The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor It's a frosty winter night and while most Flin Flonners are savouring the comforts of home, Blair Sapergia is busy collecting his thoughts. Beneath the bright fluorescent lights of the City Hall Council Chambers, he occupies a front-row seat in the public gallery, his trademark ballcap crowning his head. The room is largely empty, but that's never mattered to Sapergia. The only audience he cares about are the elected officials occupying the half-circle table in front of him. 'I come again, pleading that what we're doing in this city is not sustainable,' he tells mayor and council upon his turn to speak. 'I've said it before and I'll say it again: We're spending money like we've got lots.' It's a message Sapergia has brought to council, in various forms with various examples, for more than a year and a half. He may be left-leaning on other matters, but when it comes to spending and taxes, he is easily more conservative than anyone on council. At the national and provincial levels, we rely on a host of people and entities to keep tabs on how our tax dollars are spent. They include opposition MPs and MLAs, anonymous whistleblowers, groups like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, and a deep-pocketed media. There is nowhere near the same scrutiny at the local level, which is where Sapergia _ agree with his points or not _ fills an important role. 'I believe in accountability for decisions and expenditures,' he says in an interview. 'I also believe that as a taxpayer, I need to make sure that elected officials are aware of opposing opinions.' But Sapergia, a 57-year-old grandfather of six, never planned on becoming Flin Flon's taxpayer advocate. In fact, when he began attending council meetings in March 2011, he spoke out against a decision that had little to do with spending. Council had just voted to stop adding cavity-fighting fluoride to the drinking water, a controversial decision that went against the grain of popular medical opinion. 'The fluoride debate was the first issue that I found myself at odds with this council,' says Sapergia. 'I felt council was ignoring health experts and basing their decision on a radical fringe that was spreading misinformation through the Internet. I was alarmed by a council who put our community's health at risk on the advice of this fringe element. I also felt that because fluoride was added to our drinking water through a (1989) referendum, in which I voted, that council had no authority to remove it.' Sapergia attended a series of meetings, every two weeks, to speak out against council's plan. When one meeting was postponed because most of council was in Halifax for a Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference, he began to have other concerns. Sapergia felt there should have been motions or public discussion leading up to the conference. He believed too many councillors made the trek to Halifax on the taxpayer dime. And he thought the purpose of the trip was not properly justified. Though unable to convince council that fluoride was beneficial and that the Halifax trip was excessive, Sapergia made himself a regular at the Council Chambers. He became a voice for fiscal prudence, championing not draconian budget-slashing, but more modest, one-bite-at-a-time reductions. See 'Fewer...' on pg. 6 Continued from pg. 3 On the staffing front, Sapergia wants fewer municipal employees, with cuts through attrition where possible. He has also expressed concern that city vehicles are being used for personal transportation. New expenditures often capture his attention. He never quite saw the need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to run electricity to the landfill earlier this year. And as far as events like the 2011 conference in Halifax, Sapergia wonders whether some of those travel expenses could be put to better use elsewhere. But lest anyone label him a merciless critic, Sapergia does give credit where he sees it due. He applauds council, for instance, for closing the Pine Avenue bridge earlier this year, abandoning an earlier plan to rebuild it at a significant cost. Variances Sapergia also likes the ease with which many homeowners can obtain variances to build garages, decks and other residential additions that bolster property values and, thus, the tax base. 'Everyone on council is there to make Flin Flon a better place to live,' he says. 'However, the next few years will tell the story on sustainability.' 'Sustainability' is a word that weighs heavily on Sapergia's mind. He sees Flin Flon's rising municipal budgets and dwindling population and knows that something, at some point, has to give. 'It seems like council can't get out of the rut of conducting business as usual,' he says. 'With a shrinking population, (water) treatment plant spending and an aging infrastructure, we need to be innovative or we will start losing services. In the past seven years my tax and water bill has more than doubled. It's no wonder families are choosing to live outside of Flin Flon as they look for more affordable alternatives.' Sapergia says his appearances at council meetings have generated positive feedback from the public. Many people stop to talk to him about civic issues and suggest questions to be brought to council. Yet where it really counts _ in influencing municipal policy _ Sapergia believes he has fallen short. '...I haven't had any real impact on council decisions,' he says. 'It will take more than one person to effect change. However, I enjoy going to council meetings and will continue to speak out on issues.' Some have speculated that Sapergia either is or should be gearing up for a run at the other side of the council table as a mayor or councillor in 2014. He is quick to deny such plans, saying that would demand time he simply doesn't have at the moment. For now, Sapergia, a heavy-duty equipment mechanic at Hudbay, will continue to serve taxpayers in a different role _ as a watchdog. 'I'm really just trying to hold council accountable for their decisions and keep our taxes reasonable,' he says. 'Everything we spend money on must be reviewed: equipment, staffing levels, travel, contracting out, snow removal, road paving, sidewalks, and the list goes on. To do any less leads us in a downward spiral with no bottom. (The) status quo is no longer sustainable.'
