Dear Fellow King Residents,

On Monday October 25^th, you will have the power to steer King in a positive new direction by electing a new Mayor for our Township.

King needs renewal on council, and we need it in the Mayor’s chair more than ever. Margaret Black has lost the confidence and the trust of the majority of the Township’s residents for having abandoned us when we needed her most while she sought the Newmarket-Aurora federal Liberal nomination.

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While doing this:

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1) She failed to stand up for the Holland Marsh Growing Area from a Gas Fired Power Generating Plant – the crown jewel of King, the vegetable basket of North America, the place that puts healthy food on our tables.

2) And after telling everyone in 2006 that either King City or Nobleton would be the site of the new Township Recreation Facility, she not so coincidentally sent a 9.44 million dollar grant to Schomberg at the exact same time that she was rumoured as the Liberal candidate for Newmarket-Aurora – a nice little farewell gift to the home of her grass roots support over the last 15 years.

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She’s let the majority of King down so badly that it would be just plain wrong for her to be handed the privilege to wear the chain of office again. And that’s the fear I have with 4 candidates running for Mayor. The reality is that this is a two horse race between Steve Pellegrini and Margaret Black. The others, with no disrespect intended, do not have the Township wide appeal to win this.

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So to all those who now feel that change is needed, you won’t change anything if you vote for either of the other two. All you’re going to do is split your vote, and very likely hand the mayoralty back to Margaret Black.

But if you feel that a new direction is needed, then on October 25th, help me to ensure that every village and hamlet, every rural resident and every corner of King is fairly and respectfully represented in the future.

On Monday October 25^th lets all vote for Steve Pellegrini. It’s the only way to ensure your vote for change will make a difference.

Sincerely,

Cleve Mortelliti,

Councillor – Ward 1, Township of King

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There was a point during this term of council where I thought there was the possibility that Mayor Black might redeem herself to King City residents for the tumult she brought here during her tenure as Mayor vis a vis the King City Community Plan process and the implementation of sanitary servicing. But that quickly evaporated when she slammed the door on a prime opportunity to pull this Township together by misappropriating a 10 million dollar grant from the provincial and federal governments.

Doing the right thing by King City (and Nobleton) could have all but secured her re-election as Mayor. There is no doubt the Schomberg Arena was in dire need of replacement, but even though that building is 50 years old and well past its service life, the King City Arena is 40 years old and not far behind.

With council having passed a Parks and Recreation Master Plan in 2004 after extensive public consultation, the plan going forward was to build a multi pad, multi use facility that could service the whole Township. A facility with 3 ice rinks all under one roof. And with the clock ticking on the Schomberg Arena, and the growing threat of it being condemned after having seen a similar fate to an arena up in Orillia, the timing of stimulus money could not have been better. A golden egg of opportunity to fulfill the vision of the Master Plan literally dropped into council’s lap. But instead of our Mayor using her vote to spread the wealth by acting on viable options to service the greater population of the Township of King, she instead chose the path of political opportunism, locationally isolating King City from the new rec centre in the process, and pillaging its bounty of development charges to fill in the funding gaps. In terms of recreational options King City’s residents now find themselves stranded at the edge of Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Aurora. With its population poised to explode to 12,000, the Township broke and begging to the Ontario Municipal Board to increase its debt capacity, the reality is that there is little to no money left in reserves, and no chance over the next 20 years of expanding the King City Arena to meet the oncoming demand of 7,000 new residents, over and above the existing 5,000. (Schomberg’s current population is 2,500 (half of King City’s) and is only expected to grow to a mere 3,300 by 2021)

For many here in King City, a sense of betrayal pervades the village, because it now looks like doing the right thing by King City was never on the radar. Instead, King City has been used as a cash cow. A means to an end. And that means, and that end looks like this:

1. Force Sewers into King City
   
2. Balloon the population to 12,000
3. Collect Development Charge revenue from the new development
   
4. Leverage that money to serve the least population
   

Growth Creates Demand

King City is the largest urban centre in King Township with an existing population of 5,000, but that population is projected to grow to about 12,000 by 2021. Nobleton and Schomberg’s future populations put together amount to only 9,800. (Nobleton 6,500 and Schomberg 3,300 by 2021).

