WE NEED EACH OTHER

Mr. Mayor, this is an open letter to you in response to your letter to The Times last week. I have rarely read or heard such a glowing endorsement of any group of people, as yours about County staff. It seems to have been in response to comments made by members of the public.

Your letter begins with a reference to staff’s being “unfairly derided, criticized and verbally abused”. No context, no further details. Then multiple paragraphs of effusive praise for the CAO, senior staff and all staff. Finally, near the end, references to “unwarranted criticism and scorn” and “mischaracterizations” of the character of staff and the information provided by them. Again, no context.

Were the offending comments made by Facebook trolls, and would be best ignored? Or by residents who have researched particular topics and have serious questions and concerns or different views, which merit consideration? Presumably, you expect the paper’s readers to take something away from your letter, but without context, this is not possible.

More from the beginning of the letter: “Individual staff members, including the CAO … have been scrutinized and held accountable for all manner of their recommendations to Council or their incompetence…” Your point? Shouldn’t this always be the case? Note: For the record, I view County staff as being highly motivated and competent, but not above being challenged and held accountable.

Four points to make; here’s the first. With respect, if you have specific complaints to make about comments made by individual members of the public, it would make sense to outline them and explain why you believe that they aren’t warranted.

Secondly, with such an over-the-top endorsement of staff, your ability to evaluate County government’s performance objectively might be questioned. If people view you as the head cheerleader for staff, they may not afford you full credibility as the head of a corporation committing to projects totalling hundreds of millions of dollars, funded heavily by residents and business owners. The public needs to see you as objective, and appreciative of thoughtful public input.

My third point. A hundred million here, two hundred million there … pretty soon it adds up. County government is facing much greater financial challenges than ever before. Some folks believe that the County is taking on too much financial risk, and are speaking out. The official response from County government is a dismissive “It’s all good”. This has led to a troubling erosion of public confidence in County government’s ability to manage our finances.

Finally, the implicit message that you are sending by your letter is that County government must not be questioned, criticized or held accountable by members of the public. That’s not acceptable. If you don’t like what people are saying, a better approach would be to engage directly with them, and work out the differences. It shouldn’t be “us vs. you”, because it’s all “us”.

While I have your attention, a case in point. Recently, a County resident, after doing many hours of analysis, presented County government with some excellent suggestions to improve the annual budget process, by providing data from past years in a particular format. County government’s response: We don’t do it that way, and we won’t do it that way. Definitely not helpful.

Restating the current situation in the simplest of terms: County government has the power (between elections), but it’s taxpayers and ratepayers who provide much of the funding, and the amounts involved are now very large and concerning. Rather than continuing with “us vs. you”, let’s work to improve the partnership, because we need each other.

GARY MOONEY, HILLIER