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NU ---------------------------- ENTRIES GL PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, January 26, 1988 -- § Viewpoint by John B. McClelland QUICK DECISIONS An off the cuff remark made a meeting of Scugog Township council January 18 deserves some serious attention. The remark was made by Gerry-Lynn O'Connor, the Mayor of neighbouring Uxbridge Township. She was present at the Scugog meeting to attempt to persuade councillors to change their minds about sup- porting a study of roads in the two municipalities which are routes for gravel trucks. She was able to persuade the council to do just that, but during the course of her presentation, she asked for an immediate answer one way or another on her request. "You (councillors) do make decisions in front of delegations, don't you?" she asked with a bit of a smile on her face. "We certainly do in Uxbridge," she added. The fact of the matter is that Scugog council over the years rarely has made decisions in front of the delegation requesting something. What happens is this: a delegation will appear in front of council to make a pitch for something (it doesn't matter what). The council will listen to the pitch, ask a few questions for clarification, then simply thank the delegation and move on to other business. The decision the delegation is seeking sometimes will be made later in the meeting after the delegation has departed the council chambers, but more often than not, the decision is shunted away to be made at some future meeting, ~The result is that every council agenda contains a long list of items titled "unfinished business." When the council eventually gets around to dealing with this business, the details of the issue may be murky. ° dealt with at the end of a council meeting, a time when councillors may be tired and irritable, unable to give the issue their full concentration. The result is a backlog of business in the agenda, some of which dates back several weeks, months. I'm not sugges or one minute that Scugog coun- cil opt a policy to make all its decisions in front of the delegations s g an answer. Many issues require reflections over a week or two. But a lot don't. They could be made on the spot, so to speak, after a discus- sion. This would do a couple of things: first it would let the delegation know exactly where the council stands on an issue, who .is in favour, who is opposed. The delegation would not be "left hanging" for a couple of weeks. Many of the requests made to council by delegations require nothing more than a simple "yes or no" answer. To put off making some of these decisions clogs up future agendas, and when councillors finally get around to dealing with an issue, some of the details may have been forgotten. Of course, when a delegation is seated at the end of the council table waiting for an answer, it's a little tougher to say "no" than it is to say "no" two weeks later and send the delegation a nice letter informing them of the decision. Especially in an election year. I don't know if the good Mayor of Uxbridge was jok- ing when she told council last week that the policy of her council is to make the decisions (if possible) in front of the delegations. I doubt she was joking. I said before, there are a lot of requests which simp- ly should not be made "on the spot' for any number of reasons. But there are a lot which could be made quickly after a vigorous debate on the merits. It's a practise Scugog council should try to make where feasible. In my opinion, it would be one small step towards streamlining the process of municipal decision-making, a process which now is often handled in a cumbersome manner. Granted, there would be occasions when a "quick decision" might come back to haunt at a later date. But maybe that's the price a local council has to pay to speed up the process, to clear things from the agenda and not leave issues hanging for weeks, even months. - On several occasions over the years I have seen delegations appear in front of council in the afternoon with no decision made until later in the meeting after the delegation has departed. The item often ends up as a news piece in the Port Perry Star which is distributed the day after council meetings. Often, the first time a delegation learns that a request has been denied is when it shows up in the local paper. Some times these people will call me after they have read the item in the paper demanding to know how come the decision is in print before they have been officially notified by the municipality. All I can say is that it is the job of the paper to report the proceedings of the council meetings. Of all the tiers of government in this country, deci- sion making at the municipal level is the most diffiéult, to be sure. Decisions made by local councils "hit peo- ple where they live;"' often a delegation appearing in front of the council is well-known personally to the coun- ghiers. Sometimes it's tough to say *no" to somebody's ace. Still, that's part of the job of being a local councillor. I think a lot of the delegations which appear in front of council would prefer a quick answer made in front of them, even if they are not happy with the answer. They would at least get to hear the arguments and know what was said by those in favour and those opposed. They would leave the chambers knowing exactly where everyone stands, including themselves. i Items in "unfinished business" almost always are | Yesterday's Memories Sf 70 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 24, 1918 The mail came through by stage from Whitby on Tuesday, by way of Brooklin, Myrtle, Manchester and Prince Albert to Port erry. . Mr. and Mrs. rge Jackson received a cable on Monday from their son Ted, stating that he had arrived safely in England. At the initial\meeting of Town Council the following members took the oath of office - Reeve Mr. S. Jeffrey; Councillors W.L. Parish and William Leonard. 