Open letter from Dorothy Baert to Tofino News Blogspot readers.
Every
once in a while I go to this blog site. I do this because even though
it is often a cauldron of misinformation and innuendo, none of which
could actually be verified in the light of open scrutiny, it is a place
where issues and irritants are shouted out, and is therefore as good a
place as any to find out what’s on peoples minds.
I
am motivated to respond to the question raised about my not attending
the Open House for the Liquid Waste Treatment Plan. I could not attend
but this doesn’t mean that I am not paying full attention. We have a
very serious situation here which is the excessively expensive cost
which is untenable for a community of 2000 or even 3000 people. That it
is being built for the use of 15000 people indicates a gap that raises
such inequity and extreme burden that in my view it is essential that as
an entire community we say, yes we want the plant but we will not, we
cannot, pay full freight to put it in.
It
is my view and my intention whether on Council or not, to lobby in
every possible way to have the two higher levels of government pay 100%
of the capital cost. I am cautioned that this can’t be done but I have
been told that time and again since I got on Council and I say, you
don’t know if that is true until you have tried, until there is
absolutely no further possibility.
Some
of the work that has been done, despite your platform of contempt for
the work that Councillors have been doing, has been to lobby for the
better deal for Tofino. This town punches well above its weight and we
are seeing real movement. Recently at UBCM, that conference that some on
this blog hate that we go to, meetings were had with Ministers but this
time, there was a difference. They were listening when we said we need a
tax tool on visitors to pay for infrastructure, even if it is only 1%.
They
had listened to feedback we have given as a small community when we
said repeatedly we can’t undertake capital costs AND operations costs on
our own. Again, they heard and announced that communities up to 5000
residents can apply for 100% capital funding, a one time ask for up to 9
million, something that hasn’t been heard of for decades. Even though
that money is there, getting it for the LWTP has another obstacle but
those details are for a different forum.
The
Tourism Minister responded to the great lobbying work of our Mayor and
others in the Resort Municipality collaborative to ensure that the RMI
monies continue to flow and come back to us as matching funds to the
Additional hotel tax. This means there are now new opportunities to
create amenities that residents, businesses and visitors can enjoy
without it being a burden to the resident tax payer.
The
bigger news is with the MRDT funding (and the new online tax fund) and
the opening up of options that can be directed to housing and
infrastructure. This will take community collaboration but the offer is
on the table. We worked for that.
And
finally, yes, I live here. Tofino is my home and has been for 30 years.
I have also been affected by the chronic housing shortage and have had
to respond to the needs of my business for housing. This has meant a
temporary but happy exile that has allowed me to spend summers with my
grand children. There, you have it.
I
campaigned in the previous two runs that I would engage and support
open dialogue and would reach out to the community where I needed
feedback on issues and I have done that in a number of ways. My
preference is to talk with people directly or to solicit their opinions
by occasionally reaching out through Facebook or email, as I did when
the RCMP building was being proposed. I go to the Tofino Vent and Praise
forum where people do vent frustration and where there is dialog,
information and engagement, none under the dark cloud of toxic trolling
anonymity.
Anything
else you would like to know, feel free to call or email. Like all the
other hard working Councillors, past and to come, we want to serve our
community and hear what is affecting peoples lives. As hard as it can be
to do, we want to be part of the solutions that make a better
community. How about you?
Dorothy Baert
250 726 5565
Facebook is not a verified platform.Ask Hillary Clinton. You have no problem being elected with anonymous votes.Previous councils wasted time and money with sewer plans from unqualified personnel.You served on these councils.
ReplyDeleteMillions could have been saved if previous councils had taken the sewer issue seriously.Instead we got cobblestones and black bollards.
Many people comment anonymously because critics are still singled out for punishment. It is not as bad as it was under the Fraser/Long/Smith axis of evil but it still exists.
I am glad to see council is working on the sewer plan now.I will try to publish some previous posts so readers will get a sense of the history of this issue.
Thank you Dorothy for your letter and I look forward to spirited debate as the election nears.
Ralph Tieleman
Time to withdraw from the race Dorothy.
