By John Francis,
Bruce Peninsula Press
The Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula is run by a bureaucracy. It’s the most efficient bureaucracy I’ve ever seen, but it still suffers from the weaknesses of its kind.
At MNBP, low tax rates and a tiny budget lead to chronic understaffing, which means that staff effort is stretched far too thin. The good news is that the production per unit effort is spectacularly high. The bad news is that most of the time it’s a challenge to get through all the things that happen in a day and there isn’t time to keep careful notes as to what else is going on or keep track of what other staff have seen.
We can help with that. In fact, we need to help with that.
If we the citizens/taxpayers don’t document what’s going on in our municipality, then it’s not going to get documented. Full stop. Municipal staff are already ‘way too busy’w.
So: what do we want to know? What do we want Council and Staff to know?
My answer is that we want them to know the things that bother us, the things that scare us.
In my own case, I want them to know how many times there are fireworks or other disturbances in Tobermory after the Bylaw Enforcement presence is gone for the day. “It happens a lot,” I hear myself saying, which rubs my nose in the fact that I never wrote anything down and have no clear idea how often this actually happens. How many times have people let off fireworks in front of my house this year? Four so far; I’ve counted. What were the dates? Oops. How many times have there been cars parked on Harpur Drive, forcing pedestrians into traffic on a blind hill? Doh.
Note to self: write it down. Otherwise I’m just flapping my gums.
Note to readers: write it down. (Rationale as noted above.)
Take pictures when there are too many cars parked. Write down dates and times for bonfires and fireworks. How many cars parked blocking traffic and driveways? How many people partying at that STA? Did things only happen Fridays and Saturdays in July and August or were they spread out over the week and the whole season?
The object of this exercise is not “gotcha”. The object of this exercise is data — accurate information as to what’s going on — precisely when and precisely where.
It will help council and staff plan for how to deal with next year. Every member of Council is trying their best; every member of staff likewise. But they can’t be everywhere all the time, to see what’s going on, let alone write everything down. We need to do if for them. But we need to do it precisely — “just the facts, ma’am”.
I was appalled to learn recently that Bylaw Enforcement personnel leave Tobermory at 9:00PM. Fireworks displays and noisy gatherings don’t begin until at least 10:00, which means that there is no enforcement presence at all.
What happens after that?
Call 911.
As a friend of mine, who sleeps beside a volunteer fireman, recently pointed out: “like I’m going to call 911 when all they’re going to do is phone my husband???”
This resonates with me. Fireworks displays last for 20 minutes tops. There is no point calling it in — rousting a bunch of volunteer firefighters out of bed to come out and find the “offence” finished five minutes ago. It should not be their problem.
This needs a rapid Bylaw Enforcement response; otherwise there’s no point in responding.
We need to give staff and council dates and times and photographs, not just angry complaints. We need to give them an excellent picture of what’s going on, If we can do that, I’m pretty sure they will make sure we get an excellent response.
I’m guessing that we need two bylaw personnel every evening until midnight, one for Tobermory/Miller Lake, one for Lion’s Head/Stokes Bay/Pike Bay. But we’re not going to get that unless and until we can clearly demonstrate the need.
Data. What, where and when. Write it down.
And what do you do once it’s written down? You make sure it gets on Council’s Agenda for a meeting. Make sure they acknowledge what you observed. A conversation with a staff member usually doesn’t get to Council. A conversation with, or an email to, an individual Councillor also doesn’t get on the Agenda. The Council member may bring it up under “Other Business” but it is not automatically included in the Agenda.
A few excerpts from the “Council Correspondence Policy”, as proposed in MNBP Council’s June 28 Meeting Agenda:
“The Clerk will confirm with the correspondence author to ensure they wish the correspondence to be posted on a public agenda.”
“Correspondence sent to a specific Councillor or the Mayor can continue to be addressed on an individual basis or forwarded on to appropriate staff for direct response with no need to be included in the agenda.”
So: write it down; take photos. Send it to MNBP and ask that it be put on the Agenda. They’ll do the rest. We hope…
