Energy From Waste Groundbreaking Party Blog

FOI - EFW Groundbreaking

Recently I was stunned to learn that the Energy From Waste (EFW, more commonly known as the Incinerator) groundbreaking party held on August 17, 2011 cost more than $75,000 paid for with taxpayers money, and worse I have yet to find the Council approved budget where this expense was stipulated.

On November 16, 2011 the Orono Times reported that when requests were made for budget information, the Region of Durham responded that cost information regarding this event is not available.

Further, on November 16, 2011 in the local Scugog paper the Mayor of Scugog was quoted as saying that this expenditure is a line item in the budget when Durham approved the incinerator in 2009 however, after reviewing hundreds of pages of Durham budgets nowhere is this groundbreaking mentioned. In all of the documents provided to us there isn’t a page from the 2009 budget or any budget for that matter showing a line item for this party.  This information would help solve one piece of this puzzle; unfortunately that page from the budget has yet to be produced. 

Furthermore, if this $75,000 party was truly approved by the 2009 Council then why was the Orono Times told in August 2011 the info was not available?  If these funds were truly approved by Council why not simply point all inquiries to the page number within the budget?  I suspect there is no line item in the 2009 budget for a $75,000 party.  What I believe occurred is money was left over from other incinerator expenses for example the communications budget or from a public info session. I believe these extra funds were moved around like a shell game to provide the money for “Roger’s little project”, as referred to in a Regional staff person’s email about the party.

Not only do I take issue with the amount of money spent and how it was approved, but I also take issue with the supposed tri-party agreement to split the costs for the party with York Region and Covanta. Only the Council of a municipality can authorize financial agreements and as far as I am aware, Council did not authorize these excessive expenses. Therefore, who authorized this agreement?

As your representative I truly want to know if expenses were inflated in the budget to hide money for this party or if someone one day noticed there were extra funds available and just never bothered to ask Council if these funds could be redirected.  Both scenarios are wrong but each in my mind comes with different approaches to address.

Thus, at the Regional Council meeting of November 23, 2011, I moved a motion, stating:

“Whereas Durham Region hosted a $75,000 Energy from Waste groundbreaking party held in Clarington on August 17th, 2011; and

Whereas at no time were Members of Durham Regional Council made aware that Durham would be spending taxpayers dollars on this event nor was it included in any approved costs for the project nor as part of the 2011 budget; and

Whereas the accountability of how tax dollars are spent is ultimately the responsibility of Regional Council; and

Whereas while spending taxpayers dollars on this event the public was excluded from attending; and

Whereas such spending is irresponsible during these difficult economic times.

Now Therefore Be It Resolved the Council for the Regional Municipality of Durham direct the Commissioner of Finance to launch a full internal inquiry as to:

• Where the funds for the groundbreaking ceremony came from?
• Under what authority allowed the spending for an unbudgeted item?
• What is the actual cost for the EFW groundbreaking ceremony, including the costs for Durham Regional Police Services to attend and manage those who were not permitted to attend?

And That the results of the inquiry by the Commissioner of Finance be detailed in a report to Council no later than January 25, 2012.”

Unfortunately, Durham Regional Council voted against the motion; 13 to 11.

Information including emails etc., in regards to the incinerator groundbreaking party were obtained through a freedom of information (FOI) requested by the Toronto Star. In the interest of further transparency and accountability, I am attaching the full FOI.

I would like to draw you attention to a few specific pages:

• Page 2: This is an email between two staff members describing costs for a “high end” and a “low end” event, stating they were waiting for final approval from the Regional Chair – now if this was truly approved by Council and it was a line item in the budget then why couldn’t staff simply reference the approved budget to know the amount of money available? I believe that this was not budgeted, and therefore not approved by Council.

• Page 4: This email exchange between staff truly sums up why I believe funds were not properly budgeted.

The previous are just a small sample of why I believe the funds for the groundbreaking party was not budgeted. I encourage you to read the FOI package and see how your tax money is being spent.

In conclusion, we all know the money is already spent the event is over and we cannot take it back so why should we go through all of this? The reason I moved this motion is to hold anyone who acted inappropriately accountable.

An inquiry is needed in order to lay out all the facts, and then once we have all of that information we can make informed decisions. Also, how can any resident trust us with their tax dollars if while people in this Region are suffering people in this room are sipping on cocktails and eating smoked salmon or snacking on $1,100 worth of chocolate?

An inquiry will not cost any money as it would be done in-house, staff who are already paid by the Region would conduct this inquiry. Thus, I see no reason to not launch an inquiry. Most importantly we must ensure that this type of distasteful and ignorant spending of tax dollars never takes place in the Region of Durham again!

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns regarding this issue or any other issue. I can be reached at jenniferoconnell@sympatico.ca.

