Saturday, September 8, 2007

My Response to WL CAO's Blog Post called "City Admin 101: An Introduction

Yesterday, Alberto DeFeo (City of WL's CAO) posted the following at his blog (http://wlcao.blogspot.com/):

Many times, I am asked the question 'what do you do at City Hall?'. I have to admit there is no easy answer. I also realize that our school system does not provide sufficient education or training to equip our children with fundamental knowledge about political relations and government administration, which, I think, it is critical to their future lives. I also noticed that people become interested in City Hall only if it affects them negatively. Yet, there is so much that is decided and done by both City politicians and City staff that has a positive impact in the community that we give it for granted and people seem to not know or to have the wrong information. I guess it goes with the territory. It's a bit like the newspapers, the negative sells the positive doesn't. This is a societal distortion that we need to correct and as civic leaders, we at City Hall are trying our best to change it here in Williams Lake. Indeed, for the sake of our community's good future, we need to abandon some negative stereotypes and embrace positive change. I'll give you an example.For instance, did you know that the City has been working very hard in the last three years to advance a plan to conserve our water? Why do we need such a thing? Well, mostly because we can't survive more than a few days (probably three or four) without water, which is a precious commodity second only to air. Also, because we want our children and all future generations to live better and not worse, including having access to the best water in the world. Finally, because water is a gift and we should respect it. Today, the residents and taxpayers are enjoying cheap acces to water (parcel water tax is only $40 a year in WL) but do they know that in order to repair and maintain our water systems and to conserve water for an acceptable length of time in the future we need more than that? If we focus on the immediate economic effect of the plan on our family and personal budgets without thinking of the long-term impact and benefits, then the usual reaction would be 'These Politicians: they always find a way to grab some more of our money.' But if we focus on the results and benefits of the plan, then our reaction may be 'I am willing to make an investment in our water and I will support our City to implement our plan.' I did not use the words City Plan, but 'our plan'. Because it is our plan after all and seeing it that way makes a world of difference. Now, I will certainly discuss the City's Water Conservation Plan another time but the point is, residents are not completely informed and it is mainly our fault (the City's), and so they tend to see what is communicated to them. And, if it is negative, then their level of trust in their City government just won't be very high.So, the City Page, this blog and other pieces of information that the City provides are very important to make the community aware and, I hope, to make people interested in their government and to help them shake off their apathy and negativity towards City government.I guess this can be a bit of an introduction to a much wider topic. So, next time, I will explain a little bit more how the City operates because, from what I hear, there is some sort of mystery on what we do. But, again, it really isn't a mystery, is it? We just need to explain. So enjoy your week-end and I hope you'll take the time to read this blog coming next week.

My response to the above is:

I agree with most of the above except with the fact that I feel that people, particularly adults, must become more empowered to learning about issues in their City. Too often, it is too easy to hear rumours about what City Council / City Staff are doing and often putting "a rumour here" and a "rumour there" together and believing it as the Gospel Truth, which by then City Staff/Council have to spend massive amounts of time putting out the "real truth" out there on any given issue and by which time, people emotions come into play and get worked up without knowing all of the answers. I also agree the time has come perhaps to expand the curriculum that schools teach on government by teaching how the federal/provincial and local government (Municipal/County/Regional District) function and how each level of government impacts an individual's life. By teaching this to the young ones, I believe that we will have a more empowered society that believes that government actually does good work. Also, somehow all levels of government must engage society as to the work that each level does and why.

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