We made it, a Town blog! It’s been a while coming but Town staff are pulling together in an effort to better engage the citizens of Irricana. We intend to use the blog as a means of informing you about activities in the Town Office, the community and our local area. Please feel free to leave comments as we hope this site will provide a medium for conversations and ideas to be freely expressed. Staff will make every effort to monitor the site and participate where necessary.
Although we may not always agree with each other, lets keep it clean and try to formulate productive and respectful discussion, as such we need to take responsibility for our actions and words. Therefore your complete name is needed to ensure accountability.
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Wednesday 2 October 2013
Questions
This is your opportunity to ask questions of Council or Administration or suggest ideas for new subjects. What are you wondering about?
Rumour has it that Ideafest was a huge waste of money with particular emphasis on the cost of the Lawyer.
This rumour was brought up by Councillor Peterson at this weeks meeting. Almost a year later and this rumour still has enough of a hold that we have members of council that believe it to be true. Councillor Peterson spoke against having an IdeaFest this year because she said a lot of people are angry about how much the last one cost. The CAO did correct this mis-information and council is now aware of the real costs which were associated with the event. This being $72.10 to provide refreshments for people attending the event.
Although it was corrected, I wish to comment on the culture that creates this type of mis-information. This is a perfect example of how a reasonable supposition can go from a simple theory to becoming evidence of wrongdoing when a rumour goes unchecked. Watch the progression of the quotes below pulled from a thread on a non-Town-sanctioned site on the subject. Of course there was more to the thread than these quotes, but to keep from making you read too much I only quoted the relevant highlights. Since the Town’s Blog has limited formatting options I will put quotes from the thread in (brackets). It would be so nice to have Italics.
(A question....Why in the heck do town official feel the need to have a lawyer present at such a function? That has to be quite costly.)
A good question. A question which strongly implies a suspected answer, but still a good question. Why don’t you send an email to Irricana@Irricana.com and ask them. That’s what I did and they told me that the Lawyer volunteered his time costing nothing to the town and therefore the taxpayers. Furthermore every other town partner in attendance volunteered their time as well. This includes The Engineer, Assessor, Fire Department, Library, Boys and Girls Club, and Rockyview County to represent Bylaw and Transfer Site. You could also check the agenda of the first meeting after the event in which there is a follow up report on page 29 that states “Service providers were invited to participate on a volunteer basis” If you had gone to the town and used any of the appropriate information channels, perhaps the rest of this could have been avoided.
(To me this feels like another example of spending money that does not need to be spent. The town could collect information via a questionnaire included in the water bills for a very small amount of money.)
A questionnaire is not the same thing. Comparing Apples and Oranges and all that. At Ideafest we had the opportunity to ask questions and get immediate answers. I would think that anyone interested in accountability and transparency would jump at an opportunity such as this. A questionnaire is a very limited medium and is only practical for gathering relatively simple data. It does not have nearly the potential that one to one interaction with the actual people can give you. They also used several questionnaires as part of the many tools utilized at Ideafest.
-Continued in another post due to maximum post size-
(Unless they're paying the town lawyer, assessments officials and representatives from Rocky View County in hot dogs and popcorn, we can't afford them to attend this pointless meeting.)
Apparently there was no popcorn, so they actually only got paid in hot dogs. Looks like we got a deal. And it is not a pointless meeting, it’s an Open house public consultation with interactive stations to engage and interact with the public and share information. Doesn’t that sound like more fun?
(The Idea Fest could not have taken place if council had not given staff the budget to allow it to happen. Lawyering up was probably one of the most expensive parts of the evening.)
True. Council did give the ok for this event to happen. They also volunteered their time to attend the event and make themselves available to anyone that wanted to talk to them. In comparison to what the councillors got paid, you may be right about Lawyering up being the most expensive part of the evening. I don’t think the councillors even got hot dogs. ;)
(The Idea Fest is one of the reasons we are being hit with a 5% operational budget increase this year. The same information could have been gathered with very little cost to the town.)
