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City Council	‘Public meetings almost meaningless
	Here are a couple questions for last meeting I asked

Does Mayor Pond really have a 43,000$ travel budget?

What donations did city make to charities locally?

See below for both

		Done in Closed Meeting
		While one can see the rationale for discussing these in closed meeting --- one organization not given any of the 30T requested and given in 2005, & 2004 OK discuss it in camera and then tell us ‘the citizens’ what you have done. All agreed this was an unfortunate oversight which would not happen again
I also received from Finance department the recommendations given to council when this was approved Note some of these are paid ‘in kind’ thus Halloween or Aboriginal Days etc involve use of City work crews to set up etc	Recommended ‘in camera’
	Of the above list Success by Six was not recommended in supporting staff research. (Already had surplus in budget presented—but one can see why that this was a project deemed worthy of support by Council and donated the $) Growing Space did not submit all documentation but was approved any ways ---- This one would have benefited from public discussion --- as looks like questionable use of public $$ to me

For Comparison

2004 Council approved the following Grants in Aid:
Aboriginal Days Event $5,000	Community Arts Council $10,000
Community Asset Development $30,000	Community Halloween Festival $5,500
Garden Club $700	Growing Space Society $3,500
Heritage Advisory $1,500	Senior Centre $1,700
Special Events Society Civic Events $10,000	Special Events Society Operating Grant $20,000
Special Olympics $1,000	Wildlife Rehab Shelter $1,200
Total $90,100 Other - City Discretionary $16,000

$43,000 travel budget Pond supporters see Mayors extravagant travel habits as justified because raises profile of PR (Pond appears to be a popular addition to Provincial committees – but is it worth 43T$ to us?)

Where in the world is Mayor Pond?

Line item 10200 is Mayor’s Expenses; the man only makes 37T (part time mayor) but Citizens pay another 43T$ for his (travel) expenses. When I asked how much of this had been spent Mayor Pond said only about $1,500 for MFA meeting in Victoria. Implication from answer is that this account still has $41,500 in it (or the mayor did not want to answer?) I am told records begin with calendar year. Pond has said in past he will make this info (his travel expenses) readily available on city’s new web site (tentatively scheduled for August)

Comments?

As charitable donations was made public in 2004 looks like an oversight that not done this year

IF Council wants to give Mayor an open travel ticket then we should hold them accountable along with Pond

Created by LG on Feb 1, 2006

Last updated on Thursday, June 01, 2006