Ethics and behaviour – Page 16

De Officiis: Cicero on Political Obligations

No phase of life, whether public or private, whether in business or in the home, whether one is working on what concerns oneself alone or dealing with another, can be without its moral duty; on the discharge of such duties depends all that is morally right, and on their neglect all that is morally wrong in life. Cicero wrote that in 44 BCE in his last work in his last year of life: De Officiis, or in English: On Obligations. The translation from Book 1.4 above comes from the Perseus Project (the 1913 Miller/Loeb translation). In the 2000 edition (Oxford University Press, reprinted ……… click below for more ↓

More secrecy, more witch hunt, less accountability

2016-02-03 2016-02-03 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

“Those who gain a good reputation should be commended.” So starts the Lay of Guigemar, by Marie de France. It seems like mere commonsense, doesn’t it? We should laud those who achieve good things, who accomplish feats and goals, recognize with thanks those who work for our greater good. But it ain’t necessarily so, Marie warns. The 12th century French poet and fabulist known only as Marie de France wrote fables and poems with stories and morals – the earliest woman in France to do so. And what she wrote still has resonance in today’s world. She continued: “But when ……… click below for more ↓

Collingwood’s Finances: Great Shape!

2016-01-29 2016-01-29 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies / TaxesLeave a comment

There’s been a lot of doom-and-gloom bandied about over Collingwood’s alleged dire financial picture this term. There have been the-sky-is-falling presentations and nightmare-inducing consultants’ reports that paint a bleak picture of the town’s debt and financial status. Hand-wringing and hair-pulling. These jeremiads are enough to make a taxpayer wake up in the middle of the night and weep. If it were true. Fortunately, it isn’t. I’d like to think that someone got his or her numbers wrong, read someone else’s information, added or subtracted when they should have been doing the opposite. Or maybe was just pulling our collective legs. A practical ……… click below for more ↓

Monday’s Limited Choices

2016-01-17 2016-01-17 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour2 Comments

Here are the choices Collingwood Council faces, Monday night, when dealing with the unethical, immoral and probably illegal actions of the two renegade members of council. You’ll recall that these two sent out an unauthorized, and what I and others believe was a highly inappropriate media release late in December, without showing them to council first, bypassing the mayor, and pimping their own personal political agendas, while disingenuously presenting them as town positions. This also implicated staff in what looks like inappropriate, partisan actions on behalf of the two council members. This violated the town’s code of conduct, council’s oath of office, ……… click below for more ↓

The Litmus Test

2016-01-07 2021-05-15 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviourLeave a comment

Two renegade members of council broke the town’s Code of Conduct by sending out an unauthorized media release to defend their own, personal positions – but presented them as “town” positions. You already know that reprehensible story. Clearly this is unacceptable behaviour by any elected officials in any community. But where are the angry protesters marching with signs demanding officials “inpeach” council, screaming “corruption” and demanding councillors resign? Oh wait, they got themselves elected to council this term… They promised us openness, accountability and transparency… and this is what we got instead.

That WTF Moment

2016-01-06 2016-01-07 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesOne Comment

WTF. Those three letters crudely but superbly sum up the two-page response made to the two members of council who recently sent out an inappropriate media release, pretending it came from the town. The letter was written by Remo Niceforo, President of Clearview Aviation Business Park. It starts by saying, Having sought diligently over the past 18 months to obtain an access agreement, this is the first time I have learned (through a media release) of the criteria to be met which might lead to an access agreement. That’s the first WTF moment. Here’s another: Your statement that, “the Town ……… click below for more ↓

The Blackened Nose

2016-01-02 2016-01-03 Buddhism / Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviourLeave a comment

There’s a famous Zen tale that I was reminded of as I was reading the media release about the Collingwood Airport this week. It somehow seemed remarkably fitting. It’s about the folly of selfishness, of thinking yours is the only way forward, of possessiveness, of narrow views. I first came across this tale in the late 1960s, in a copy of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, by Paul Reps. I still have that book; a battered paperback I have carried with me ever since. This story is only one of more than 100 in the book. It’s number 48: Black-Nosed Buddha, ……… click below for more ↓

Lessons from the paper

2016-01-02 2016-01-02 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Media / Planning & Policies / Publicity & Communications4 Comments

There’s a story on page B2 of the January 1 Enterprise Bulletin (not online yet*) that offers us three lessons. Two lessons on how the local media fails us, one on cringe-worthy political ineptitude. Those lessons are: How far the credibility of the paper has fallen; How little respect there is for real reporting and investigative journalism in the local media; How pusillanimous and dysfunctional council has become. Let’s start with number one. The article on page B2 is headlined “Business centre strategic board takes flight.” Now you might think you were reading a light piece about the development of the Clearview Aviation Business ……… click below for more ↓

