HERE WE GO AGAIN

I can’t believe its election time again. It feels like the last four years have just flown by.

Although it has been a lot of work, under often difficult and troubling conditions within the council chambers, overall it has been an honour to represent you and to be your Your Voice in King.  And I have high hopes this time.  The main one being that I hope to see some dramatic changes in the way that council conducts itself, not only with each other, but more importantly with the people of King.

As for my 2010 campaign platform, where do I begin? Although I am proud to say that much of what I ran on in the 2006 election remains highly relevant. (Click on this link to open my 2006 Campaign Brochure), as I said, I’m hoping for big changes this time around.

The development wave has only just begun and so much change is on the way – more than I think people realize. Some of it will be good, and some of it will test our resolve. You have to constantly remind yourself that developers are people like you and me. And while some  people conduct themselves with class, honour and respect for others, it is also true that some do not – yet our municipal staff are bound by law and legislation to deal with everyone on an equal basis. And so one of the challenges of growth is striving to maintain a balance in an environment where forces are constantly trying to tip the scales one way or the other.

LETS PUT OUT THE WELCOME MAT

So although growth remains a major issue, I believe that what the Township really needs a complete overhaul, a rebranding of sorts. Since 2004 I have either worked for King Township as an employee in the Engineering Department, or as councillor, and the one constant complaint I have heard from residents and business people is that King Township is a very difficult, non-responsive, uncommunicative, unforthcoming, unsympathetic corporation staffed with people who do not return phone calls or emails.  This is not good, nor is it entirely true,  and I assure you that the vast majority of our staff are very decent hard working people.  But none the less, it is disconcerting to constantly hear the negativity.  I hear it through the residents and business owners in King, and I hear it through the development industry in which I work.   It is disconcerting to say the least.  And no matter how much I stand up for staff, the complaints continue and I find myself having to constantly defend them – and its not fair. Its not fair to staff, nor is it fair to our paying customers.  Its not fair to staff because I understand their heavy workload, and I know how difficult it is to juggle the work load that council downloads to them and increases on a daily basis.  But  its  also not fair to our residents, because they feel like the Municipality just doesn’t care.

So where does that leave us? How do we fix this problem?  How do we turn this perception around?

To me, our biggest problem is not with the good people that we have working for us, but rather it is in the way in which we communicate and how we deliver services to our customers. And for me this is a LEADERSHIP problem that starts from the Mayor and Council on down.  Lets be clear – I am not blaming staff for this lack of communication.  I am blaming an outdated regime of council, that didn’t have the foresight to ensure we could afford to hire the staff we need to handle the workload they laid on them, nor the public relations training and protocols to deal with our increasingly sophisticated paying CUSTOMERS.

What I hope to see in the next term of council, is a renewed direction and emphasis in the way that we communicate and conduct ourselves. I believe we need a complete analysis and training in the way we do things, how we treat the residents, and the business community, how we present ourselves to the development community, the Region, the Province and the Federal Government. I believe that the only way this can happen is through leadership of your council.  Yet for more than 10 years this council has been fractured – divided, and it has been a condition that has not only been allowed to continue by our mayor, but she in fact has perpetuated it through her own conduct by constantly being the deciding vote on a split council, without any care or attempt to reach consensus amongst the 6 council members. And lets be clear, a 4/3 vote, with the Mayor being the deciding vote is NOT consensus.  It leaves, 3 councillors, three entire wards, i.e. several thousand voting constituents out in the cold.    We need to be more fair, more open and transparent and more friendly to our paying customers. Yes, there’s that word gain. Our  CUSTOMERS!

YOU ARE OUR CUSTOMERS (WHAT A CONCEPT!)

Imagine walking into the Township offices and being treated like you matter from the second you walk in the door?  To use an analogy, I liken our current customer service approach to a dusty, worn out old Welcome Mat that no one has ever thought to clean or replace.  So worn out you can’t make out the “Welcome” part anymore. What sort of message does that send in a place of business?  Now I’m not saying that it needs to be taken out back and beaten with a stick (although I know there’s a lineup forming for that task right now). Rather, perhaps the best approach is to just, once and for all,  toss it out.  Start anew. Lets get ourselves a nice new welcome mat.  One that says “WELCOME” to the paying public in BIG bold letters. Not one that has people from all walks of life walking away in disgust.  Now I am not saying this is everyone’s perception, but boy, I hear it more often than not. And I know there all lots of people reading this that are nodding their heads in agreement.

