Re: Mayor responds to local concerns, Letters (June 27)
There are two items in Mayor Johnston’s response that I’d like to address.
First, she claims “We have just the right amount of staff that we need and require…” I don’t know how she arrives at that conclusion. Bureaucrats and their support staff never fail to use up all available time. There is no end to reading and writing reports, seeking and giving opinions, evaluations, consulting with experts, investigations, arranging and attending meetings, etc. In the end, most decisions, if any, are made collectively so no one is responsible if something goes wrong.
All are extremely busy and there are never enough people. That’s just the nature of bureaucracies. The taxpayer is expected to foot the bill, but has no control. Only the elected politicians can exercise it, but if they think everything is just fine we’re truly in trouble.
Finally, Mayor Johnston points out how little council gets paid – “… not much more than it takes to cover our expenses…” I’m sure they knew what the remunerations were before they stood for election. In any case, they’re sure to rectify this in short order since they can vote themselves an increase. Who but politicians can do this? Having said all this, I understand that politicians are between a rock and a hard place.
On one hand are disgruntled taxpayers, many on fixed incomes, and on the other hand unionized workers whose inflated wages and benefits are negotiated in Victoria and trickle up to every supervisor and manager. I’m glad somebody is prepared to take on this thankless job.
H. Schmid,
Hope