Council’s First Year Reviewed

2015-12-24 2015-12-24 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviourOne Comment

As we come close to the end of 2015, it’s time to take stock of what your Collingwood Council has accomplished in its first year in office. Let me start by saying it’s up to you to decide whether we have the best people at the table to represent our needs. Or are they gormless, brainless, pursing a political agenda set for them by unelected outsiders, and/or blindly following the lead of administration staff? It is up to you to decide whether they have lived up to their election promises or led this town astray. First, here’s the complete list of everything council has ……… click below for more ↓

Consultants Run Amok

2015-12-22 2015-12-23 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies / Taxes2 Comments

As the old saw says, a consultant is someone who comes in to solve a problem and stays around long enough to become part of it. So how many consultants’ reports does it take for council to figure out we’re spending too much money on consultants’ reports? More than three, apparently. Three is the number of consultants’ reports included in the preliminary budget alone (the one that recommends raising your taxes almost 4% and gives council another pay increase as a reward for doing so…!). Three consultants’ reports… one would be an unprecedented number in a small town town budget. Three is, well, ……… click below for more ↓

Our ruined reputation

2015-12-11 2021-05-15 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviourOne Comment

Collingwood’s reputation is in tatters. But you wouldn’t know that from the local media coverage. A story in the Stayner Sun this week illustrates just how bad it has become. It should have been front page in this week’s Connection: Clearview Township mayor chastises neighbouring Collingwood for airport decision In the story, Clearview’s mayor and deputy mayor rebuke Collingwood – our council and administrative staff – as being anti-business, anti-growth and simply being bad neighbours. Well-deserved criticisms if you’ve been following the airport debacle. Or the Block 9 debacle and its fallout. Or the anti-business-tax-hike-to-cover-council’s-pay-raise debacle. Or the anti-business assault on ……… click below for more ↓

Screw the Taxpayer

2015-12-09 2015-12-09 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies / Taxes / User fees and costs3 Comments

Sitting down? Good. You might want a drink, too. A strong one. Ready? Get a grip on your chair. Here goes: Collingwood is looking at a 3.9% tax hike for 2016. And that’s just its own portion. Let me help you up. No, that isn’t wrong. It’s the proposed budget hike this council is contemplating. It was presented to council at an all-day meeting last week. The Connection reported on it, Dec. 2, in case you missed it (nothing in the EB, though).* That municipal tax raise will be coupled with an increase from the county, sending your taxes skyrocketing up ……… click below for more ↓

The End of Integrity

2015-12-04 2015-12-04 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & PoliciesLeave a comment

Collingwood Council has apparently decided it is better to be viewed as hypocritical than as unethical. Following a year of investigations of council behaviour by the Integrity Commissioner, Robert Swayze, council decided that, rather than reform their collective behaviour, it was easier to dump the IC. So no more pesky peering into how they conduct themselves or whether they are acting in the best public interest. And yet most of those elected to council this term were among the group loudly demanding the last council hire an integrity commissioner to protect the public trust. Is that hypocrisy? Some would think so. The ……… click below for more ↓

The Airport Mystery

2015-11-17 2015-11-19 Collingwood / Council / Development & Growth / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies12 Comments

What’s happening at Collingwood Airport? Or better yet: what’s NOT happening? And why isn’t it? Once touted as the role model for regional cooperation, and having the best potential for local economic development, it is now a topic for murmurings about a secret sale, and ugly rumours that this has become the worst regional relationship this town has ever had. Every time the airport comes up on the agenda, our oh-so-open and transparent Collingwood Council scurries behind closed doors to discuss it. But while that may seal a few local lips, it hasn’t stopped people in our surrounding region from talking about ……… click below for more ↓

Our Know-It-Alls

2015-11-14 2015-11-14 Collingwood / Council / Ethics and behaviour / Planning & Policies / Publicity & Communications3 Comments

Collingwood Council obviously knows more than anyone else in municipal governance. More, in fact, than anyone else in the entire country. In fact, they may all be geniuses in local governance issues. Otherwise, why would council cancel their individual subscriptions to Municipal World magazine at the start of their term? Previous councils subscribed to an issue for each member of council, plus others for administration. While I can’t say everyone read them, the brightest and most dedicated politicians on council read them cover to cover. Now the whole town gets one issue. ONE for the entire workforce; for the dozen or so staff AND politicians. That suggests council ……… click below for more ↓