-Jennifer

(For more information on this subject please visit the ‘In the Community’ section of my web site for various articles written regarding this subject. Please also visit the ‘Press Releases’ section of my web site for the press release regarding this issue)

Direct Election of the Regional Chair

Democracy as defined by Webster’s is; government by the people; a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.  The position of the Regional Chair is an incredibly powerful and important position, he or she is in charge of a $1billion dollar budget, delivery of regional services (ex Police Services), and representing our needs to higher orders of government.  The Regional Chair sits on every committee and has an equal vote, he or she is the tie breaking vote at Council and they receive a salary and benefits that far exceed those of their elected counter parts paid for solely by taxpayers.  For example the Regional Chair makes nearly $200,000/year in salary and approximately $300,000 in severance and has an office budget of $600,000/year.  In addition the Chair has powers delegated to him or her by Council, which for example made it possible for our current Chair, Roger Anderson to unilaterally sign off on the EA allowing the Odour Control Facility for York Region’s sewage pipe to be in its current location without going to Regional Council and completely ignoring the residents and Council of the City of Pickering.  This is certainly not a ‘symbolic’ position.

There is no doubt in my mind that if we were to move to a direct election of a Regional Chair strict rules would be key because I would want to see spending limits put in place (just as every municipal candidate has) to ensure the Chair’s position does not become one of who can raise the most money.  However the directly elected Regional Chair of Halton spent less money than the Mayor of Pickering during the 2006 elections.

Without being able to directly elect the Regional Chair, we as a community will not have a Regional government where power is vested in the people, rather a mere 15 votes from Regional Councillors will choose who is appointed to such a powerful position while we are left paying the social, political and economic price tag.

Stop the Stink!

As we witness more and more the effects of global warming we have all been asked by various governments to take steps to limit the impacts on our environment and to lead more sustainable lives.  This is something that is very important to the City of Pickering, yet York region is asking us to handle their raw sewage.  We are all expected to be responsible for our own waste yet why does York Region feel they do not have to, that they can sweep their mess under the carpet, while we endure the consequences.  This sense of entitlement by York is a failure to their own sustainable-minded residents and an insult to the promises that York has made in the area of sustainability!

York’s current pipe that runs through Pickering already leaks and takes clean ground water and pumps it through to be processed, while our streams and creaks slowly dry up destroying any natural habitats.  If this leaky pipe were fixed it would increase the capacity and perhaps reveal that a second pipe is not needed.  We all know York region is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on building a new pipe to send their waste to Pickering.  For this money York could develop and build a technology to deal with their own waste and in fact turn it into clean water for other uses.  This technology exists; York does not have to reinvent the wheel.  But this option may take too long and lets face it they do not care about you, they do not care about us, they do not care about the environment, they care about the future development being built in York Region and that is their bottom line.

During this whole process York and Durham Region have ignored us and have not acted in the best interests of Pickering residents.  They have not consulted with the City of Pickering or our residents and they have not been able to answer any of our questions time and time again.  In my opinion York has breeched a Memorandum of Understanding it has with Pickering and York and Durham have breeched the Environmental Assessment Act by not consulting with the community on all aspects of this process.  Durham Region was the co-proponent on this project and they were supposed to protect the interests of our residents, however with the exception of Councillor McLean, our Regional representatives have failed us by allowing the EA to be signed off and subjecting our residents to an Odour Control Facility in our community.

If Durham Region was not willing to stand up for us then it was time for Pickering to act and take a stand against York.  On September 21, 2009 Councillor McLean and I brought forward a motion to commence legal action against York for various breeches.  Despite Council watering down our motion we were able to ensure that if the Minister of the Environment fails to hear the concerns of Pickering and it’s residents, we will commence a Judicial Review of the entire process.  And we will fight for our future and we will fight for the rights of our residents!

-Jennifer
(For more information on this subject please visit the ‘In the Community’ section of my web site for various video clips and articles written on this subject.)

2009 Budget Survey

We have all witnessed the economic downturn that has been occurring throughout the world. Many of us are either directly impacted or know someone who may be impacted by a present or pending loss of jobs, loss of savings or a roll back of salary.  No one is exempt from the economic situation, as these are very difficult times.  

Over the last few months many residents have expressed a concern with the continual increases in property taxes within Durham Region and the City of Pickering. While I refused to support the 2007 and 2008 recommended expenditures and tax increases, I was only one vote and both budgets were passed.  Along with opposition to the tax increases I expressed a concern with the amount of debt that was being consumed.  Mortgaging our present and future generations is a guarantee that our level of taxation will continue to grow.

As preparations have already commenced on how your tax dollars will be spent in 2009, I think it is more important than ever to hear from you the residents, to allow me to represent YOUR PRIORITIES FOR THE 2009 BUDGET.

