CKL Strategic Plan is Unacceptable.

I was disappointed but this Draft Strategic Plan for several reasons outlined below.

Read the DRAFT here

Two ways you can provide feedback:

1. Online Survey: Share your thoughts by completing the survey.

2. Public Meeting: Join us in person on Thursday, February 15 at 7pm in Council Chambers (City Hall - 26 Francis Street, Lindsay). This meeting is an opportunity to discuss the draft plan, ask questions and provide your feedback directly to Council.

MY CRITICISMS

Climate Change is NOT an priority

Under “A Healthy Environment” are the goals: “To reduce greenhouse gases and reduce our carbon footprint” and “Implement our transition to a Green municipal fleet”. These are only important for a small group of citizens and don’t belong in the Strategic Plan.

Also, the work to track “our carbon footprint” as “A Healthy Environment Progress Indication” is a waste of municipal resources and tax dollars that could be invested to secure Energy Security (reliable and affordable energy) for all residents and businesses.

In a recent survey of nearly 1000 citizens only 1% consider the reduction of greenhouse gases as a government priority. Energy Security and Food Security were decisively higher priorities at over 50% of reported preferences.

A healthy Economic Environment is far more important

The goals of a few Climate Crisis zealots should not be influencing the priorities if the CKL as seen in this Strategic Plan. Citizens want to reduce the costs of living especially in areas that relate to carbon and other taxes as well as rising property taxes.

To the extent that radical NGO groups like Environmental Defence and elected officials have any influence on the City’s “Environment” policies, their lobbying efforts to weaken of Energy Security must stop. It’s bad enough that federal NDP MP Charlie Angus wants to ban free speech around the topic of Climate Change, but our municipal government should prioritize protecting your constituents against the influence of radical extremists.

SUGGESTION: Eliminate all CKL responsibilities for greenhouse gas emissions and the “carbon footprint” from the Strategic Plan. Instead, designate Climate Change initiatives as a choice for citizens to support personally. Encourage any resident or group that believes a Climate Change Crisis exists to fund their own private initiatives to mitigate this alleged threat with their own money, time and effort. Read more about this suggestion here.

ADVANTAGE: This will free every constituents who does not believe this threat to exist to no longer be forced to pay for it through taxation. This is a fair approach to all stakeholders for a City that wants a Healthy Environment which includes a healthier Economic one. This will signify that the CKL truly honours the Canadian Charter or Rights and Freedoms that the City claims to respect.

Good Government means accountability for its mistakes.

Under the section Good Government, it mentions nothing to rectify an matter that continues to be an ongoing problem. This pertains to what I will call “insensitive and unaccountable customer service.”

In a recent Council of the Whole meeting, I witnessed a couple who continue to suffer from an error made by a City staff member over 27 months ago. A few years ago, they set out to build a home on a vacant rural lot. Before purchasing the land, they asked the City Building Department if there would be any obstacles to their plans. They proceeded to buy the property when a staff member said there would be no problem obtaining a building permit. Since then, they have suffered frustration after frustration (while continuing to pay property taxes) to obtain a permit to build their home.

In that COW meeting, the CAO showed indifference to resolving this issue quickly and compensating the couple for their hardship. It is NOT good government when the top executive publicly advises this couple to resume following the City’s same bureaucratic policies, processes and procedures that has bedevilled them and NOT acknowledging the City’s culpability in the problem.

In circumstances like these, the responsible staff member and/or department head (undertaken after regular work hours without pay if necessary) must resolve the problem as top priority at no additional expense to taxpayers or to the harmed party.

Eliminate external influences on City policy

The statement to “Implement diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives over as service areas” ignores the more desirable policy to prioritize all Human Resources policies and practices on merit. Top performing enterprises with excellent reputations always hire and reward their staff based on prioritizing job performance and achieving results over any other demographic variable, including seniority.

Several government bodies, including The United Nations, the UN Global Compact, and the Canadian government are already promoting DEI policies actively. While it is redundant and unnecessary to express these in the City’s Strategic Plan, it comes across as “virtue signalling” to do so. It reminds our residents that such policies are of questionable priority when cost-effective, timely, and productive public services are of utmost importance to the majority of CKL residents.

I suggest you remove any reference to DEI in the Strategic Plan. It adds no value to the document and your internal HR policies are of less importance to constituents than the City’s service quality.

The Online Survey is Biased.

Most people who complete the online survey option will choose the check-box options given for each question rather than write a comment. Checking the box of three of ~12 options makes the survey quick, easy and doesn’t require much critical thinking.

PROBLEM: All check-box options presented involve more municipal spending and/assuming more responsibility which inevitably results in more by-laws and enforcement requirements. It guarantees more growth for the municipal government when there are some citizens who want less government, not more.

Here are some checkbox options that would have make this bias less pronounced:

1. A None-of-the-above checkbox for every question.

2. Reduce taxation by 5% each year while reducing or eliminating low priority programs and/or services to accommodate these tax reductions.

3. Eliminate all municipal responsibilities involving greenhouse gas emissions.

4. Replace rural zoning by-laws with a “best practices” consulting & negotiation approach that respects the property rights and reasonable choices of all property owners.

5. Establish a fast-track process to rectify errors made by City staff that result in harm to citizens. Accountability must have teeth.