ReplyDeleteIf you are not living here full time year round then you should not be on council.
You have been part of the problem.
Dorothy Baert voted to fire Sally Mole. She should not get one single vote.
ReplyDeleteIf Dorothy voted to fire Sally Mole good for her. Now onto current matters. Dorothy has been there every step of the way. As Tofino's budgets and tax bills rose and rose. The idea that some tax payers can not afford this project seems to come as an awakening....Dorothy where have you been for how many terms? I've lost count. But now that there is an election of consequence, where there are alternatives, and the mood of anger in many voters attitude, you become the champion of the poor abused Tofino tax payer. Some of your new ideas are great, where have you been. I'll offer an answer running up the municipal bill......
ReplyDeleteMust be an election coming.......
Here's a few thoughts from my recollection of how the three-phase liquid waste management plan unfolded since it started in about 97.
ReplyDeletemeetings once a month with an engineer as well as the provincial representative, Federal representative, the district forman, somebody from council, and the administrator.
it took a few years just to decide where to put something up DL 117 despite unknown rerouting and pumping up hill challenges.
the many old clearing of the right-of-way from fourth Street down to Arnet Road was going to be the utility corridor.
Alternative solutions such as package treatment plants were tossed aside in favour of the giant mega- expensive concrete one-size-fits-all model.
other solutions such as an outside contractor building and operating a system were discarded in favour of the District paying for everything. the horror of higher utility rates seemed to be the determining factor for ignoring the quick and easy solution of getting a company who has expertise in the field of building and operating these things. would have been done years ago.
the magnitude of expense and engineering the district wanted to take on is now evident in the current cost estimates.
but back to the plot..... when the Council insisted that the tofino Housing Corporation perform a local area plan before anything was done on DL 114 to further the attainable housing strategy... it was discovered that the utility Corrider went right through a riparian habitat zone unbeknownst to previous councils.
so a utility corridor had to be rethought reengineered and rerouted.
by now braiden Smith is at the helm with Don McKinnon engineering. here's where it gets complicated.
a plan to have settling ponds cascading down the solid rock slopes of DL 117 etc. was put forth, another plan to use regional district lands for settling ponds was pitched, and eventually the heating of district buildings via the sewage treatment process was the plan.
none of these ideas were practical. if members of Council had really examined the feasibility of these ideas they would've seen that they were all a waste of time and money just to put them on paper.
however the responsibility for filling out the application for the infrastructure grants was given over to Mr. Smith and Mr. McKinnon. it didn't happen. they failed to do it. nobody cares.
shortly after Mr. Smith and Mr.Mckinnon self immolated and left us with the ashes of a great deal of taxpayer money burnt and wasted.
apparently nobody knew what to do next even though stage I and stage II of the original liquid waste management plan was in place and the only thing missing from the stage III was the cost and the most recent rerouting of the utility corridor.
rather than use existing information the previous councils, current council redid the whole process to come up with the original solution but much more expensive in the ensuing 10 years or so.
given that the same ignorance towards the expense and work that went into the background set up for the tofino Housing Corporation was applied, it seems like the policy of this mayor and councillors is to reinvent anything noteworthy so that credit for doing something can be claimed. and anybody else discredited... regardless of repeating the costs involved.
that's why it's impossible to do anything here and nothing happens besides bread and circuses, bollards and polkadots, festivals and parties, blah blah blah
this type of behaviour is childish narcissistic and expensive for the people who place their faith in elected officials to do what's right for the people....... voting most likely will be to get rid of this stuff and actually get something done.
Have to agree with Baert. This anonymous stuff is cowardice itself. Maybe she could help us find out who has been writing anonymous letters of complaint about the Legion..Do you know anything about that councillor Baert. Cowardice itself.
ReplyDeleteYes, the voters are angry. Justifiably so. Taxes are up. Utility bills are up. But the water still tastes the same and sewage still flows downhill, nothing has improved...... so where has all the money gone? The bottomless pit called "The District Office" has grown into an unmanageable bureaucratic monster, under your watch.
