Council worries that adopting complaints process will generate complaints from residents

At tonight's council meeting, the agenda contains a recommendation for hiring a municipal Ombudsman.

There are no reasons why a municipal Ombudsman is necessary. Newmarket taxpayers already support the Ontario Ombudsman, who has authority to oversee municipal government services. So at no extra costs to the Newmarket taxpayer, residents could simply continue with referring complaints to the Ontario Ombudsman's office.

But our Council is inclined to spend extra money and have taxpayers pay for this additional, Newmarket specific Ombudsman. The cost is expected to be in the range of $12,000 annually as a retainer - plus $280 per hour for any complaints received.

What an Ombudsman does is to ensure that government services are provided in a fair and equitable manner. The Ombudsman makes sure that the Town of Newmarket doesn't discriminate against anyone and that processes are applied consistently. Residents can only file a complaint to the Ombudsman once all other avenues of complaint within the municipality have been exhausted.

With that in mind, last week's debate at the Committee of the Whole meeting on the hiring of an Ombudsman was bizarre. The main crux of some Council member's arguments was a worry that there could potentially be 15-20 complaints, as Deputy Mayor John Taylor insisted. He felt that paying $280 per hour for this many complaints would be excessive.

Councillor Twinney asked for reports from staff on the number of the complaints received. When she asked for these reports annually, Mr. Taylor interceded and suggested that the reports should be made monthly.

There was even a suggestion that the contract with the Ombudsman contain an "out" clause, should there be too many complaints received.

All of this may seem reasonable except when you remember what the purpose of the Ombudsman is. The Ombudsman investigates only when government services are not distributed fairly and equitably.

So if there are a lot of complaints, then the issue isn't with the Ombudsman. The issue then becomes one of where the Town of Newmarket is failing to provide government services to residents.

And also remember that the job of a Councillor was to ensure that the staff of the Town of Newmarket fulfills its duties owed to the public.

Why would our Council members want to take any measure that would prevent residents from complaining if the staff of the Town of Newmarket isn't doing a good job?

Make Rental Happen. Newmarket's Decision on the Clock Tower Re-Development

York Region's "Make Rental Happen" campaign was widely promoted by Deputy Mayor John Taylor and other members of Newmarket Council, including Ward 7 Councillor Christina Bisanz.  For a while, the #MakeRentalHappen hashtag was all over their social media correspondence.

With the Clock Tower development proposal for a new 165 rental unit building located in the heart of Main Street's heritage district, Council will have an opportunity to actually make rental happen for Newmarket.

On paper, this proposal is exactly the kind of development John Taylor has been advocating for.  It is high density affordable housing located in a mixed use area.  There is no reason for him to be anything less than enthusiastic about this project.

Even arguments regarding "heritage" are moot because the developer is proposing to preserve the facade of the existing heritage buildings facing Main Street.

So why is Council being uncharacteristically quiet about this exciting development opportunity?

Voters electing a York Region Chair is just a façade

A lot of people were critical of Tony Van Bynen for voting against a motion in support of MPP Chris Ballard's private member's bill on electing the York Region Council Chair.

Personally, I think the criticism would be best directed at MPP Chris Ballard who, despite putting his name on the bill, has done literally zero to promote it locally. As more time passes, Newmarket residents have come to realize how lazy our MPP is.

As far as I am concerned, I see the election of the York Region Chair more as a negative turn of events as opposed to a positive one for York Region.

Here's why.

Other than the existing Chair, Wayne Emerson, the most credible challengers for York Region Chair would be any of the existing York Region mayors. These people are experienced with the administrative duties required to be the Regional Chair. Few others would have the requisite credentials to do the job.

But in considering whether they would want the Chair job, these politicians know that mayors are "big fishes" in their respective circles. The position of Regional Chair doesn't have the same cachet as a being mayor does. There is very little prestige to being Regional Chair. You have to remember that ego is a big driver for anyone wanting to enter politics.

A mayor has a mandate to govern the town and drive an agenda. A Regional Chair does not have the same credibility. The Regional Chair will still have to wheel and deal with nine separate municipalities in order to get anything accomplished. As such, it's almost impossible to promise anything during an election campaign.  

Looking at Durham Region for an example, it cost Roger Anderson over $82,000 to win the Durham Regional Chair position in 2014. Durham is about half the size of York Region, so a fair estimate would be that the York Chair race will cost a candidate approximately $170,000. The majority of Roger Anderson's donors were connected to home developers.

It's a lot of money to spend on a position that doesn't have much power or prestige. It's highly unlikely that one of the sitting mayors in York Region would want the job, when the job they have already is better in every possible way.

If there is an election in 2018, I predict that Wayne Emerson, with the endorsement of the sitting York Council behind him, will run and easily win. It won't happen because he's the best man for the job, because he's not. He'll win because nobody of any substance will challenge him.

The York Region mayors' endorsements will carry tremendous weight with voters who otherwise don't know anything that can distinguish the various candidates. It goes without saying that Metroland Media/York Media Group newspapers won't help educate the public.

The election of a Regional Chair is simply a facade - making voters believe that they are electing their candidate while in reality, the Chair remains in the hands of the sitting mayors.  

Schizoid Council running out of ideas

Is this current edition of Newmarket Council schizoid?

Motions tabled and voted down last term are being repackaged and supported this time around.

For example, last term former councillor Maddie Di Muccio pushed to have all meetings of council live streamed. That idea didn't receive support from the rest of Council. Now I'm reading that they've adopted a motion from Councillor Hempen to live stream their workshops. I actually had to read that document twice because throughout the 2010 to 2014 term, Tom Hempen only tabled 1 motion over the entire 4 years - and that was the infamous 1% tax levy that passed while the rest of us were watching the Leafs vs Penguins in a game 7 playoff.

It's nice to see that Tom Hempen has already matched his work output from the previous 4 years.

Also being tabled is a motion at Regional Council by John Taylor to live stream and archive Regional Council meetings. We recall how stridently opposed he was when former Councillor Di Muccio tabled the same motion last term, which would have the Town of Newmarket Council asking York Regional Council to live stream. It actually made the news.

Finally, on Monday, Newmarket Council is going to vote on supporting an elected Regional Chair. I couldn't find the exact citation (because the new version of the Town of Newmarket's web page is missing a few documents), but this idea was tabled in the past as well. If my memory is correct, it was former Councillor Di Muccio who was leading the way on that initiative as well.

What all of this says to me is that this current version of Council has run out of ideas. They are rummaging through the trash bin of suggestions they already rejected and resubmitting them lest the public catch on that these members of Council have run out of steam. I don't think its mere coincidence that these ideas belonged to former Councillor Di Muccio.

There's a saying that just like diapers, politicians should be changed often and for the same reason.

I think what we are seeing in Newmarket is a group of people who have hung around on Council for one term too many.

It's time for new energy and new faces to take their place.