The Temiskaming Shores council finally got something right. They voted down a motion to increase taxes to cover the increase from the District of Timiskaming Social Services Administration Board (DTSSAB).
Now they have to start asking more questions as to why the increase in DTSSAB budget ever happened in the first place. A missed debenture payment from last year is one of the excuses. That is a huge mistake, given that the DTSSAB passed a decrease last year and they couldn’t realize the mistake at the time. Did anyone lose their job because of this mistake? I doubt it. Should someone be fired over this? Absolutely! Do they still have the same Director of Finance? They don’t have the same CAO, but finance is also to blame.
The other question that needs answering is why are two CAOs being paid over $100K? How long are they going to keep paying the exCAO Eddie Alton, or how much of a settlement did they give him? There should not have been any payout for a person that can be justifiably terminated, which is the case for Eddie Alton.
The DTSSAB is dysfunctional. You have Board members who don’t have the intelligence it requires to manage a $40 million budget that the municipalities in large part fund. There is way too much waste with the DTSSAB. Board members are double dipping,taking $325 for meetings and getting paid by their council. They have been given laptops and meals as added perks and half of the Board is away for extended periods of time in Florida.
Those Board members should be ashamed of themselves for taking their remunerations when they aren’t even attending meetings.
How about Temiskaming Shores councillor Tom Wells who vacations in Florida for two to three months but still collects his DTSSAB money.
Taxpayers are getting the shaft, while the Board members have the gold mine.
Dysfunctional is putting it mildly. It would be the equivalent of giving a six-year-old an allowance of $10,000 per week with no supervision or controls.
At least there is a new CAO, so we can hope it’s getting better, but we don’t know if he’s any better at adding (other than to his own pocket) than Eddie Alton and Cyndi (sometimes Alton) Fleming.
A writer to the Temiskaming Speaker called it a “fiasco” and Mayor Judy actually responded to that letter and said that it was not a fiasco… I happen to know she thinks it was a fiasco, but denied such in public. Why would someone do that? Many things went on behinds the signs about the DTSSAB when Judy was elected and joined the board that I’m sure she would deny, but there are witnesses.
I will venture to say she, the Mayor cleaned up a good portion of the rot that was prevelant on the DTSSAB Board. I believe she took on Kirkland Lake mayor Bill Enouy and some other board members who were creating a culture of complacency and complicity.
To pay two CAO’s over $100,000 in the same year amounts to robbery. Robbery from the taxpayer purse. Eddie Alton got the Board into that mess and another CAO came into the mix and screwed it up even more. You have Board members who sit back and nod their heads to eveything that was said by the very unintelligent Norm Menard (Board Chair).
Mayor Pace challenged that old boys club and got results.
Only someone who attended those meetings and saw first hand what went on could have the authority to comment on DTSSAB business.
So much of what goes on in and around Temiskaming is nothing more than rumour and innuendo.
Those Board members voted to protect themselves and their perks. They had no intentions of protecting the people they are supposed to represent, the taxpayer.
When that scandalous 2008 budget was passed and surrounding municipalities were asked to pony up double-digit increases those board members were responsible for passing on those costs to our backs.
Board members who have not got the best interests of the taxpayer at heart. Replace the whole lot of them and bring in a new group of intelligent thinkers.
Shame on those board members and their performance.
There needs to be a provincial body overseeing the Temiskaming DTSSAB operations. Perhaps the Ombudsman’s office.
With a $40 million budget, and Temiskaming Shores paying the bulk of the municipal contributions, there needs to be much more scrutiny of the finances. Are those board members going to do that?
No, they have failed miserably to protect the taxpayer purse.
Let’s remember that we are paying for many double salaries due to the all the people that the mayor of TS did not like. DTSSAB, City of TS(2 CAO’s), Health Unit, etc.. Is it a coincidence that all these people were useless? or could it simply be that the mayor did not like them because they would not let her take over the “show”. Food for thought.
NOT, that is such an uniformed comment. Temiskaming Shores representatives who sit on the DTSSAB are councillors appointed by their own council to sit on that board. It has nothing to do with the mayor. You must remember, a mayor has only ONE vote, and councillors have SIX. So whatever is done at the council table is done by a majority. Now if you say those six councillors don’t have their own mind, or don’t take a stand themselves on issues then yes, the mayor could very easily run the show.
The mayor cannot single handedly get rid of anyone. Remember to share the blame with council as well for the rot that has been prevelant on DTSSAB, Temiskaming Shores and the Heaalth Unit. When you have people who are extorting money, acting illegally and abusing power then they need to leave. I don’t blame the mayor or council for getting rid of the two former CAO’s, the DTSSAB members who are enjoying their perks and for the Health Unit CAO.
A basic understanding of the way a council functions would help most people provide informed opinions.