Please take the time to fill out the following survey and send it to me by April 30, 2009.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Sincerely,

-Jennifer

Stop the Stink!

On Wednesday March 11, 2009 Regional Council unanimously supported the Pickering Community and voted to tell York Region and the Minister of the Environment that the proposed Odour Control Facility (OCF) should be located in York Region and NOT the City of Pickering.

I along with approximately 20 other delegations were there to speak on behalf of the community to ask that our Regional government abandon their previous support of the OCF location within the Cherrywood community and request that it be moved out of Pickering!  Surprisingly, Regional Council unanimously supported our position prior to hearing the delegations; therefore many of us thanked the Councillors for their support and withdrew from speaking.

The fight however is not over as the EA was signed and submitted to the Minister by both York and Durham Region in November 2008.  In the EA document Durham Regional Council signed off on the OCF location to be located within Pickering.  Although I am so pleased with the recent Regional Council position supporting Pickering residents and not allowing the OCF within Pickering, I can’t help but wonder why our concerns were ignored in November 2008?  The Minister now has two Durham Region positions before him and we must continue to fight to ensure that the Minister supports Pickering and moves the OCF location into York Region.  Had Regional Council supported this community in the first place the EA would not have been signed and submitted until the location of the OCF was moved.  I suppose Regional Council’s change of heart is better late than never, but I hope their initial support of this location does not cause the Minister to support the OCF within Pickering!

With all of this said, I must personally thank all of the residents who have been involved with fighting this facility.  There has been a lot of time and energy spent organizing and writing letters/emails from our residents and I don’t think we would have been able to change Durham Council’s minds without your hard work and determination.  Thank you, on behalf of all concerned residents!

-Jennifer

Welcome to JenniferOConnell.ca!

Welcome to my new website! This site was designed not as a way to simply showcase another politician, however it was designed as an interactive tool for the residents of Pickering. Something important to me in the creation of this site was that I wanted it to be user friendly and it needed to be user friendly for the very diverse community within Pickering.

I am extremely excited about JenniferOConnell.ca, I love how easy it is to navigate through the different pages. Each page is designed to provide information to the user, whether it’s through the Issues and Legislation page, the Links page or even the Calendar page that lets you know where I am in the community.

The overall feeling that I wanted to express with this website is that I am not your typical politician. I believe I am a new generation of political thinking and my degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto is the tool that allows me to implement this new era of political representation.

My favourite part of my website is this Blog section. My blogs are my informal thoughts and opinions, almost like diary entries. I invite all of you to visit my site regularly and read my blogs. If you have any comments to add to the blog section please feel free to email me and I will be happy to post them for all to read and comment on.

I want this site to be an interactive tool that is thought provoking and gets residents talking about important issues. Enjoy!

- Jennifer

8.79% Tax increase in the City of Pickering

Taxes are something that is always a contentious issue, however the 2007 City of Pickering budget that gave rise to an 8.79% tax increase has the whole GTA talking.

This increase in my opinion was due to a heavy reliance on development and poor long term planning. Because of this I was the only Councillor who did not support this budget and tax increase. I did support a number of the projects within the budget, however I felt that we could have done better at reducing our operating costs. With 0.8% growth the City of Pickering does not have too much going on right now so I found it hard to justify why we are spending the same as past years.

I agree with my fellow Councillors that this tax increase not only has to do with the City’s financial responsibilities but we have had to deal with provincial downloading of services to the municipalities. A good example to highlight provincial downloading is with the recent closure of the Adelaide House, a women’s shelter in the Durham Region. Social services such as this shelter are under the jurisdiction of the Province, yet residents and this local government constantly have to give money in order for their doors to remain open, however in this case unless the Provincial Government commits to long-term funding this shelter will not be able to reopen for longer than one year.

I agree that a portion of our financial problems come from provincial downloading, however this is not the only reason. As I mentioned above the City of Pickering relies so heavily on new growth, this is bad business because eventually every municipality will run out of land.

This along with Pickering's aging infrastructure and the fact that previous Councils for a number of years did not increase taxes even to the point of inflation because it was good for their political careers, and now we are playing catch up. Therefore I can understand everyone’s frustration with regards to Pickering's 8.79% tax increase, I too am frustrated.

Despite the fact that Pickering's increase was so high this year, you should know that Pickering residents still pay less in taxes than most Durham municipalities including Ajax. This is something that is often left out of the media and most residents have no idea how much residents in other municipalities are actually paying. This does not mean that I support the 8.79% increase.

Over the next four years during my time on Council I will be working hard to change the way Pickering does business and ensure that this City becomes more financially sustainable, and that we no longer rely so heavily on the residential tax base. I want to help ensure that hard working families can afford to remain in Pickering and that we leave future generations a legacy we can be proud of.

- Jennifer