Council exercises compassion during last meeting of 2016

The West Flat resident received a bill for $5,905.25 after a pressurized line leak went unnoticed and sprayed more than 92,000 cu ft. of water in her basement between March and June of 2016.

An investigation into the meter and the leak in the basement confirmed that, despite Souter’s objections, the reading was correct and the bill justified.

Souter, a widow living alone on a fixed income, had expressed serious concern over the bill to council this summer, and gained sympathy with members of the public and council, including her ward representative, Charlene Miller.

“She knows that she’s going to need to take a little bit of responsibility for the situation,” Miller said, “and I commend her for that.”

She was originally offered a 50 per cent reduction in the cost of the water and sewer fees, as well as the removal of any late fees, but the remaining balance was still over $3,000 and Souter said she would have been unable to pay.

When asked how the settlement of $1,500 was determined, Mayor Greg Dionne explained, “well, she felt that’s what she could pay, and she did communicate to my office that she can pay $300 a month.”

Multiple councillors, including Ted Zurakowski, felt a move to a monthly billing cycle could help to prevent similar issues in the future.

Mayor’s new fund criticized

One major item on Monday’s agenda was the final approval of the 2017 General Fund Budget, which had been debated at length over two days in November.

Coun. Lennox-Zepp brought forward a proposal to remove a new “compassionate needs” fund and was supported by councillors Miller and Zurakowski as well. The fund, a $4,000 account to be used at the Mayor’s discretion, was targeted for being non-transparent and an unfair way to address the concerns of residents.

“I find it appalling that there is no criteria for providing these funds,” Lennox-Zepp said. “It is not a responsible stewardship of city funds, and I’m concerned with the ramifications that this will turn into a fund for those in the know.”

In November’s budget committee meeting, the issue was raised by Dionne in regards to an elderly resident who fell down the stairs on the Diefenbaker Bridge and wanted the city to replace her walker, which was damaged in the fall. The mayor replaced the walker and asked the budget committee to create the new $4,000 fund to help the mayor’s office quickly address similar compassionate situations at a low cost in the future, rather than involving multiple levels of city bureaucracy and council.

At the time, the proposal received support from Couns. Dennis Ogrodnick, Dennis Nowoselsky, Evert Botha and Blake Edwards. But, on Monday evening, both Nowoselsky and Botha were absent from council and unable to support the fund.

“I think we need to trust our mayor,” Ogrodnick said in defence of the fund, “and it’s not a question of transparency, he will have to be accountable for that money. He will have to show us the receipts where that money has come from.”

Lennox-Zepp, Zurakowski and Miller all voiced their concerns on the transparency of such a fund, calling it “inappropriate” and pushed for a vote on the matter.

But ultimately, those concerns were put aside as the motion was defeated in a recorded vote of 4-3. Though when the entire budget, including the $4,000 “compassionate needs” was brought up for vote, both Miller and Lennox-Zepp voted against the budget as a protest, while Zurakowski voted to support it.

Council will meet again on Jan. 23.

shane.oneill@paNOW.com

On Twitter: @stroneill

by Shane O'Neill

Council exercises compassion during last meeting of 2016

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