SOMEONE HAS TO SAY IT – IT MIGHT AS WELL BE ME

I’m quite serious when I say that  the ONLY way I see positive change ever happening is if YOU vote for change on October 25, 2010.  And lets be blunt.  I’m talking primarily about a change in Mayor.  Our Regional representative.  The keeper of the Welcome Mat.  She is the enabler of the bad behaviour and the divisions that exist.  As for all the councillors, let the electorate decide their fate – including mine.  But the Mayor – the MAYOR MUST BE THE PEACE KEEPER.  But this one has demonstrated neither the desire nor the ability to pull everyone together, rather her modus operandi has been to divide and conquer.  Enough of this barbaric crap!

Over the coming weeks and months, please continue to stop in at Kingcentric.ca as I add new articles and pieces of my campaign platform. Also, sign up for email alerts at the top right hand corner of the website. “Change” for the greater good is the operative theme, but I’ve been doing my homework in my community and have some good news as well as some new ideas to present, as well as some new goals to achieve for the people of Ward 1 and the Township of King as a whole.

You might also find some interesting rants in the Opinion section of my website. You can’t have gone through the four years that I have and not be completely annoyed, jaded and disgusted with some of the shenanigans that have gone on in council.  There is a real sense of entitlement that exists with some members of this council.  To me its a sign of being in one seat for wayyyyyyyy too long.

I sincerely hope to see you all to turn out in droves at the voting station to remind us all, that public service is a privilege -  NOT A RIGHT!  You have it within your power to

WELCOME YOURSELF TO THE NEW KING TOWNSHIP!

Sincerely,

Cleve Mortelliti

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A carved oak table,
Tells a tale
Of times when Kings and queens sipped wine from goblets gold,
And the brave would lead their ladies from out the room
to arbours cool.
A time of valour, and legends born
A time when honour meant much more to a man than life
And the days knew only strife to tell right from wrong
Through lance and sword.

Peter Gabriel – Genesis, Foxtrot

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Some people just don’t get it. Or maybe they just don’t care. What if those people are your council?

Being a councillor is easy. Being a conscientious councillor is not. If you take the approach that you want to balance the needs and wishes of all of the people you represent, then you’ve taken the more difficult path. Being a conscientious councillor is a high wire act as you are constantly focused on trying to maintain a balance. You often find yourself being forced to make difficult decisions in less than ideal circumstances. Constantly forced to choose the lesser of two or more evils. You’re put into positions where the so-called “right answer”, the “right decision” just feels so profoundly wrong, and you’re pushed to disregard those feelings.

You’re advised by professional staff who tell you things you don’t want to hear. If you got into this business because you felt you wanted to make a difference, then inevitably you’ll find yourself compelled to push back, to start digging for information, for arguments to counter the argument you’re being given. You feel at a disadvantage, sometimes you feel betrayed, suspicious, misled. Now imagine being a member of a council, where a number of its members have formed a voting block, a country club of sorts, where the criteria for admission is to turn off your brain, to tow the line of its leader, and discard every principle you ever vowed to up hold? Party politics isn’t supposed to exist at the municipal level, but there is definitely something of the like going on in King Township. There is an agenda at hand. One that is being relentlessly implemented, regardless of what so many of us think.

YOU BETTER WATCH OUT…THERE MAY BE DOGS ABOUT!

I am always amazed at the conduct of some councillors. So willing to shut down discourse, to thwart discussion on issues that are significant to the individuals being impacted. I think one of two things must be going on. Either they don’t care, or they have been doing this for so long – too long – that their skin has thickened to the point of being numb to any feeling but their own – except when election year roles around…

There are more people in this world who would make ideal political leaders than there are candidates because there is a vast difference between the act of governing, and the act of running for election. But elections, although one of the core principles of democracy, give advantage to those who are more than willing to flat out lie to your face. Some are willing do ANYthing to win, and since most are not, that cuts the field down substantially, and what we are left with are a handful of good intentioned individuals left to slay the dragon.

What makes a government, the peoples government, are fresh ideas and a fresh approach. Without that injection of change, complacency rules the day. So often we see our leaders walk down the path of serving the minority voice. And once a politician becomes useful to minority groups, they become detached from the majority, and cease to uphold core democratic principles. This is when they should have the good sense to move on, or the system should have safe guards to ensure this. Instead many stay on, for all the wrong reasons, perhaps to justify ones own existence, or to maintain the suppression of secrets, to fill a void, or perhaps to simply collect a pay cheque.

Inverse of the conscientious politician, is the mindless politician. Its an easy road. You don’t have to think, you just do as your told, and follow the lead no matter what path your sent down. You’re not watching the road, you’re just along for the cushy ride. Or maybe you’re an ambitious politician who has learned that towing the line becomes synonymous to climbing the ladder, high enough to pick of the fruit. Again, repugnant to the core principles of democracy.

Our system, it seems, is not devised to reward good deeds, but rather to reward individuals that serve to feed the machine.

Is it any wonder apathy takes hold?

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