Letter Writer Points To Divided City?

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A letter to the editor in today's Daily could be the first sign that not all of Nanaimo supports the myopic way city hall seems willing to spend so many tax dollars in the downtown area.

The letter writer points out that tax revenue from the affluent north end and large land parcel values in the south end, have helped finance the fiscal adventures with the conference centre and the proposed taxpayer subsidized hotel.

The proposition is to see  North Nanaimo and  South Nanaimo form their own municipalities which would make them masters of their own destinies and give them control over spending by having their own city councils.

Whether this is just an isolated idea, or perhaps the harbinger of things to come, it is clear that not everyone in Nanaimo is happy with the way city councils have been spending tax dollars these past few years.

Councillors who pretend all is well in la la land because of a flawed Taxpayer Satisfaction Survey are simply not in touch with the reality of the level of discontent that exists in Nanaimo.

I suspect many councilors main input is from their own cheering clubs, the 10 - 14% of the electorate that voted for them, they seem to miss the point there is 85 - 90% of the electorate that did not support them, and the level of discontent in that demographic is palpable.

Time To Recall This Council?

Have Hiring Competition For City Manager Position?

Perhaps an individual or group might next consider starting a recall petition for this Mayor and members of council who seem to have no appetite for getting control of runaway spending!

A petition to support making the position of City Manager subject to an immediate job competition might also have merit, and could gain traction if someone wanted to champion that cause.

After all, the position of City Manager in Nanaimo ranks #46 out of 9850 municipal employees in the province, so it would be good to see if we really are getting the best bang for our $230,000/year. Our top ten managers are earning in the top 5% in the entire province, so you would think we should be able to attract the cream of the crop. Have we?

We are always being told we need to spend these high salaries to get the 'best' people for the jobs. Has anyone ever looked into just how many of our top level city managers actually competed for their jobs? Where did they come from, and what are their qualifications anyway?