Nanaimo City Council met in the boardroom of the Regional District for their June 1 meeting, being displaced from their usual chambers at the Shaw Auditorium. There is not nearly as much seating available for the public in the RDN boardroom which required many members of staff as well as the public to stand during the proceedings.
There were many pieces of City business dealt with, which I will highlight in another report. Perhaps the most interesting and revealing item of the night occurred just before 11:00 pm and just before Question Period, when Councillor Bestwick brought up the subject of the city council delegation that is meeting with a Deputy Minister in Victoria this week to discuss the Colliery Dams.
Being able to clearly explain what those of us who stayed to the bitter end were witness to is a challenge this poor scribe is not likely able to accomplish.
I believe it was at the May 19th Council meeting that council passed a motion to send a delegation of Council to Victoria to meet with the appropriate minister with regards the Collery Dam file. They apparently have been successful in arranging a meeting with a Deputy Minister this coming Thursday for 30 minutes. This is an opportunity for this City Council to make the best case for Nanaimo's ongoing saga of the Colliery Dams and try and bring an acceptable resolve to this long standing issue.
This is where you will have to pay really close attention or you won't be able to follow the logic of what we witnessed. Councillor Bestwick (being a hockey coach kinda guy) thought it would be prudent if the 'team' of six councillors actually got together and decided their strategy for their 30 minute meeting this coming Thursday. Apparently, with two days left and ten yards to go, this delegation has not really fine tuned their presentation to the Deputy Minister. At this point the best they have is the equivalent of 8 or so bullet points on the back of a napkin, which was the result of a meeting last Saturday the six members of Council had in the Mayor's office.
One of the reasons discussed for the possible inertia in this whole process can be explained by the concern expressed by Mayor McKay as to whether or not the six members of the delegation meeting to discuss their game plan for this Thursday actually constituted a meeting of city council. Following that logic it seemed to be the thinking that the six delegates going to Victoria might not be able to meet to discuss their strategy, which would likely result in a Keystone Kops type of performance this Thursday in Victoria.
Because this was discussed in an open council meeting, there was finally a motion adopted outlining the points that the delegates had agreed upon to present in Victoria on Thursday.
From what I witnessed I believe it is fair to say, they do not have strong technical arguments developed, or story boards with pretty pictures or stimulating power point presentations either. I would love to be a fly on the wall in Victoria this Thursday.
Conveniently disorganized perhaps. Once again the council, lead by our mayor, has set up a failure. The fox is definitely running the hen house. Going to Victoria without a professional game plan is a waste of time. I am afraid the results will see the same result as previous feeble submissions. As long as McKay and the senior admins are running the show, Nanaimo will appear the fools to the outside world. The circus continues but will have a small change in venue. This is not progress............it is insanity.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't so sad I'd laugh. The town clowncil in action. One thing that Flip Mackay said has turned out to be very true: " We are like a cat chasing its tail, everybody's laughing at us" Everybody now will include the DM in Victoria. What a bunch of clowns.
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