As a result of the type of work I do my interaction with staff at HRM is all too frequent. They have done their best to drive development out of our county to neighbouring counties due to the endless stream of regulations and policies being developed for no particular reason but to justify their pay and to try to keep busy. This has been exacerbated by the high taxes we continue to pay in HRM despite the reduced service level being provided.

I thought that one of the roles of council is to approve policy and procedures. Any councillor should insist on a policy that no area rates could be struck in any area by a handful of homeowners without the approval of council or community council, whatever the case may be.

Having been elected to serve our area on the School Board many many years ago I am familiar with how unelected board staff often had an agenda much different from the board members and the residents. I suspect that this is often the case at HRM council as well. Staff can manipulate things and they have an unlimited time frame to accomplish their goals.

Regardless of how difficult it is to deal with staff I would be surprised to learn that LWF and by association WJCC could have their budgets and funding go through council without some sort of approval by the councillor. A wise experienced politician once said that nobody gives you power, you have to take it.

Steve have you ever had in depth dealings with HRM or tried to determine how they operate. Believe me it aint easy.

1. The annual meeting of LWF and the taxes funneled through the association by HRM are not provincial nor federal issues. There is therefore no obligation or requirement for either the MP or MLA to attend such a meeting, although it wouldn’t be a bad idea for the optics if nothing else. However my understanding is that the meeting was held on a Sunday and in my opinion politicians should be given a pass at least one day per week. Sunday has traditionally been that day.

2. The Councillor for the area, Barry Dalrymple, did attend the meeting. There is apparently an accountability issue in regards as to how the area rate which is set by the LWF Ratepayers but approved by HRM council is spent. It seems logical that the councillor for the area should have no difficulty finding out how the LWF money was previously spent before the new area rate is approved by council. If the councillor for the area is being stonewalled by the board of the WJCC then he should take it up with HRM staff. If HRM staff is stonewalling the councillor for the area there is a bigger problem than how the WJCC board spends the ratepayers’ money.

3. Unfortunately you cannot force people to attend community meetings any more than you can force them to vote. People who do neither risk paying the price both in actual tax dollars out of their pockets and in risking getting less than ideal representation for their communities even on volunteer boards. Many people would rather spend the day watching football or playing with their kids than going to a disfunctional community meeting filled with not so subtle bullying tactics. It is not hard to be sympathetic to their choice.

4. Volunteers continue to be the backbone of our communities. We could not function without them and it is always risky to criticize volunteers. However volunteers nevertheless have a responsibility to give open and transparent information to the people to whom they are serving, particularly where money is involved. Sandra Carr is and has been a valued community volunteer for several years and it is unfortunate to read how she was the victim of what appears to be underhanded and calculated small town politics.