions will be affected-over time we expect that Windsor will lose up to 100 CBSA jobs both through attrition and migration.

· Sources within the CBSA suggest that Windsor was the preferred location based on empirical analysis and that the decision to locate the new HQ in Ft. Erie came from the Conservative Cabinet-Ft. Erie is located in a riding held by Conservative Cabinet Minister-Rob Nicholson.

Why Windsor is Preferable for Regional HQ
- Windsor is Canada’s busiest border checkpoint and is proceeding with a new major border infrastructure project that will dramatically increase capacity.

- Published reports indicate that Windsor is a major entry for gun, drugs and human trafficking-any reduction in administrative capacity at this point is irresponsible.

- By every metric relevant to the Strategic Review Windsor exceeds Ft. Erie:

- Present and future infrastructure commitments

DRIC
- I mpacts on staff

- More CBSA employees in Windsor than Ft. Erie

- Trade and travel volumes

- No dispute that Windsor>Ft. Erie

- Stakeholder impacts

- US a major stakeholder-how is a reduction in administrative capacity at our busiest border interpreted by our US partners in the context of addressing border thickening?

- Less capacity=less security

- Less capacity=less efficiency

February 14 Council Question

by Alan Halberstadt

Ward 4 Councillor Alan Halberstadt asks why the rent the Provincial Offenses Office administration has negotiated with the Westcourt Building is set to rise by 50 cents per square foot every year for five years (costing the city $34,000 more a year in 2016) when commercial rents are being flat-lined or reduced across the city due to record high vacancy rates.


This item was deferred last night, on the request of Mayor Eddie Francis, and is due to come back in front of City Council later this month.

Windsor Auditor General On Hold Pending Review

A guest blog by Chris Schnurr


Why am I not surprised the Auditor General was not hired?

It was a mysterious Blackberry email that has delayed Windsor’s 3-year quest to hire an auditor general.

The delay this time? Information provided during a council meeting advising that the City of London was contracting out their internal audit functions over hiring an Auditor General.

As a result, city council voted 9-1 to have administration study what London was doing.

London was considering contracting out audit functions over appointing an Auditor General. A report to London’s audit committee November 15, 2010 can be read here.

At first glance, there appears to be significant differences in powers between an Auditor General and those of a contracted out auditor – namely greater legislative authority to pry into city finances – something an external auditor would not have.

The report highlights several benefits to hiring an Auditor General with the most significant being the ability to audit a municipality’s local boards, corporations and grants recipients.

Windsor Airport, the Tunnel Commission and Enwin Utilities could conceivably be audited under the Auditor General model.

A contracted out auditor may only examine boards and commissions by request, and cannot audit grant recipients.

Thus, an audit of Windsor Airport, the Tunnel Commission or Enwin presumably could only be conducted if requested and authorized by city council.

An Auditor General may also examine an individual under oath. A contracted out auditor cannot.

According to the London Free Press, an outside firm would lack the powers an Auditor General has:

The previous council drove the issue to the one-yard line, with politicians voting unanimously in favour of hiring an outside firm that lacks the full powers of a true financial watchdogfor taxpayers (Patrick Maloney, London Free Press, December 15, 2010).

That council had decided to hire PriceWaterHouseCoopers for approximately $300,000, but London’s Chamber of Commerce preferred the Auditor General model at $800,000:

But Gerry Macartney, general manager of the London Chamber of Commerce, disagrees.

The chamber has called on the city to spend as much as $800,000 to hire an auditor general, a position Macartney says has several advantages.

An auditor general, he says, has legislative powers to probe city financial books that an external firm would not.

As for the increased cost, Macartney says chamber research shows cities can expect a 308% return annually on what they spend on an auditor general.

Fontana, who couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday, spoke out during the election campaign in favour of the auditor general. The post would “strengthen the process and procedures and responsibilities,” he argued (Patrick Maloney, London Free Press, December 15, 2010).

Frankly, this smacks of a tactic to thwart prying eyes from the finances at Fortress Enwin or the newly created Windsor Airport Corporation.

How convenient.

Alan's Council Questions -- Jan. 17, 2011

Asks with respect to the Council Communication on bumping:


1. Have there been examples of employees sitting at home and being paid during the 8 weeks allowed in moving to a new position?

2. How many employees have been trained for new jobs more than once or more than twice or more than three times?

3. How much bumping has taken place involving the 16 staff at 311?

4. How many Memorandums of Agreements/Understanding have been signed with the union(s)?

5. How many people are doing jobs who are not up to the qualification standards. ( i.e. a secretary’s abilities in typed words per minute)?