ward3brighton.ca

I found a memo in my mailbox at City Hall yesterday with stats on the total number of meetings in 2007, and each councillor’s attendance record. It includes public meetings and standing committee meetings, but I did notice my Youth Advisory Board meetings were not counted in my total. I don’t have it in front of me, but I don’t recall seeing Committee of the Whole Council meetings either, which is a substantial number. In any case, I “officially” attended 48 meetings last year (second most, behind two councillors tied at 50, I might add).

What this definitely does not include, is the informal meetings I attend regularly with neighbourhood groups like Advocates For Victoria Park, or school principals, or the Canadian Cancer Society, or anyone else that needs to bend my ear on some issue. Or fundraising events I volunteer for. Or the conferences and AGMs where I speak to bring greetings on behalf of the city. Or the vacation days I use to attend conferences or visit city employee locations to launch our new Corporate HR Plan. Or the many hours I spend answering phone calls and emails. Or the time spent personally shoveling snow for people (long story). Or flipping pancakes.

I say all of this only to give some indication of the time commitment involved, because among the most frequent questions I get are variations of “Does it take up much of your time?”, “Are there a lot of meetings?” or “Do you get many calls?“. It’s all good fun though. I enjoy the job.

Just returned a call I received earlier in the day about the story that was in the paper yesterday, I believe, about the Charlottetown Police Services issuing 5000 tickets last year. The caller, who is concerned about traffic enforcement like many people, found it hard to believe that that many tickets were issued — an average of more than 13 per day.  Promised to look into it.

Just received a complaint about sidewalk plows digging up a residents yard.

I was able to get my hands on an electronic copy of the this month’s resolutions, on top of the hard copy I always receive, so it was much easier to post them here this time around. It’s a very light agenda since December is not a busy month at City Hall.

Council will consider the following resolutions at our monthly public meeting on Monday, January 14th at 7pm (City Hall).
Finance, Audit & Tendering

RESOLVED: That the Planning/Heritage/Arts & Culture Committee be permitted to transfer $14,637 as per the attached documentation, within the Arts & Culture 2007 Budget. This transfer represents no overall increase in the 2007 City Budget.

Planning/Heritage & Arts/Culture

RESOLVED: That the request for a variance to the front yard setback from the average 75.3 feet to approximately 237.5 feet to permit the construction of a new office/commercial building at 5 Lower Malpeque Road (PID# 387472) be approved.

RESOLVED: That the request for a variance to the rear yard setback from the required 19.7 feet to approximately 14.8 feet to permit the construction of a porch addition to the existing house at 12-14 Dorchester Street (PID#s 336651 & 1006758) be approved.

RESOLVED: That the Final Architectural Plans submitted for the proposed condominium project to be located at 1 Hillsborough Street (PID# 725796) be approved.

Parks, Recreation & Leisure Activities

RESOLVED: That the City of Charlottetown make an application for the 2008 Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF) to fund the following project and that this project be designated as Priority #7:

Winsloe West Royalty Soccer Clubhouse: $180,000

RESOLVED: That the City of Charlottetown make an application for the 2009 Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF) to fund the following project and that this project be designated as Priority #9:

Parkman Soccer Complex Third Field: $185,000

Public Works, Public Property & Street Lighting

RESOLVED: That the City of Charlottetown make an application to the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF) to approve the following project and that this project be designated as Priority #5:

Storm Piping & Sidewalk Upgrades: $600,000 (2008), $300,000 (2009)

RESOLVED: That the City of Charlottetown make an application to the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF) to approve the following project and that this project be designated as Priority #6:

University Ave Traffic Flow Improvements: $200,000 (2008), $600,000 (2009)

Water/Sewer Utility & Environment

RESOLVED: That the City of Charlottetown make an application for the 2009 Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF) to fund the following project and that this project be designated as Priority #8:

MacRae Drive and Livingston Road Water Infilling: $400,000

I’m on the mailing list of a company called CivicPlus that apparently builds websites for various levels of governments. I didn’t ask to be on this list, so I assume every politician with a publicly visible email address has been spammed by these guys. Not that they don’t occasionally provide a nugget of wisdom, but the very definition of spam is email you didn’t ask for. I could always unsubscribe, but I digress.

Tonight I received the first issue of their e-Gov Gateway Newsletter, an “e-government and website management resource for local government officials.” This item in the newsletter caught my eye:

Technology Spotlight: Blogging Towards an Open Government

Since that is, theoretically, what I do here, I clicked through to their website to see how I measure up. They offer 6 tips for new local government bloggers to keep in mind. They’re specific enough to be useful, and generic enough not to scare people away from the idea.

So here’s my own self-appraisal of how well I’ve followed their advice (the tips are described in more detail on their website):

1. Define Your Purpose: I don’t think I’ve ever laid out a Mission Statement here, I just got down to it. There was a point after the election where I mused about transitioning from a campaign blog to something “more useful and informative for residents over the course of my term as councillor.” And my “Do You Get Many Calls” idea was explained as something to “provide the curious a sense of the types and volumes of contacts we get from constituents.” That’s about it. Grade: B
2. Personally Commit to Your Blog: This is about posting often, responding to comments, not letting the blog stagnate. I’m gonna say my responding to comments keeps me out of failure territory here. Grade: D+
3. It’s Your Blog- Do it Yourself: No ghost writers here. Grade: A+
4. Don’t Put It All Out There: Roughly defined as giving “insight on your thoughts, work and travels, without boring them with mundane stories and anecdotes”. Uh, boring you with mundane stories? Hmm. Grade: C+
5. You’ve Got To Be One Tough Cookie: I haven’t had to deal, personally, with any trolls, flamers, or otherwise unfriendly commenters here, so I can’t say. If, in the future, someone calls me names and I burst into tears I will fail myself on this one. Grade: Deferred
6. Study Those Blogs: I read a wide variety. Grade: A

That’s how I see it. Feel free to get out your red pen and play teacher. Fill out my report card and I’ll take it home to mommy. Seriously though, I hope this weblog gives people some small insight into my work as a councillor. It’s not always easy finding the time, and I think the “Don’t Put It All Out There” tip is well-considered, but if it helps answer a question, spark a conversation, or just mildly entertain you, I think it’s well worth the effort on my part.

I’ve been receiving a steady stream of complaints about the snow plowing/removal in my ward since last week’s heavy snowfall. I had noticed myself that the service did not seem up to snuff, but the full extent of the problem has only become apparent to me over the last two days. There are some streets in the ward that have only seen one pass of the plow since the last storm. Some streets are still only one lane wide, and some still have sidewalks buried under three feet of snow, having not seen a sidewalk plow yet! This is apparently not the case in the other wards where there have been very few, if any, complaints. This is unacceptable and I’ve been working very hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Councillor Bernard, who is Chair of the Public Works Committee has been very helpful in tracking down the operational issues and he assures me we can expect better in the future.

Received a call from a resident in a low area prone to flooding. Snow covered catch basin drains and all the melting snow were causing the street to flood. Went down and shoveled off the drain myself.

Lots and lots of calls about snow, snow removal, or lack thereof.