Government spending?

[cowman]

With the most recent scandals in Ottawa I want to bring up the rather cavilier attitude our governments seem to have when it comes to our tax dollars. Now Ottawa is getting all the attention right now and rightly so as they seem to be right out of control! But I wonder if we got Sheila Fraser into our provincial governments if things would be much better? Or even our municipalities?
A case in point: My local county built a new administration building this past year. The price tag started off at about $2.5 million and escalated into over $6 million! Now I consider that overly excessive?
Make no mistake it is a beautiful building but was it that necessary? Do we really need a "palace" to conduct the counties business?
A few years ago this same county decided to privatize the business of the county. They proceeded to lay off about 40 people and contract out the work. They sold off the graders, trucks, backhoes, shop equipment etc. and apparently it was a great success from a financial point of view. That was supposed to be phase one. Phase two was to farm out some of the office jobs...assessment, accounting etc. It never happened! Instead this county has stocked up more people in the office than used to work in the field! Even the secretaries have secretaries!
When I asked my councillor when they were going to proceed with Phase two she said they had decided they had gone far enough! Now I find that strange? If Phase one saved the tax payer lots of money and Phase two was going to save a lot more then what was the problem? Isn't it the duty of our politicians, whether county, provincial, federal to give us the most bang for our buck?

[Horse]

Cowman you are not alone the county of sturgeon built thier Tajma hall about 3 yr ago a thing of beauty but way over built to carry on the business of running the show.

[cowman]

So how did the ratepayers react? Did they throw the council out on election day or is that still to come?
There are a lot of unhappy campers in Red Deer county over this office and I expect it could get interesting this fall in the municipal elections.
I believe I've met the Ag fieldman of Sturgeon county, at a chemical safety seminar. I think his name was Steve. Sort of a short little balding guy? Seemed to be on the ball and was fairly outspoken?

[Horse]

Cowman They havnt had election yet but I suspect there wont be to much hoopla because there are so many acerages in the county and most acerages owners are fairly well off and tend not to get involved in county politics I do not live in county just own some land there so dont know to much but seems to be a lot of famly afairs in county works.

[ValueChainFX]

Retaking of your county is probably the first step to your phase one. Governments have taken over every aspect of our lives. Since this is our life, it's about time we take them back. Is it going to be easy "No" but at some point it needs to be done. We recognized this challenge early on and have been building alliances with those that can help us. All we can hope for is to strategically replace some of the dead wood with some folks that care and stand behind the progressive nature of the projects that can assist us build the infrastructures we need to make things happen!

[cowman]

County politics can be ugly! I hear what you are saying about the acreages, Horse! They have a whole different set of concerns from the farmers.
It can be frustrating. In Red Deer county things really got out of control a few years ago when the CAO stold about 3 million dollars! The ratepayers were outraged, not only by the theft but by the way the councillors tried to shift the blame off of themselves. So they formed a Ratepayers Group. Unfortunately it was soon hijacked by a bunch of rabble rousers who were more interested in promoting their own agenda than improving the situation. Eventually they got a couple of their members elected to council and they have been the most vocal supporters of blowing money like a bunch of drunken sailors! And you guessed it they are both acreage owners!
Also unfortunate was they beat out one of the most sensible and cost concious councillors and another farmer who would have been very sensible.
I'll tell you how ridiculous it has got. One "brightlight" complained that the darned farmers were combining too late at night and he was having trouble sleeping! Another complained at harvest time that the dust from all the combines was making it unpleasant to barbeque! The bylaw officer had to go out and check the noise levels to see if the combines were breaking the noise bylaw!!! And they phoned Environment to get a truck down to check the air quality! Fortunately both air and noise were in the acceptable levels, but think how much this cost? And you can bet it will happen again!

[frustrated1]

Know where you're coming from cowman. We're fortunate right where we're at. There are no acerages within shooting distance. I especially "like" the stories about acreages springing up around hog farms and the like and then trying to get them shut down because of smell. Weren't they there when you bought the place? Our local city has a truck route north of town since forever. Once people started building all around and through it you should have heard the complaints and letters. I'm thinking it's been there for 50 years, where was it the day you bought your property? Did all of you miss the trucks when you drove through or did you just assume you could scream and get this changed? I'm sure it will have to be changed in the future but talk about the tail wagging the dog! Forget common sense, I've got ME to worry about! ME ME ME!

