Councillors Brennan, Greves,
Johnstone, Pattje and Mayor Ruttan Oppose Review
Not surprisingly Councillor Kipp's motion for a core services review at city hall was defeated. The president of the Nanaimo Duncan Labour Council appeared as a delegation naturally speaking against a core service review, as such reviews are greatly feared by organized labour.
Considering the union support for Councillors Brennan and Greves there was little mystery as to how they would vote, they did seem to go on explaining the evils of such reviews quoting a resident satisfaction survey taken earlier this year that indicated 90% approval for how the city was conducting our business. They failed to mention the tiny sample and poorly designed survey that was used to get that approval rating.
It is almost scary when you think that the opinion of a few hundred people taking a skewed survey can be considered a mandate. It is even scarier when the opinion of less than 500 people becomes the basis for a strategic plan to guide the community.
A core service review could perhaps point out a few areas where we could use some improvement, for example, it is not beyond belief that competent managers should be quite capable of creating a strategic plan without spending $120,000 to have an outsider develop one.
I watched the televised “production” and was surprised to see that the President of the Nanaimo Duncan & District Labour Council, Ellen Oxman, had been recruited to make a presentation to Council to speak against the City of Nanaimo doing a core review.
ReplyDelete**Is Oxman even eligible to vote in the Municipality of Nanaimo?** Appears that she is also a Trustee for Cowichan Valley School District 79.
Jim says: “It is almost scary when you think that the opinion of a few hundred people taking a skewed survey can be considered a mandate. It is even scarier when the opinion of less than 500 people becomes the basis for a strategic plan to guide the community.” ..... It is not “almost scary”. It IS VERY scary.