HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2009-12-30, Page 5Opinion
The Huron Expositor • December 30, 2009. Page 5
Community needs to be considered along with bottom line
Gereprd Crecee
What has happened to leadership?
I have just finished shed reading Cher-
yl Heath's story regarding - Huron
County Council's decision to sit on
and review a new affordable housing
complex for seniors outside Clinton.
Their issue was'that there was not
significant enough cost recovery to
make the development worthwhile.
This is due to a few factors, including
low rent and mid-term depreciation
undermining the payback schedule.
However, this type of project cer-
tainly has worth for real people, as
both Goderich Mayor Deb Shewfelt
and former Warden John Bezaire
were able to see.
Other councillors called the project
a money pit, thinking not in terms
of an investment in seniors but as
a monetary loss. County council
agreed to study it further, meaning
no action will be taken unless some-
bodyelse (the province, third -party
or aith groups) steps in to make a
desperate situation a hurried real-
ity
In Goderich, two of our more sig-
nificant projects of 2009/10 - Maple
Tree Housing and the Lions Harbour
Park upgrades - were made possible
through third parties' initiative, not
our council.
I believe this is a fundamental flaw
with our local governments, to say
nothing of our provincial or federal'
leaders.
Everything we do has to fit nicely
into the crosshairs of a balanced
budget, or a modest profit. Invest-
ing in things like community, well-
being and housing are always pitted
against a misguided bottom line.
I applaud Bezaire's concept of `cost'
versus `loss'. Sometimes, government
just needs to foot the bill for things
detrimental to community survival.
Both he and Shewfelt were equating
the importance of the service provid-
ed with the well-being of the county's
senior population, and not on dollar
value.
As is the case with our education
and our health, elected officials
study and micro -manage expensive
reforms until real solutions such as
this senior's housing complex seem
too great a risk and are therefore
tabled until forgotten.
Inaction is gravely mistaken as
prudence in our municipal arenas.
In reality, it is a lack of leadership
and of bravery.
Meanwhile, a drastic reduction
in micro -managers would add real
value to communities by putting
them in charge of their own decision
making - not held to the checks and
balances of a very narrow, financial
view.
But, by adding in words like ac-
countability and viability, we are
only ensuring the sustained rule of
bureaucratic correctness - that our
decisions look good on paper even as
our communities erode.
If we look at Goderich's economic
development, it is, evident that coun-
cil is so afraid of making the wrong
decision, they make few or none at
all.
Think of our consultant practices.
There are times when consulta-
tion is certainly needed, when scope,
must be determined in tandem with
action.
However, our , buying habits in
this area are weak and obstructed
b . controversy that need not exist.
We don't study the best way to build
things, we study how feasible they
are to build.
We don't look at why we want to
better our community with an arts
centre downtown or more affordable
housing, we look at how possible it is
that people will support the project -
often without talking to those same
people.
Feasibility studies are only useful
for communities that are sitting on
the edge of a decision and are unable
to make them. In other words, they
are for weak communities or at least,
weak leaders.
When faced with a bottom line that
is defined in terms of community, not
economy, we can see the real worth
in taking a chance on people.
However, that still has a negative
connotation. We aren't taking chanc-
es on people so much as giving them
opportunities.
Risk works. Goderich has almost
paid off its debt incurred for the
Maitland Recreation Centre. Now,
council has all but approved a grow-
ing list of capital projects for the Y
because, as Coun. David Yates put it:
"Recreation is one of the things we
do."
• The MRC was an investment in
community well-being that obvious-
ly outweighed the financial aspects
of its debt load.
Maybe we need to change how our
municipal government looks at all
projects in terms of economic growth.
If we focus on community growth,
building stronger, more educated
and resilient citizenry, prosperity
will follow.
But, there are no short-term bonus-
es to show to investors to say "this
is why we are worth it." There are
no ways to equate community well-
being with growth when the bottom
line has to be translated into dol-
lars. This is where real leadership is
needed.
Build more affordable housing.
Build the arts centre. Build some-
thing. But please quit studying
41=1,
things. Studies do not reveal poten-
tial as much as look for ways out of
costly, though necessary investment
in ourselves.
Where is the leadership that put
Goderich Harbour back into Goder-
ich hands?
Where is the decisiveness that led
to the creation of a medical 'centre
and a fitness centre?
Is it the same or different than the
drive that created Goderich's new
Town Hall in such a hurry?
The sad thing is - nobody wants
to set precedent, unless that prec-
edent puts conservatism before com-
munity. In that way, we get a false
sense of security that measures our
success based on how we used to do
business before Volvo shut down; be-
fore turbines started making people
sick; before seniors left this commu-
nity for better care.
Our 'only remaining form of effec-
tive government is disappearing,
held to the standards of a province
and a country that have long -since
abandoned the concept of people as
wealth.
Let's hope municipal representa-
tives across Huron County take the
faith voters put in them and use it at
least once in their final year in office.
Let's hope 2010 is a year of action
and of proper representation; one in
which a healthy, happy constituency
is the only bottom line that matters.
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Frank Phillips photo
The Seaforth District High School junior girls' volleyball WOSSA champions of 1965-66 Include from left in the back,
coach Mary Anne Weiler, Donna Reynolds, Mary Sills, Susan Leonhardt, Faye Munro, Shelia Dietz, Karen Kale and Barb
Box and in the front, Christine Turnbull, Joan Oorwlll, Deb Miller, Pat Bannon, Marla Willems, Angela Devereaux and
Maureen Bannon.
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