Based on electoral results for Wards 1 and 5 over the past decade, the majority voted against the sewer and the accompanying growth. That’s not to say that there were not people who wanted growth, nor does this statement discount some of the benefits that accompany growth, but the fact is the majority of Wards one and five said NO to this. Yet it was councillors outside of Wards one and five that chose to move against those councillors and the people who elected them. That alone has been enough to muster a feeling of mistrust of the Township council here in King City.

But for those residents who supported the sewer project in King City, consider this and ask yourself, is everything unfolding as you had hoped?

One of the benefits of growth comes via the collection of development charges revenue. This money is collected by the municipality to augment and increase services that will service the projected growth, like in the expansion or building of recreational complexes. To be able to enroll your kids in hockey, figure skating and swimming at a fair and reasonable cost, to be able to join a fitness centre in a local facility with an indoor pool, and to be able to do this all under one roof – these are truly some of the tangible and worthwhile benefits of growth that we have watched occur in our neighbouring municipalities. And seeing as both King City and Nobleton are projected to substantially increase their populations it is unavoidable that a substantial increase in the demand for services is going to occur in those places.

Why then, would your council choose to build a new “Township Recreation Facility“, the only one we will see for some time to come, in a Village that has 1/3 the population of the largest growth centre, and in a location that is the greatest distance from the largest growth centre? Does this strike you as a fair and equitable determination by your council? I ask this of all residents of King Township. Was this the right decision, a fair decision, for ALL the residents of King Township? Does it serve the majority of the population?

Location, Location, Location

Pulling politics out of the equation, the best business model for this facility would have placed it right at Highway 400 and King Road, where the Township owns land, where hundreds of thousands of cars drive past it every single day, and where memberships and naming rights would have been an easy sell. But recognizing that time was of the essence in obtaining this grant, was there another option that could at least give the appearance of equity? One that could appease the politics of location and the needs outlined in the Parks and Recreation Master Plan? YES. There most definitely was. The Village of Nobleton could have easily been argued as the best location for such a facility. This village has the newest among the three existing arenas in the municipality, and Nobleton has both the servicing, and the land required (on the existing arena site) for the expansion – land owned by the Township.

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The distance for King City and Schomberg residents to travel to Nobleton is virtually the same. Also, an additional ice hockey pad could have been built, instead of the dedicated curling rink, thereby instantly creating a three pad facility that services the majority while allowing for further expansion for either a pool or a dedicated curling rink . Had we done this, we would have been well on our way to achieving the goals set out in the Master Plan. This would have addressed the issues that exist with the aging arenas in Schomberg and King City (the two oldest) leaving those buildings available for reuse as indoor recreational facilities, or to be sold to generate revenue to pay down the debt on the new Township facility, or to further expand recreational services in the Township.

A 15 Million Dollar Opportunity to Build Township Unity – Squandered

We could have named the three pads after the 3 main urban centres i.e. The Schomberg Rink, The King City Rink and the Nobleton Rink. This would have encouraged the amalgamation of the NobleKing & Schomberg Hockey Associations into one thereby promoting healthy competition within our Municipality, not to mention creating efficiencies that might bring down the cost of hockey for parents while helping everyone to stay under one roof instead of driving all over the country side from one rink to the other. It would bring operating costs down, and if we sold the existing municipal offices/retail plaza in King City, we could use that money to build a proper administrative wing onto this multi-use facility and possibly build the indoor pool that most tax payers said they wanted.

It would also help to promote some healthy economic development in the core of King City, instead of the Township cannibalizing its own commercial tax base by occupying arguably the most valuable piece of village core real estate in the Township of King, and handing developers the argument they needed (market demand study) to direct commercial retail to the King & Dufferin site because King City has a lack of retail. So many willfully mishandled decisions guided by a faction of councillors representing a minority of interests – enabled by the Mayor. And don’t forget, that although the Township will receive almost 10 million dollars in grant money from the province and feds, King Township must still match the respective one third portion of a 15 million dollar project i.e. almost 5 million dollars.

And so what stings the most for King City rate payers is that King City has been forced to grow, against the wishes of its electorate, to a future population of 12,000 by 2021.

Yet the benefits that usually come from growth such as development charge dollars that should be used to increase the service level in the area where growth is occurring, is instead being spent to disproportionately increase services in a part of the Township with the least population.

