Editor:
I want to commend most of our city council for the professionalism and patience that they're displaying these days, most recently during the budget discussion on Monday, March 27.
Councillors Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas brought forward a list of projects that they think they should be cut from the budget on March 27, after having spent many hours in workshops with opportunities to bring this up and have it considered for the report from staff. The proposed changes in the order of cutting $15-million and $46-million projects that are, it was explained in the meeting, well underway. These were not suggestions to pause, say, $60,000 of work; just ideas to eliminate $2 million worth of spending here and there without any thought of what the trade-offs or implications might be.
Make no mistake, they were proposing to redo the budget right there in the meeting — but of course without any of the accompanying work that one might expect. Knowing that these issues could have been brought up in the workshops where other members of council would have raised their concerns and issues in order for staff to implement them makes me question the purpose of doing it at the council meeting instead. The motion appeared to be a theatrical gesture and not the thoughtful and engaged work that I expect of elected officials.
Do councillors Fontaine and Minhas see no value in the workshops and reports that staff deliver? I see no reason to assume that our city staff are bad at their jobs. In fact, I actually think they’re probably pretty good. It seems that these two councillors have a different view if they can’t use a months-long process with staff to raise any of these concerns instead of waiting for a public council meeting.
To listen to months of reports and briefings about multi-year projects and partnership with businesses, senior governments and health authorities, and to respond to that with an amendment that single-handedly dismisses that work without any due diligence, is insulting. To waste that much staff time and the time of your colleagues around the council table is disrespectful to staff, your fellow councillors and the community you serve. It demonstrates no willingness to collaborate or be professional.
Councillor Fontaine at the meeting said he didn’t realize that the budget was over, that he was no longer allowed to make motions. He’s correct that he was allowed to make this motion, and his colleagues around the table were allowed to point out that the ideas it raised could have been brought forward in the last four months.
As a resident and, yes, a taxpayer, in this city, I am disappointed that some of our elected officials continue to use council meetings to engage in grandstanding instead of serious, considered suggestions about how New Westminster can continue to grow and improve as a community.
Councillors Fontaine and Minhas expressed concern about the city’s spending. I have a great deal of concern about how they're making us all spend our time.
Chelsea Watt
