Interesting Comment on City Finances

Yesterday, after blogging on the Station House Gallery coming to the March 8th WL Council meeting, I received the following comment (I should note that Councillors Barr and Bourdon with Mayor Cook sit on Council's General Governance Committee and not Councillor Rathor who sits on both the Planning and Operations & Community Services Committee):

I am being sarcastic when i say " why can't they just move the gallery" after
all the costs will not result in an increase in taxes....it can just be absorbed
by the operational budget. Isn't that how the City finances are managed? Then we
can always learn from the mistake again, and again and again.

Mayor Cook, Councillors Zacharias, Bourdon and Hebert have shown no concern over the City of
Williams Lake financial expenditures...why start now (again I am being
sarcastic). I am curious as to why there is still no City Budget posted on the
website. How is anyone supposed to be informed before hand. Another concern I
have in light of the Mayors recent trip and recent reports...how much money is
spent on Council's and staff travel. How much is required. how much is desired?
most communities just allow for staff to attend one conference a year (not
counting those that are required for maintaining qualifications). I recent
report showed that management staff travelled the most...they do not need to
take courses to maintain qualifications...do they? I see we compared outselves
to other communites in a recent per diem report. Can it be posted how much is
spent on travel compared (percentage wise) to other communities.

We have  recently received some positive news about potential economic growth...I pray to
god that City Hall and Council do not see this as a way to justify the poor
financial management that is currently occuring. There truly needs to be some
people who are civic minded to either stand up and give current Mayor and
Council a run for their money and also to keep spending in check.
Someone should also investigate and expose the following:

How much money taxpayers put out in severance pay since Mayor Cook and the current CAO came to
work with each other...how much money is spent sending staff on more then one
conference a year. Are we indeed funding the CAO's accreditation costs?Why did
the Firehall project manager get away with not submitting reports for at least
two of the months during the project. what is the physical calculation of the
wages involved in the oversight committee. The tourism grant status (did we get
that final $24,000 and if not why). Also why is that not being posted anywhere,
why has it not been brought up in Council. Who is running the show
here.

I challenge Mayor Cook,and CAO Carruthers to explain this to the
taxpayers and I challenge them to do so in an open and transparent manner with
facts supporting their report. Councillor Barr - you sit on the
Governance Committee, you eem to show some concern...act on that concern.
It is only fair to those of us who have no opportunity.