Shiny New Office Needs Shiny New Furniture

$362,023.00 For New Furniture For New Annex

I did not attend yesterdays COW meeting as the agenda had almost nothing on it with the exception of approving a staff recommendation for new modular office furniture to the tune of $362,000.00. An amount which should be of no consequence as the city's finances are in great shape according to the bastion of the fourth estate, the local daily. You may recall they pointed out there was no need for concern with the forgiving of $300,000 in taxes for the new pub at the old train station. They very wisely pointed out the city was in good financial condition and would always be able to pay ever increasing expenses, as they simply have the ability to raise taxes to cover any expenses they deem necessary.

As for the new office furniture approval, the affluent taxpayers of Nanaimo would certainly not expect their hard working staff to have anything less than brand new furniture to go along with their brand new office. In case you have forgotten, it is the office costing $12 million which they did not bother getting a tender for.

The decision to buy this new furniture now was made in anticipation of staff being able to move into their shiny new offices after toiling bravely away these past years in the death trap once approved safe ( I believe by the same engineer that now considers it so unsafe).

But, not to worry, as the Daily News pointed out in their recent editorial the city is in fine condition and we should not trouble our silly little heads with the creative ways city staff devises to spend more and more taxes.