The total cost of the food for the event was $72.10. We have roughly 480 or so homes in town so that comes to about 15 cents in taxes for the average home. If you really feel that this event was a waste of your money I’ll reimburse you. I have some pennies I’m not using.
(It's crazy that WE pay for staff and a LAWYER?? for this!!! The misuse of funds in this town is astounding!!)
That’s a pretty strong accusation based on an unsubstantiated rumour. In 23 messages during the thread these quotes came from, not one person cited any source or proof beyond an assumption based on their opinion of the past actions of the town council and staff. Every poster believed what they had read without a single one confirming the facts with town hall. The tone of the entire thread was negative and focused not on the possibilities that this event could create, but on the alleged poor management of taxpayers’ money. This is not the first time that conclusions have been jumped too and later regurgitated as if they were proven facts. After a while it begins to cloud ones judgement. It is my hope that our new councillors will take advantage of this new blog to clear up these kinds of confusions.
I have a question for the Councillors, and Mayor. It has been mentioned more than once already that they would like a sanctioned blog for the Mayor to post updates on. Is there any reason that a 'Mayors Update' section can't be added to this already existing blog?
Phillip, I appreciate your comments and feedback. I cannot comment on behalf of anyone but myself in this, but I believe IdeaFest can be a beneficial tool to gain insight into the viewpoints and goals of our community. It is cost efficient and from my perspective, provides another opportunity for us to meet more of our neighbours.
Further discussions on the concept of a Councillors (instead of Mayor's) of Irricana blog have occurred. We are exploring the possibilities of a blog where residents and Council can interact openly. One of the ideas put forward was to have it moderated by an external 3rd party, the purpose of which is to remove any perception of bias. However this is merely a concept at this time.
I also appreciate your wish to have a 3rd party to remove perceptions of bias. Things like proper moderation and accountability through the use of real names can go a long way towards encouraging productive discussion. It can also help our towns professional reputation to grow. I believe this is the intent behind the communications policy. I believe it is meant to give a professional framework to councillors communications, and not to stop or prevent them.
Thank-you to everyone who comments. The Town of Irricana is committed to the sustainability of our great town and value your comments. To ensure accountability please ensure that your full name is attached to each comment.
Rumour has it that Ideafest was a huge waste of money with particular emphasis on the cost of the Lawyer.
ReplyDeleteThis rumour was brought up by Councillor Peterson at this weeks meeting. Almost a year later and this rumour still has enough of a hold that we have members of council that believe it to be true. Councillor Peterson spoke against having an IdeaFest this year because she said a lot of people are angry about how much the last one cost. The CAO did correct this mis-information and council is now aware of the real costs which were associated with the event. This being $72.10 to provide refreshments for people attending the event.
Although it was corrected, I wish to comment on the culture that creates this type of mis-information. This is a perfect example of how a reasonable supposition can go from a simple theory to becoming evidence of wrongdoing when a rumour goes unchecked. Watch the progression of the quotes below pulled from a thread on a non-Town-sanctioned site on the subject. Of course there was more to the thread than these quotes, but to keep from making you read too much I only quoted the relevant highlights. Since the Town’s Blog has limited formatting options I will put quotes from the thread in (brackets). It would be so nice to have Italics.
(A question....Why in the heck do town official feel the need to have a lawyer present at such a function? That has to be quite costly.)
A good question. A question which strongly implies a suspected answer, but still a good question. Why don’t you send an email to Irricana@Irricana.com and ask them. That’s what I did and they told me that the Lawyer volunteered his time costing nothing to the town and therefore the taxpayers. Furthermore every other town partner in attendance volunteered their time as well. This includes The Engineer, Assessor, Fire Department, Library, Boys and Girls Club, and Rockyview County to represent Bylaw and Transfer Site. You could also check the agenda of the first meeting after the event in which there is a follow up report on page 29 that states “Service providers were invited to participate on a volunteer basis” If you had gone to the town and used any of the appropriate information channels, perhaps the rest of this could have been avoided.
