Email dated January 17, 2022 from Barry Fisher, Re: Open House, Jan 17, 2022
An email opposing the increase in council members, arguing it would lead to a 'top heavy' and bloated operation that consumes excessive management time.
From: Barry Fisher Sent: Monday, January 17, 2022 5:15 PM To: Mayor And Council Email mayorandcouncil@viewroyal.ca Cc: Barry Fisher kilaalembarry@shaw.ca Subject: Open House, Jan 17,2022
Dear Mayor and Council,
I write to express my opinions regarding the discussions to take place this evening.
Firstly, I do not believe that additional numbers of council members produce any significant benefit for the average taxpayer. It is the quality of each individual council member that is most important to assure solid, productive decisions going forward within the municipality. In all truth, most of the important activities proposed and/or in place at any given time are presented to council after having been carefully vetted by the management team at city hall. These actions come with recommendations from the management team in almost all circumstances. So the facts are that it is most important for council to have a solid, cohesive, frugal, intelligent, and responsible management team. A team that respects the council as their ultimate leaders.
A very important consideration is that each council position will consume more and more of the management team’s time as they attempt to keep up to the activities within their domain. As a retired business manager I can tell you that it is very easy to get “top heavy” resulting in a bloated and ineffective day to day operation. Lean is not mean!
I have sat on a number of Boards, mostly local, however one was a national organization. Each and every board was well coached and somewhat directed by the respective management teams. Whether the Board consisted of six or ten members prior to the meeting the chairman was well informed by management as were the Board members. This resulted in decisions that were well thought through and in almost every circumstance proven to be wise moves.
As a taxpayer in View Royal I am mostly concerned about the large increases in my taxes. Fiscal 2021 my property taxes increased by $10,920.95 . I lease to a small used car dealership and this increase has put additional financial pressure on his business. Small business operators are the back-bone of our communities and these inflationary times will eventually destroy many local operations.
Thank you for considering my comments.
M. Barry Fisher.