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.
The gates are open and the political horses are off and running in the race to form the next Flin Flon City Council. With the present council on its way out, what better time to reflect on the achievements (and miscues) of the past four years? Let's start with the positives. This council deserves credit for helping to bring a new, much-needed seniors housing complex to the community. With 12 units and income restrictions, Evergreen Manor is not nearly enough, but it is a good start if we hope to keep (and attract) people here in their golden years. Council again followed the right path in its efforts to build a new recreational complex. Rather than drawing up blueprints and then seeking public support, as the city did in 2005, council started from square one with an open-ended survey of residents. This demonstrated a willingness on behalf of council to avoid assumptions about what people want and to instead ask them directly Ð something all governments need to do far more often. Council wisely took advantage of park upgrades. When the province paid to re-soil metal-contaminated playgrounds, the city piggybacked the project by simultaneously purchasing some of the new play equipment we see. The result has breathed new life into many of our neighbourhoods. There were other positive steps. It was unfortunate that the wooden section of Flinty's Boardwalk had, in the city's determination, become so unsafe in 2007 that it had to be torn down. Fortunately council reallocated previously secured provincial funding, allowing a path of crushed gravel to replace the boardwalk. A civic landmark was saved. Council at times showed toughness when warranted. Between 2008 and 2010, the province re-soiled the aforementioned polluted playgrounds Ð 10 of them in all. But initially the government told both council and The Reminder that they would only clean up two playgrounds, and that only tainted soil within close proximity to play structures would be replaced. It was a ridiculous proposition, and Mayor Tom Therien basically called it as such, telling The Reminder that council does not "accept that as a valid solution." It wasn't two weeks later that the province agreed to replace all soil at all playgrounds compromised by smelter pollution. I'm 100 per cent convinced that would have never happened had the mayor not gone public with council's disdain. But if the province has exhibited bad judgment, so too has council. Voting in 2007 to spend $200,000 to develop a new subdivision at the end of Horace Ave. Ð and then spending $0 to develop a new subdivision at the end of Horace Ave. Ð was particularly unwise. With a view overlooking Ross Lake, the Horace subdivision may have very well diverted to Flin Flon some of the home construction we've see in Creighton, the cottage areas and even lakeside in Cranberry Portage. Council was again asleep at the switch when it came to animal control reports the city issued between late 2006 and early 2009. Every single one of those reports claimed City Hall had not euthanized a single animal, even though the city had fielded hundreds upon hundreds of complaints of nuisance dogs and cats. In reality, dozens of animals were likely put down at taxpayer expense during that time. Council blamed the whole affair on bad communication, but the fact remains that for two and a half years, they unanimously approved reports that were clearly suspect. You don't have to be an animal lover to demand accuracy in reports you're paying to produce. Another error was council's 2009 vote to give themselves a raise. It wasn't so much the miniscule amount of money involved as it was the optics: the motion came at the height of a recession, as HBMS was laying off staff and contractors. Fortunately council backtracked in time to call off the pay hike. Others see this year's move to raise taxes sharply on many homeowners as an added blunder, arguing that council could have at least phased in the increase to soften the financial blow. The fact that they didn't tells us that, at least for this group, the political cost of simply trimming the budget would have exceeded that of hiking taxes drastically for many. Right or wrong, their decision took guts. Further achievements and miscues await our next city council. Let's just hope they learn from the past four years. Local Angle runs Fridays.
