Fire Chief Mann has been a busy man!

Cobourg's Fire Chief has been doing what administrators do best - churning out reports for his bosses to read. Now most reports die a speedy death, either due to the quick adoption or the embarrassed rejection of them. In the case of the two reports written by the Chief and their inclusion in the Monday night Council meeting these reports deserve a speedy resolution. But because they make so much sense it probably will not happen and one of them will probably fall due to petty politics at the County level.
Chief Mann has written one report that is addressed to the County and copied to the member Councils for information. In this report he outlines the cost of replacing the current, obsolete, fire communications systems with new equipment. He also referred to two previous reports prepared for the County by a consultant, familiar with the County system, to buttress his case for new equipment. But as the consultant's report reported to the County about the need to establish a county-wide despatch centre Chief Mann repeats the two service delivery options: have the County establish its own centre or contract with a third party for despatch services. However in a move that sets Cobourg against the rest of the County he flags the fact that "fire chiefs of Northumberland County would prefer a purpose-built centralized fire despatch centre."
In his second report he obviously states a case for Cobourg running the third party despatch centre, as his report ends with a recommendation that Coburg develop a proposal for the provision, by Cobourg, of fire despatch services.
So the bottom line is this: the County needs fire despatching services, Cobourg wants to provide those services and the Warden of the County is the Mayor of Cobourg - see any potential here folks? If Peter Delanty wants a 'legacy project' he should forget about putting his name on the new Community Centre but get this despatch centre run by the Cobourg Police comm-centre. Any realistic observer of County politics realises that this is an uphill battle.
But from the perspective of a sane and rational taxpayer this is an opportunity to consolidate ALL despatch services in a brand new standalone comm-centre. Cobourg and Port Hope face million dollar expenditures on police comms, the ambulance probably needs an upgrade by now and we know that the fire departments do. So why not build a multi-purpose Emergency Centre? Too much common sense in that question so it will not happen. So our prediction is that the taxpayers will take another bath as the rural rump wanting to stick it to Cobourg again will demand a brand new fire despatch centre run by the County. The local police departments will demand new communications and because there will be little coordination of the projects local taxpayers, in Cobourg and Port Hope, will pay through the nose. The BurdReport just hopes this pessimistic scenario never comes to pass.
But in order to achieve tax savings the spotlight will be on the Warden of the County to see if he is up to the job of producing the leadership and persuasion needed to bring all the County Mayors on board to have all despatch services run through a brand-new Cobourg comm-centre.

Aha the Town admits that it was responsible

In a stunning turnaround the Town of Cobourg is obviously 'backfilling' as fast as it can. We refer to the issue of the recent flooding in the Upper George St. area. Soon after it happened the following quote was recorded: "Any flooding that occurred (in the area) was not due to any negligence whatsoever on the town's part," said Mr. MacDonald. "We (Town of Cobourg) have worked hard over the last 20 years to improve infrastructure to limit any damage that may occur during flooding."
That obviously was not quite true, in the literal sense, but what was true was the response to the opinion expressed by the BurdReport in this post here where the following questions were posed:

• If the Town has worked hard to improve infrastructure how come this area flooded?
  
• If the Town is responsible for Storm Water Management how come they haven't ordered private property owners to improve their facilities to modern standards?
  
• If the Town knew that this Railroad culvert was inadequate twenty odd years ago why haven't they followed the standards of the latest Storm Water Management Report and ordered changes on the railroad property?
• If the Town is denying culpability why didn't they tell the Homeowners to sue the Railroad Company?

So what has the Town done in response to the delegation that faced them and demanded action? Quite a lot as a report to be revealed Monday shows. If one clicks on the image readers can see the salient points of the report. It tells of a report received from the engineering firm of Gordon, in 2004, about the problems of the CN lands and its inadequate culvert and its undersizing for a 100 year storm.
The Town report also recommends that a storm water retention pond be built upstream of the George St problem area. Council in adopting the report will make a motion to spend the money to plan for such a facility. It should be noted that retention ponds aren't so great during a 100 year storm cycle, witness the failure of the ponds on the Nickerson Creek that overflowed their banks and produced epic flooding on Elgin St. Incidentally the intersection didn't flood in the '80 flood as development in that area was non-existent and the flood plain was larger than today. It was reduced to assist in the expansion of the building envelope by whiny developers. The result is apparent; modern planning in that area failed to prevent flooding.
But the questions still should be asked "Is the Town liable, and should they compensate the flood victims?" The BurdReport thinks so. But it remains to be seen if they will.

"It must be true because I said it"

In a classic example of the title statement, our MP expects us to believe something because he said it. This story, tells of the C of C's breakfast budget meeting wherein Mr Norlock was asked to explain the statement that this Riding has produced new jobs This riding has net job gains: Northumberland MP - Northumberland Today - Ontario, CA. "Where are these jobs?" one fellow asked? "I'll get back to you." was the answer. So in the light of last months Statscan report where we showed that Unemployment has doubled in the economic region in one year here it is doubtful that he can prove what he said. New jobs: what are they and where are they? Take for instance the County's new ambulance depot. Peak construction has been working there for a few months did they or any of its subcontractors take on new people - I'll bet that they kept on their existing workforce. No new jobs but perhaps new work for old jobs. Until the Cons post stimulus figures on the web, as Obama does, then transparency is not achieved and we are left with the fact that official spokespeople can get up and say anything they want and expect to be believed because they said it.