(To me this feels like another example of spending money that does not need to be spent. The town could collect information via a questionnaire included in the water bills for a very small amount of money.)
A questionnaire is not the same thing. Comparing Apples and Oranges and all that. At Ideafest we had the opportunity to ask questions and get immediate answers. I would think that anyone interested in accountability and transparency would jump at an opportunity such as this. A questionnaire is a very limited medium and is only practical for gathering relatively simple data. It does not have nearly the potential that one to one interaction with the actual people can give you. They also used several questionnaires as part of the many tools utilized at Ideafest.
-Continued in another post due to maximum post size-
-IdeaFest Rumour Continued-
ReplyDelete(Unless they're paying the town lawyer, assessments officials and representatives from Rocky View County in hot dogs and popcorn, we can't afford them to attend this pointless meeting.)
Apparently there was no popcorn, so they actually only got paid in hot dogs. Looks like we got a deal. And it is not a pointless meeting, it’s an Open house public consultation with interactive stations to engage and interact with the public and share information. Doesn’t that sound like more fun?
(The Idea Fest could not have taken place if council had not given staff the budget to allow it to happen. Lawyering up was probably one of the most expensive parts of the evening.)
True. Council did give the ok for this event to happen. They also volunteered their time to attend the event and make themselves available to anyone that wanted to talk to them. In comparison to what the councillors got paid, you may be right about Lawyering up being the most expensive part of the evening. I don’t think the councillors even got hot dogs. ;)
(The Idea Fest is one of the reasons we are being hit with a 5% operational budget increase this year. The same information could have been gathered with very little cost to the town.)
The total cost of the food for the event was $72.10. We have roughly 480 or so homes in town so that comes to about 15 cents in taxes for the average home. If you really feel that this event was a waste of your money I’ll reimburse you. I have some pennies I’m not using.
(It's crazy that WE pay for staff and a LAWYER?? for this!!! The misuse of funds in this town is astounding!!)
That’s a pretty strong accusation based on an unsubstantiated rumour. In 23 messages during the thread these quotes came from, not one person cited any source or proof beyond an assumption based on their opinion of the past actions of the town council and staff. Every poster believed what they had read without a single one confirming the facts with town hall. The tone of the entire thread was negative and focused not on the possibilities that this event could create, but on the alleged poor management of taxpayers’ money. This is not the first time that conclusions have been jumped too and later regurgitated as if they were proven facts. After a while it begins to cloud ones judgement. It is my hope that our new councillors will take advantage of this new blog to clear up these kinds of confusions.
I have a question for the Councillors, and Mayor. It has been mentioned more than once already that they would like a sanctioned blog for the Mayor to post updates on. Is there any reason that a 'Mayors Update' section can't be added to this already existing blog?
ReplyDeletePhillip, I appreciate your comments and feedback. I cannot comment on behalf of anyone but myself in this, but I believe IdeaFest can be a beneficial tool to gain insight into the viewpoints and goals of our community. It is cost efficient and from my perspective, provides another opportunity for us to meet more of our neighbours.
ReplyDeleteFurther discussions on the concept of a Councillors (instead of Mayor's) of Irricana blog have occurred. We are exploring the possibilities of a blog where residents and Council can interact openly. One of the ideas put forward was to have it moderated by an external 3rd party, the purpose of which is to remove any perception of bias. However this is merely a concept at this time.
I appreciate your rapid response, Valerie.
DeleteI also appreciate your wish to have a 3rd party to remove perceptions of bias. Things like proper moderation and accountability through the use of real names can go a long way towards encouraging productive discussion. It can also help our towns professional reputation to grow. I believe this is the intent behind the communications policy. I believe it is meant to give a professional framework to councillors communications, and not to stop or prevent them.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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