ReplyDeleteDorothy, you've been there for years doing the thankless job. Thank you for your service. However, from my perspective, you, the mayor, the rest of council, and district staff haven't been doing it very well. You've banned plastic bags, put some nice gardens where there should be parking spaces, arranged a cedar statue on the village green, kept everyone pretty much distracted with issues beyond your scope of authority, and voted to support a number of projects of questionable value (such as the mayor's "war on tourism"), but when we look at the real issues facing Tofino that you were elected to deal with, such as water, sewer, parking, housing development, etc. I fail to see any improvement from the way things were ten years ago. Overall, the record looks quite dismal.
Perhaps some new faces and fresh ideas can bring about some much needed change in the way things are done at the corner of Third and Campbell. We can all certainly hope so.
You seem to have forgotten, Dorothy, that you were elected to represent the desires of the people who elected you, not to decree your own personal ideas of how things ought to be. Your ideas haven't worked. I've lost faith in you, along with the rest of council. Sorry, you cannot continue to have my vote. I'll vote for something different.
"The bigger news is with the MRDT funding (and the new online tax fund) and the opening up of options that can be directed to housing and infrastructure. This will take community collaboration but the offer is on the table" WHOA!! DOROTHY!! STOP!! If you ever see any of this money, please limit the District's involvement to providing infrastructure. That's what you're supposed to be doing. As for housing, simply get out of the way and allow private developers to do what they do best. The District of Tofino knows nothing about, nor has any business being involved in, the housing industry.
ReplyDeleteMs Mole is running for school board. When she was part of it in the past she failed to attend many Parent advisory committee meetings here on the coast.
ReplyDeleteWhy would anyone vote for her?
I think Dorothy is done! Al needs to go too, for all the same reasons, he has been a disaster too.
ReplyDeleteI love the part where "anonymous" tells us that this anonymous stuff is "cowardice itself".
ReplyDeleteWhat a disappointing council. They make Greg and Al look great. Well done Josie!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete!:19's Recollections are excellent. Apart from the hilarious "self immolation" comment,( which reminds me of several other municipal officials who left Tofino with their pants on fire, Long, and the Rob guy who was only CAO long enough for me to remember his first name) perhaps the most perceptive part is the comment about Mayor and Councils manoevers to claim credit for things.
Dorothy,s letter, may be an example of just that. She writes in it's better parts, about refusing to accept less than 100% funding from senior govm't, about getting the Province to allow some new form of local taxes that might be better and getting more flexibility in the spending of the bed tax, and on. Worthy ideas. And that the Mayor is lobbing for some things as well.
But the news letter about the sewer plant says nothing about these things. Nothing.
The tax burden is laid out as a done deal.....Is there a resolution of council to jointly lobby in some coordinated way. Surely getting the town behind such initiatives could only add strength to the effort. Why not rally the various organizations in Tofino and do it in a more public way. Why not let the public be more informed and get us involved. The communication on this sewer thing seems like a sham. There are all these plots and scenarios being promoted and hatched, and what do we know of them. Perhaps others know about these things. Maybe everyone should know. Are we all to pour over the minutes of meeting looking for clues.
Is this anyway to run the town?
ReplyDelete9:25 looks like an inside joke. So many contributors on here avoid the straight up point of view, and attempt some witty sarcasm...Passive aggressive, I quess.
9:12 So your saying that our representatives use their elected positions for their own ambitions. Been saying that for years. Old news.
ReplyDeleteIn light of all the comments lamenting some of councils failures, I think they all need to go. The tragedy is that today, with what politics has become, the best have no wish to stand for council.
ReplyDeleteHi:
ReplyDeleteThis is your new mayor hopeful.
Please look on my mayor campaign website to see my perspectives on our Tofino issues.
Please note issues include, but are not limited to what is now on the site.
www.jarmoformayor.ca
Jarmo Venalainen
mayoral candidate, Tofino
venalainen.jarmo@gmail.com
250-957-7808
@5:12PM. How correct you are. I'm scouring the list of candidates for council, and there's no way I can find six to vote for. Heck, I can't even find four! Sad.
ReplyDelete