The first of many..... Budget 2010

The first of many pundits' reviews Peering into tomorrow, blind as a bat - Inkless Wells - Macleans.ca

Everybody should read this

In writing, reminiscent of Hemingway and the Spanish Civil War, local lad Adam Day (who took the pic), son of Port Hope lawyer Wilf Day, has published an account of his embedment with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan last year. Written in an honest way the story, which is Part one of ?, recalls the smells the follies and dedication given to the task of working in Afghanistan Assignment Afghanistan: The Struggle For Salavat – Part 1 | Legion Magazine. I can't wait for the next part Bring it on Adam - well done.

Finally somebody has some cajones!

This story tells of the efforts in the UK to lay out legislation governing the use of 'mobility vehicles' - electric scooters. Whilst the majority of the users of these vehicle are sane, and well behaved the BurdReport has commented in the past about those who aren't. The UK is now pondering standards for use. Very good, it should be followed here.

In a different vein, look what we found on the Internet. Warning this clip may be offensive to some!

It's about bloody time!

In this story (NNews) here, an award received by the Director of Engineering and Environmental Service of Cobourg highlights the long service of Ted MacDonald.Ted, as the story outlines, has been here a long time and has now finally received accolades from his bosses. After all they had to didn't they as the province seems to think him worthy of an award.
But it hasn't always been that way. In the past the Town administration either led by the poobahs or the Mayors always had a peculiar way of running the internal affairs of the Town. To put it bluntly amongst the senior staff there was always someone on the 'shitlist'. This particular person wouldn't get bonuses, wouldn't get promoted ot usually was just shunted to one side as others roared forward. Good reasons may have prevailed for all of the decisions made by senior mangers but tell that to the poor sod who was being shunted.
Another peculiarity of Cobourg's internal management was that for years, not so long ago, there was always someone in the structure that was there but nobody really knew what they did. Nominally they were head of some department but try to find them on the job doing that or look for them to see what they were up to and it was a puzzle. The phenomena started with the previous head of the parks Dept - Norm Duncan. Fantastic guy, always on the job somewhere but trying to pin him down was a challenge.
Why do I mention this? Because for years Ted has been coming to work to adminster projects, taking charge of traffic lights and generally being referred to as some as 'the Norm Duncan of Engineering'. Engineers are a funny set of folks, usually socially challenged and far more interested in traffic light cycles than schmoozing it is no wonder that the Heads of Engineering, with one remarkable exception - the present CAO - have been exiled from the Vic Hall set of folks to the Public Works yard. And even when Engineering HQ was in Vic Hall it was buried in the basement. One cannot criticise too harshly the decision not to promote Ted from the Deputy's position to the top position when Ken Rumball retired because it gave us the, now, new CAO - Stephen Peacock. But at the time it must have really hurt Ted. But plugging away in obscurity he has finally prevailed. Well done Ted!

Special Diet Allowance Drama Drags On

While the term special diet allowance may not mean much to most of us, for people on Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program it is a crucial program that provides an extra few dollars monthly to pay for food needed due to certain medical conditions. The program has been around for a very long time with little fanfare.

After rates were drastically cut in the mid 90's, and inflation further eroded benefit levels in the ensuing years, recipients, legal clinic workers and activists began looking for a way, any way, to increase peoples' income, and the little used special diet allowance became a mechanism to do that. Paying anywhere from $10 extra up to $250 in extreme cases, more and more people began asking their doctors to fill out the forms to qualify them for the program.

When the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, and other groups began recruiting doctors around the province to hold clinics for recipients, the costs of providing the program grew and government, now under Dalton McGuinty's liberals, cut it back drastically by eliminating some medical conditions and making the rules harder to meet. This was done in 2005, and countless people lost their allowance as a result. Even though the government's own advisory committee recommended expanding the program later on, little action was taken.

In response to the cuts, some 800 people filed appeals to the Social Benefits Tribunal, which hears appeals of social assistance decisions. Likewise about 200 complaints were filed with the Human Rights Commission, and then transferred to the Human Rights Tribunal when it was established.

Last week, finally, the Human Rights Tribunal released its decision on the 3 lead cases, and found that the Province did indeed violate the human rights code in each instance. The Tribunal ordered it to re-instate full benefits to them, as well as anyone else in the system with those particular medical conditions.

Now, hopefully, the rest of the cases can proceed, following the reasoning applied in the lead cases. All 800 appeals to the Social Benefits Tribunal have been adjourned for years now, waiting for the Human Rights Tribunal to rule.

But the Province seems poised to ignore their own Human Rights code. In an internal memo circulated around the Social Services Ministry the possibility of abolishing the Special Diet Allowance entirely has been raised, and the government has not denied this is their plan.

We should all be outraged by this latest cynical threat to the security of people on social assistance. Living well below the poverty line, let us not forget a single person on welfare gets a scant $600 a month, still $63 less than would have been paid out in 1995 before Mike the Knife slashed the rates. Many welfare recipients suffer from disabilities, and the ability to eat properly is critical for their health.

Of course if the rates were increased to provide an adequate standard of living, special diet allowances wouldn't be required, and that is the ultimate solution to this problem. Don't hold your breath for the Province to do the right thing though. If they are prepared to ignore their own advisory committee as well as the Human Rights Tribunal decision, we are all in big trouble. Poverty reduction indeed.

Not this guy's day!

After crashing his car, presumably after a few, this guy had to go and POW! story here not his day. Must be a man thing!

Should we really do this?

It may not be polite to point out mistakes in other's work but this one is a complete lack of attention in an organisation that boasts about winning awards.