There is no question town staff and council are anxiously looking forward to the upcoming holiday season.
It will be a welcome break for administration and elected officials after a tumultuous autumn that witnessed a good chunk of the electorate calling for their heads.
The holidays are also a good break for the many citizens who have perhaps been a bit too focused on negative notions instead of turning their eyes on the good that is all around them.
The east side servicing controversy is a case in point. Residents there have known for a long time the town wanted to cross the river with modern state-of-the-art water and waste water servicing. They have also been fully aware there was never any point in arguing against the obvious benefits of having clean water, and that once the new technology was installed, it would be far more convenient and ultimately more affordable.
As well, residents have known the improvement would cost money, and a lot of it.
Yes, there was a communication breakdown between the town and residents. But it is not that difficult to find at least one significant reason. The town has had four different chief administrative officers in the past year, including Verne Balding who tragically passed away in a motorcycle accident last June. For the next few months administration was led from the top with an interim CAO.
What was not known for many months was that a prior administrative communications error was made regarding east side servicing connection fees, and with the passing of Balding, it was not picked up.
Enter Dean Pickering. He arrived just as two huge issues – east side servicing and pocket parks – had already been developed by previous administrations. Pickering spotted the error on the east side servicing connection fee and council agreed to fix it up with the revised policy.
East side residents were then offered this deal – pay $7,000 to connect to both lines by Nov. 14 or it would jump to $15,000. Pickering then went on to say in this newspaper it was a great deal, which, when compared to just about every other municipality, it certainly is.
Some residents, however, chose to slam the town for giving only 28 days' notice to pay $7,000 instead of saluting the fact that if this was another jurisdiction the bill could have easily been up to $25,000.
From there the town faced all kinds of public condemnation, second guessing and speculation, some of it wildly off the mark, some of it coming in heated “he said, he said” confrontations, which this writer won't report due to the obvious risks of them only serving to distort facts.
However, town officials know it has shortcomings when it comes to a communications strategy. This is obvious. Mayor Annette Clews has publicly apologized for it.
Nevertheless, out of the chaos comes an opportunity. The coming week will see open houses into the future of the town's public parks, including those pocket parks that triggered so much anger in October.
Council and senior staff can reset themselves to redouble their efforts for better communication. Citizens can start to forgive, forget, and perhaps more importantly, find a bit of understanding.
Or they can just look squarely at the facts. Acceptance can be a wonderful thing.
