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 Under pressure to cut costs, an unapologetic Mayor George Fontaine is defending city council's recent flight to Gillam and purchase of a new backhoe. At last week's council meeting, taxpayer advocate Blair Sapergia saw the expenses as a sign the city must do more to rein in spending. But Mayor Fontaine maintained that the Gillam trip, which saw city officials attend an Association of Manitoba Municipalities meeting, and the 2012 backhoe were necessary. 'We have municipal meetings that we have to attend if we want to be heard and to have our issues taken care of,' he said. 'We could take and spend, what is it, eight hours to get to Gillam and...the costs would end up being similar or more if we actually drove, with a lot more wear and tear. We do want representation, we will attend meetings where they are.' Mayor Fontaine told Sapergia the cost of the flight was shared with Snow Lake and The Pas _ 'so no apologies to give you.' When Sapergia asked for the cost of the trip, Mayor Fontaine said he did not have the figure handy but would provide it. On June 20, Gillam _ 300 km northeast of Thompson _ hosted the Association of Manitoba Municipalities northern district meeting. According to the AMM website, four of 10 municipalities in the district had representation. As for the city's new backhoe, the machine comes with a price tag of over $104,000 and replaces a 2004 model. 'When the equipment is to be replaced, we do that,' said Mayor Fontaine. 'We're not going to stop doing it. Having equipment that doesn't work is not a viable option...so we will continue on what we think is a reasonable program of replacing our equipment, regardless of whether you like it or not, that's what we're going to do. That's my answer.' Sapergia launched into his comments by saying his calls for spending reductions seem to be 'falling on deaf ears' given the Gillam flight and the backhoe. Council's recently approved 2012 budget boosts spending to $11.7 million _ a 6.4 increase over 2011.
