The Cobourg Police Meeting
As you might have gathered from the tardy post about the meeting, it failed to impress. A disappointing turnout that consisted of police volunteers, communicators and serving officers. The usual dog and pony show took up the first hour and then Cobourg Councillor Frost delivered an insightful and cutting analysis of the report - said it was vague, confusing and based on grants and rebates that could disappear as easily as they were put into the report. Other Councillors asked questions: Mayor D asked a setup question and gave the usual political mantra that Policing costs are escalating far higher and faster than other line items in the budget and we must look at alternatives (not mentioned is his desire to get rid of competing rivals - all the Mayors dislike the Police Chiefs because they earn more than the CAO and have a competing public persona). Hey does he think that will stop when the OPP takes over? Their costs are now increasing at 4% per annum and rising too!
I must say that the dog and pony show is more polished after 5 meetings. The technique for rebuttal is to answer the questions they can, with answers of their choosing, not necessarily correct, and ignoring the ones they don't like. For example in Port Hope they (the County) answered and debated the issue of rebates. This time when the issue was raised, in Cobourg, and rebates were called "compensation for reduced service" they ignored the statements. This time the question of communicators moving into OPP jobs was answered with "There will be opportunities to move into the vacant jobs" Well how 51 trained communicators can move into 14 clerical keyboarding jobs seamlessly wasn't answered.
Also I must raise the issue of the Mayor of Trent Hills moving into our meeting and lecturing us about how great the OPP really ticked me off. Imagine what his reaction would be if we went to Campbellford and told him how to run the Campbellford Foundation. Hector you are not the Mayor of Northumberland yet, that comes in two years time when amalgamation is forced on us by angry taxpayers fed up with paying for duplication. The Police first, then the County Official Plan and then the regional water authority and Bill Pyatt can become the new emperor of the biggest bureaucracy in Northumberland. Stay in Trent Hills Hector!
The next stage in this melodrama will be the debate on the 19th at Cobourg Council. After the dog and pony shows we now know the real issue in this debate - the level of service. Cobourg has two options to discuss: the standalone OPP and the County integrated model. The dog and pony show discusses the integrated model. This is where we will have 130 officers policing the County and we only pay for 109 - what a bargain. Now we get to pay twice for the same level of service, the 109 through a rigged County levy and the rest through our Provincial taxes. So who really pays for what?
But as we know what Cobourg and Port Hope thinks is beside the point we are outvoted and killed off with our own money.
I must say that the dog and pony show is more polished after 5 meetings. The technique for rebuttal is to answer the questions they can, with answers of their choosing, not necessarily correct, and ignoring the ones they don't like. For example in Port Hope they (the County) answered and debated the issue of rebates. This time when the issue was raised, in Cobourg, and rebates were called "compensation for reduced service" they ignored the statements. This time the question of communicators moving into OPP jobs was answered with "There will be opportunities to move into the vacant jobs" Well how 51 trained communicators can move into 14 clerical keyboarding jobs seamlessly wasn't answered.
Also I must raise the issue of the Mayor of Trent Hills moving into our meeting and lecturing us about how great the OPP really ticked me off. Imagine what his reaction would be if we went to Campbellford and told him how to run the Campbellford Foundation. Hector you are not the Mayor of Northumberland yet, that comes in two years time when amalgamation is forced on us by angry taxpayers fed up with paying for duplication. The Police first, then the County Official Plan and then the regional water authority and Bill Pyatt can become the new emperor of the biggest bureaucracy in Northumberland. Stay in Trent Hills Hector!
The next stage in this melodrama will be the debate on the 19th at Cobourg Council. After the dog and pony shows we now know the real issue in this debate - the level of service. Cobourg has two options to discuss: the standalone OPP and the County integrated model. The dog and pony show discusses the integrated model. This is where we will have 130 officers policing the County and we only pay for 109 - what a bargain. Now we get to pay twice for the same level of service, the 109 through a rigged County levy and the rest through our Provincial taxes. So who really pays for what?
But as we know what Cobourg and Port Hope thinks is beside the point we are outvoted and killed off with our own money.
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