Council sat through another budget presentation last night. The few questions/comments councillors did have were pointless, likely so they could delude themselves into thinking they participated in the budget process. Councillor Bill Knott wanted the land rental at the airport to have a separate line in the budget. Of course that didn’t happen, Council really doesn’t have that much control over town staff or the budget process. This is the same lame tactic the last council used to pretend they were participating in the management of our Municipality. Ask a question that sounds important, but will have absolutely no impact and would not offer any offense to the Old Boys Club.
Bill Knott and Trevor Seip did talk about advertising expenses, and they got a break down of OBC members that get the money. Staff wanted $61,300 for advertising, only $4,500 of that is what they deem necessary. So Council took the bold move and is going to approve the $61,300 in advertising. That’s how they rubber stamp a budget, and how $56,000 of your money just got pissed away.
They are spending $56,000 on advertising they don’t need to. What should they advertise? Can’t be Heritage Theatre. They spent $482,000 painting the east side of the building, but they couldn’t find $26,000 for a fire suppression system, so the Theatre remains closed.
Here’s and idea! The Emergency Service Training Centre in Blyth doesn’t have a power generator, and they don’t have $40,000 to buy one. Let’s do it North Huron style! Spend the $56,000 on an ad campaign to try and raise $40,000 in donations to buy a generator. It’s so crazy it might just work!
Only Councillor Ray Hallahan spoke up and stated the ESTC generator should be prioritized and it wasn’t optional. Does it really matter if our Fire Fighters can refill their air tanks during a power outage, or open the doors so the fire trucks can get out?
They can blow $20,000 on a computer backup system”