A6 Terrace Review — Wediesday, March 21,1990:

Speak to us»
; “Who's gonna crack that school board committee |
“system? In the living memory of everyone in this district,

the committee meetings have always been closed to the
“public, an umortunate circumstance for anybody who
would like to know more about the inner workings of the
system because nearly all the business of any branch of —
~ local government is done in committee, with public
‘imeetings used mainly to rubber-stamp committee

*. recommendations.

- Over the past few years we’ve seen two independent

and headstrong people in the chair ~ Val Napoleon, and
now Edna Cooper ;- whack and punch the committee
system around like sculptors working in wet clay, and the
system is still closed. In an interview yesterday, Cooper
said ~ quite rightly ~ that the board has been so
preoccupied with a radical new budgeting system and the
start of bargaining with the teachers’ association that
work on committee structure has just not been possible.

The public can be forgiven if there is a lot of confusion
surrounding the multitude of conflicting information
being dealt out by education authorities. The new block
funding system appeared at first to give our district an
increase in money slightly more than the rate of inflation.
But now it appears that may not be the case.

"It doesn’t look good," Cooper said yesterday. "It’s not
what we need." The "R" word is on everyones minds
now: "We would prefer not to go to referendum, but we
shouldn’t jeopardize the system because of that," Cooper

observed.

In order to make the best, most informed decision in the
event of a referendum, the public should have maximum
access to the board’s budget deliberations. A public

record of discussion within-Committee-of the. Whole, =" ~

where the budget will be pondered tomorrow night,
would be most helpful. If the Ministry of Education is
playing games with its financing methods,this would be
_one way for the board to present its most forceful

argument to the voters.

‘Cooper says she has structures in mind that would put
portions of committee meetings out in the open, and she
says the issue will be addressed "when things get back to

normal".

We're now trying to recall when things have ever been

"normal" in this district.

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Rupert elected officials from... cocaine-or drive like'idiots, so they tend to make good

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Wednesday

by Bob Jackman

Perspectives

a

I can hear the screams of Prince = "RCMP officers do not generally foul the air, snort

here.

To get something done in polit- neighbors and good citizens."

ics, it is often necessary to
keep a tight lip, which Terrace
Council had done admirably up
until a week ago Monday, when
‘somebody let the proverbial
cat out of the proverbial bag in
announcing another frontal assault
on the sensibilities of our neigh-
bors to the west, —
Yes, we want the RCMP to fold
their regional office tent in
Prince Rupert and re-establish in
Terrace. Unless something went
sadly awry during the construc-
tion of our detachment building, |
there is provision to add a second
floor, an example of long-range
planning that may tend to astound
those of us who regularly watch

-. new pavement being removed to

make way for new sewer or gas:
lines.

The compliance of Council in
adding more and more officers to
the local detachment, to the point
where expenditures on protective
services now exceed those for
both recreation and public works,
begins to make a modicum of
sense. .

'- Mayor Talstra and Alderman
Laurent, along with Economic
Development Officer Peter

Monteith, slipped quietly out of

town last Monday on a seek-and-
destroy mission to the Commis-
sionet’s office in Vancouver,
armed with all the reasons for the

| ~ RCMP relocation, in hopeful —

culmination of the process that
began three or four years ago

jgnad:| with the Commissioner's "Show

me" response to an initial meeti-

" ; ng. a ; . ,
ikl - Obviously. onc of the priority

items on the new EDO’s To Do

. List was the preparation of an

offer they can't refuse. The

time lag is inexcusable, but those
who would jump to administra-
tion’s defense will cite the turn-

- over of staff in the

economic development function
as reason enough for the delay.
And time does have a way of -
getting away from you.

The announcement is decidedly
premature. I for one hope it
doesn’t jeopardize the process,
because there are many advan-
tages to welcoming to our com-
munity twenty or more high--
income families, who pay
proportionately higher taxes and

_ buy proportionately more local

goods and services. RCMP
officers do not generally foul the
air, snort cocaine or drive like
idiots, so they tend to make good
neighbors and good citizens.

It will make for an interesting
media spectacle at any rate,
coming so quickly on the heels of
a couple of other Terrace
victories. How much cooperation
we can expect from Mayor Lester
and his team on other issues

‘remains to be seen. ©

*Euphemisms are handy words or
phrases that tend to soften what
might otherwise be unacceplable,
or even {fo ignore the downsides
of a political stand or view.
People who do not want to be
known as Pro-Abortion are
happier being Pro-Choice, people
with Nazi tendencies prefer to
call themselves ultra-conservative,

people who don’t care about the
environment like io say they're _
pro-development, and so on.

So it was interesting to hear
that one Council issue did not
sit at all well with the guys that
have to do the work down at
Public Works. The suggestion
that four-by-fours with snow

_ blades could take the load off our

grader and truck crews may or
may not have some merit, but the
guys at PW were pretty ticked
that they took the rap for not
doing a good job -- seems they
were ready and willing to work
but didn’t get called during the
worst snowstorm of the year
because of the overtime pay
involved. ;

At any rate, the issue of Con-
tracting Out came up at
Council. (Yes, Dave, hiring con-
tractors to do what your union |
workers normally do is "contrac-
ting out".) But you had to pay.
close attention, because the
snickers at the Council Table
were not directed at the idea, but
at the euphemism that was
coined. No longer is the phrase
"contracting out", it is now "a
small business initiative”. .

Whether the idea has merit or
not is debatable, and it should
be debated around the Council
Table, But before the phrase
"small business initiative” takes
on a bad smell, let’s call a spade
a spade, Let's call "contracting .
out" "contracting out" and deal
with the matter in full public
view, so we know where you
stand. a