Vic Fedeli vacated the mayor's chair Monday night to speak about a motion. ____________________________________________________________ Here are the remarks Mayor Vic Fedeli made Monday night during a discussion of a motion by Coun.
Vic Fedeli vacated the mayor's chair Monday night to speak about a motion. ____________________________________________________________
Here are the remarks Mayor Vic Fedeli made Monday night during a discussion of a motion by Coun. George Maroosis, which was seconded by Coun. Sarah Campbell:
It will come as no surprise at how incensed I am at this poisonous motion.
It's hurtful and disruptive, and channels negative energy. And by suggesting we need an outside body, you have insulted our staff.
You could have done this quietly and respectfully, but you chose to make a public spectacle. The entire council was together at the CAO briefing last Monday, an hour before the council meeting. You could have brought it up there. But you chose to do it publicly, and, as the councillor who has been around forever, you knew exactly the furor it would cause.
Obviously, your undignified plan has backfired. Instead of agreement on your salacious accusations, you were given a report from the solicitor that outlined exactly what a meeting is, and whether any meetings have been inappropriate. For two or three councillors to sit and chat is clearly allowed. To listen to you, the 10-minute meeting that Sarah, Maureen and Judy held today in the parking lot would be considered an illegal meeting. That would be ridiculous.
This whole thing is ridiculous. This isn't about policy or procedure, which we clearly follow; it's about Suzie not being invited to Timmy's birthday party. And that nonsense is insulting.
When millions were spent in this building on renovations that everyone says they didn't know about, did you call in a Municipal Affairs expert? No. Or when the city drafted a letter of understanding for CFB North Bay that will cost the taxpayers between $20 and $80 million, an agreement you all say you never saw, but, Coun. Maroosis, an agreement you seconded, did you rush in a Municipal Affairs expert then? No. But when someone wasn't invited to a departmental meeting, even though three chairs were there representing their committee members, now you want a Municipal Affairs expert to come up.
We don't need a municipal expert, we need adult supervision!
I am very disappointed that we are chewing up valuable time on this. I really felt that the changes we made in November would be viewed by all councillors as a positive signal.
Take the pecking order, for instance.
Instead of the historical appointment by pecking order, the rank in which you were elected, I opened the system up to put the best-suited people on the boards, where they can do the most good.
This was unprecedented. George and Sarah, coming ninth and tenth, would never have made it onto DSSAB, a board generally reserved for the top placers. Or Cassellholme.
But we're now running city hall in a business-like way. And putting the right people there is just good business. And we're doing more. We've cancelled all non-critical travel and memberships. We've stopped all non core-related expenses, like the $12,500 the city had been paying for a VIP beer tent. Those are the kinds of things we've changed, and the kinds of things the public is applauding.
And we've brought in a productive corporate structure. For the first time in a long time, no decisions are made in isolation. All matters are brought to the full council for detailed discussion and a public vote. In fact, everything this mayor's office does is either put on our web site or certainly covered in the media. I take a lot of ridicule for that, but at least everybody knows exactly what we're doing. There are no surprises anymore.
This is the most open and transparent government the city has even seen.
Let me finish by talking about the definition we use for insanity: doing the same thing, the same way, and expecting a different result.
Well, we can't do things the same way anymore. And I make no apologies to those who can't accept the pace we've set, or to those who are so locked-in to an old style of governing.
We're at a pivotal point in the reestablishment of faith in the community. We need to continue the forward push. There's a new positive business approach to managing the city.
The public tells us why they like it: it's working.I urge you to put your politics aside and get on with advancing the city.