45 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 21, 1943 Wm. Reesor of Pickering and Jas. Blanchard of Cannington tied in the Warden vote. Wm. Reesor was finally chosen as representative for Ontario County. Miss Ruth Hall has passed her Reg. Nurse examinations and is home for two weeks before taking her new position at the Cooper Cliff Hospital. : Pte. George Emmerson, C.D.C. of Mountain View, is spending his furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Emmerson. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 22, 1953 The first patient to enter the new Community Memorial Hospital - was Mrs. Lloyd Pogue of R.R.3, Port Perry. She arrived at noon in a car driven by her husband. . Mr. Herbert Brooks, a member of the Community Memorial Hospital Board for the past four years and present chairman, has resigned. 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 23, 1958 At the Annual Meeting of the Fair Board, My: Lyn Fair, Agricultural Representative, introduced his new assistgnt, Mr. Alvin Blades. The Inaugural meeting of the Port Perry Council was held Satur- day. Reeve J.J. Gibson, and councillors Arthur T. Cox, Irving A. Boyd, Frank Godley and W.T. Harris were all present. Port Perry's Community Memorial Hospital was the only hospital in the Province of Ontario to complete the year without a loss. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 25, 1968 A walk-out of Reach Township workmen on Tuesday, lasted on- ly one day when Council met for an emergency meeting in the Township Hall, Manchester, the same evening to settle a wage dispute. The original proposal of $2.25 for maintenance operators, (Turn to page 6) A project to significantly renovate the Cartwright Recreation Centre and Arena in Blackstock almost certainly will get off the ground this year, if the provincial government agrees to grant half the costs. If the grant application is turned down, Scugog Township council will be faced with the decision of whether the municipality should pay for the entire cost of the project, "estimated at between $175 and $200,000. John Goss, chairman of the Blackstock Arena Board told Scugog councillors Monday after- noon that the lobby area of the Ridges accident update A Whitby man has been charged with careless driving as the result of a serious accident on top of the Ridges, January 17. Durham Regional Police charged Walter Debres, who was sent to hospital via ambulance with major injuries. The accident happened on Regional Road 2, at approximately 2:30 p.m., when a 1985 Malibu driven by Mr. Debres collided with a 1980 Camaro driven by Gordon Rodgers of Blackstock. Mr. Rodgers was sent to hospital with minor in- juries, as was a passenger, Rodney Hughes of Little Britain. Police say the accident occurred when the Malibu, eastbound on Con- cession 10 at the top of the Ridges, struck the Camaro, which was southbound on Regional Road 2, Simcoe Street. Mr. Debres was trapped in his car for more than half an hour while firefighters from Scugog Hall No. 1 and ambulance attendants worked Arena must be up-graded or there is a very good chance the building will not open next fall. Mr. Goss said the Arena washrooms are not adequate, but the main problem area is the condi- tion of the beams under the lobby floor. They are rotting to the point where he is concerned for the safe- ty of people using the building. Mr. Goss said the Arena Board and the Parks Board which runs the Cartwright Rec Centre beside the Arena have been working on plans to up-grade both facilities. . He said the Rec Centre needs a new roof, improved acoustics, more space for storage of tables and to free him with the Jaws of Life. He suffered neck and back injuries. Firefighters were also called on to extinguish an engine fire in the Camaro. Both cars are considered write- offs. The accident happened in the middle of a thick fog. Cartwright Centre, arena need major renovations chairs, a proper bar facility for dances and banquets and new washrooms. What the committees propose to do is join the Centre to the Arena lobby area which would provide space for a snack bar and new washrooms that could be used by the Arena and the Centre. Joining the two buildings, he said, would also allow for construction of another dressing room for the Arena. In response to a question from councillor Yvonne Christie, Mr. Goss said it would not be feasible to tackle the entire project on a piece by piece basis. : The renovations and im- provements would make for better and increased use of both the Arena and the Rec Centre. Mr. Goss acted as principal spokesperson for a delegation of Cartwright residents which ap- peared in front of council Monday afternoon. He noted that Tony Voke, a resi- dent of Cartwright and a profes- sional engineer had donated his (Turn to page 29) to the editor. 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