We should be very glad and relieved to have the quality of governance we sent to city hall last year.
Councillors just completed the first year of this term, and their second budget. Contrast this year’s budget process to last to get an idea of how far they have come. Last year they went to midnight on two consecutive evenings. This year was more orderly, a lot less confrontational, and achieved a better result.
No budget ever makes everyone happy. The most recent one is no exception. Even still, it met many present needs and laid the ground for future ones. It showed a maturity that is far too often lacking in local governments. Our councillors, and the city staff who help them get things done, should be congratulated.
There are defining characteristics of maturity, whether personal or institutional. One is the ability to see yourself as you are, and to use this awareness to make improvements. This council prides itself – and often reminds us – that it is “doing business differently.” Although I don’t always agree that different is necessarily better, they are getting results.
Last week when a manager put in his resignation, after less than six months on the job, he publicized a report that he thought would show how poorly the city is run. In fact, it does the opposite.
First and foremost, the report showed that council recognized there is trouble in the system that needs to be fixed. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?
It also shows that our councillors keep a watchful eye on developers. They don’t shut them out, but neither do they give a free pass. If the development community had its way, we’d have 18-storey condos up and down Gordon Street and all around the downtown. Another reason to be glad we have the council we do.
The developers need to sit back and listen to their old Rolling Stones records. You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes,  you’ll get what you need.
It’s the job of government to put in the checks and balances that protect the public interest while allowing the private sector to operate.
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In my youth I would occasionally do something that brought unhappy consequences. If I tried to avoid them my mother had a simple response. “You made your bed,” she would say. “Now lie in it.” The logic was as inescapable as the trouble I faced.
Coun. Gloria Kovach should have known my mother. If she had, she might now be more willing to accept that her time on the Guelph Police Services Board is over. At a meeting of city council on Dec. 13, 2010, councillors split up their responsibilities on committees and public boards.
Kovach had been on the police services board for eight years. She wanted more, but other councillors wanted their turn. She made a case that the board chair was leaving, the deputy chief was retiring and the chief would soon follow. There was a need for continuity during the transition.
Her colleagues agreed and offered her a chance to stay another year. She accepted. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. She is being called on her agreement. In all her public wailings about being treated unfairly, she relies on the motion that appointed her for four years. She has not denied she made a decision she now regrets.
Government demands integrity. We saw it when council faced up to the need to find ways to improve the way the city operates.
We don’t see it in Kovach’s refusal to lie in the bed she made.