[cakadu]

If you thought the apathy in federal or provincial politics was bad, at the municipal level it is downright dismal. If you don't get out there and vote, then how can you turn around and complain about what isn't happening?

If there are no other candidates willing to step up to the plate, then the same old same old gets in time after time. Are they effective? Maybe. Have they outlived their usefulness? In all likelihood.

One of the problems is that people don't want to run against the incumbents for a variety of reasons - and apathy is one of the reasons.

Does the "new blood" appeal to your sense of values? Are they willing to listen to you as a taxpayer in their division and take your concerns to the meeting, or are they more interested in scratching a back because they might need a backscratch in the future?

What about the person who is willing to stand up for their constiuents and will not vote the "party line"? What about the "in-camera" session to decide how to vote?

The politics in some counties has deteriorated to the point where it is worse than kids in a sandbox. At least the kids will eventually come together again.

What are some things that you feel might make these politicians, no matter what the level - accountable?

[cowman]

Actually in the last two municipal elections we didn't need to vote as no one ran against our councillor. And they didn't run because they knew they wouldn't beat her!
My county councillor takes care of business. You have a problem, you phone her. You might not get what you want but you know she will do everything she can! That is exactly what I want in an elected representative!
My MLA is the total opposite! He is about as useless as they get. He is great for photo ops and that is about it.
As you probably know Linda, Red Deer county is currently a complete gong show with councillors fighting like kids on the playground? The whole thing, when you take away the garbage, is about two visions...one the old way, two a new way. I still haven't decided which way I go with, although I definitely am leaning NEW. If I intended staying in farming for one hundred years I might stay with the old way. The new way is developement and urbanization. We all need to look after our interests? And that is why I need to go that way.

[cakadu]

I know how people like to keep things the old way, but I'm not so sure I understand this new way or that it is even a better way.

There are always competing interests and balance must be maintained. If we move too far in either direction - keeping it the way it was or developing until there is nothing left, is not a solution either. Doing what generates the most money isn't always the best solution to choose.

What do we do once we've paved over all the agricultural land and destroyed the biodiversity that we now enjoy (although it is much different from what it was 25 years ago)?

Neither side has to "lose" if they are both willing to seek solutions that provide balance.

Sometimes I feel that we have to accept and take comfort in the fact that there is nothing as constant as change and it will always be there. We need to adapt and change of that there is no doubt, for without adaptation, we perish. An interesting read is the "ingenuity gap" by Thomas Homer-Dixon and in it he talks about how we cannot always supply the ingenuity we need at the right time and place and essentially end up with a gap that even we as a developed nation cannot seem to close quick enough.

There is no doubt that the County is growing quite rapidly and there is an ever increasing need to balance competing interests.

[cowman]

I went to a couple of land use meetings that the county put on and it was interesting to say the least. I had to agree with the things the "pro-developement" guy had to say...basically that this developement will take place no matter what. We may hold it up for a few years but it will happen. Right now the houseing developements of Red Deer continue to gobble up the best land in the county and that won't stop. I find it ironic that some councillors continue to argue against developement in the county while they continue to cede the very best land to the city?
One guy suggested that certain areas should be thrown wide open to developement...mostly around Red Deer and along Highway #2(Edmonton-Calgary corrider). Now this makes sense and yet there was opposition from the dogs in the manger...sort of a why should you get rich if I can't attitude!
The county also has an excellent land use study that basically lays out where developement is feasable and I think that makes sense also. There are areas where residential developement should be encouraged and areas where agriculture should be encouraged? I believe this is a progressive approach and goes against the "old school" way of thinking that all agricultural land is sacred? Because no one can stop the developers and peoples desire to buy their little piece of heaven out in the country? Pig barns, dairies, and feedlots are just going to have to go out to the sticks. That's just how it is?