While we applaud the present city council’s dedication to transparency—and fulfilling an election promise for same—we disagree that it should be spending $50,000 on yet another management study just four years after a similar study.
There are so many other things the city could do with that $50,000 this year: pave 400 square metres of road (at a cost of $125 per m3) or replace some aging water mains; invest in planters or attractive light standards to brighten up the Johnston Road corridor; pay for the second half of a part-time economic development employee; add to community policing or victim services; revive the Tin Pants Theatre from McLean Mill on a smaller scale; increase recreation programs for youth; pay for summer students; bring in an additional museum exhibit; pay for another piece of public art (or better yet, pay to sandblast and coat the existing artwork in front of the soon-to-be reclad city hall); trail cleanup; clock tower repairs; to install a garbage can at the entrance to Hole in the Wall; help pay for a free ‘spring cleaning’ garbage pickup day; pay for some external marketing to bring people to town; the list is endless.
Don’t get us wrong: we agree that people should be paid appropriately for the work they are doing.
Council sought to close the gaps following the 2011 study with some pay increases and shuffling of responsibilities, and we support those changes. Half of that study’s recommendations were followed.
However, it’s simply too soon to be thinking about spending this kind of money on something that was already done.
— Alberni Valley News