If this facility were going into Nobleton, I would at least have some logical basis, or moral ground to advocate the concept to the residents of King City, on the basis of servicing, zero land cost, fairness and Township unity. But a curling rink? In Schomberg? Not a chance. Residents here are down right angry. Livid in fact. Even those who’ve voted for Mayor Black in the past are admitting disillusionment. But the extra kick in the pants to all King Township residents will be felt when the unrealistic funding formula to cover the Township’s third can’t be met as we are already seeing with the naming rights estimate of $750,000 missing the mark by $450,000. That shortfall alone equates to a 4.5% increase on your tax bill – now what about the rest?. Try a 20% plus tax increase on for size folks.

The Mayor Must Be Made Accountable

I realize that many who are excited about the new facility do not look favorably on the position I have taken. But upon examination of the facts, I know that anyone with an ounce of open mindedness can see that a serious inequity has been permitted to unfold, in fact facilitated – by our Mayor – who was more focused on her bid for federal politics than she was in ensuring that 12,000 of her existing and future electors in King City were being served fairly.

Was a curling rink the right decision over a pool? Do the needs and wishes of the residents of King City mean nothing? Was Schomberg the fairest location to build this facility or was Nobleton? Why did she spend tax payers dollars on this Master Plan? Why did she toss it out the window?

One thing is certain, that if the tables were turned and council approved a 15 million dollar state of the art bocce court in King City, thereby leveraging virtually all the money the Township will have to spend toward fitness and recreation over the next 20 years, I wonder how Schomberg residents would feel about that – as their 50 year old building was closed down for good, with residents forced to drive to facilities outside of King to accommodate their needs. 10 million dollar grants don’t exactly grow on trees, they come by maybe once in a generation. For King City residents it seems quite apparent that when the Mayor and 3 other members of this council, (who do not live in King City or Nobleton) had the chance, and the power, to serve their Township, they instead slammed the door in our faces. From this side of the Township, one can’t help but wonder if this was the plan all along.

1. Force Sewers into King City
   
2. Balloon the population to 12,000
3. Collect Development Charge revenue from the new development
   
4. Leverage that money to serve the least population

I can tell you, that the anger amongst many of my constituents is real. As King City residents recount and absorb the sequence of events that began 15 years ago to bring us to where we are today, the feeling grows that King City and (now recently) Nobleton have been used as a means to an end. And that end has materialized itself as a 4 pad curling rink, and so called “Township of King Recreation Facility” – in the smallest village in King.

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And the twisted irony is, that the only village in this Township with the word “King” in its name, feels less a part of King Township with each passing day as its residents are forced to go to Aurora, Richmond Hill, Maple and Newmarket to get the kind of municipal services that their own council had not only the power, but the ethical and moral responsibility to provide, yet willfully chose not to.

In speaking with a curling patron excited about this new facility, he said “but King City is getting a new outdoor ball hockey court and skate park.” But here are the facts. The total budget for this small project in King City amounts to $180,000. It was initiated by the King City Lions who are donating $30,000 to it. Additionally, $30,000 that I negotiated from Shoppers Drug Mart is going into it, along with an additional $45,000 that was negotiated with another land developer in King City for a total of $105,000 of privately secured funds. This will more than cover the first phase being the ball hockey court, with the skate park dependent on whatever can be obtained through grants. Where as Schomberg is getting the full benefit of a 10 million dollar grant, with the additional 5 million dollars coming directly from development in King City, as well from taxes that the whole Township will be forced to pay. A double and triple whammy to every resident who lives in or near King City – present and future.

This is why it is true, that a sense of betrayal pervades King City, one that will not soon be forgotten, as the population here quickly balloons, and the demand for recreational services out paces the supply.

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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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If you use up all your savings, and take on the maximum debt your income can afford, what happens if you need to repair your roof, or replace your furnace?

For the average tax payer this situation might force them to sell their house.

But what happens when the municipality (King Township) does the same thing? Municipalities also have the ability to take on debt. They do so with debentures, which is basically the same as a loan, and they do it for the purpose of financing large projects like a recreation centre or a large sewer project, or to rebuild a failed road.

In King Township, for roughly every $100,000 the Township spends, our taxes must increase by 1% in order to cover the cost. Thus for every $1,000,000 spent our taxes must go up 10% and so on so forth.

In order to avoid a large tax increase like 10, or 20, or 30%, the municipality can instead choose to take on debt. Thus, instead of your taxes going up 30%, like they almost did in 2007, the municipality instead took out a loan, and raised your taxes by 3.8% – just enough to service the debt of $3,000,000 plus.

But just like you, the municipality can only borrow so much money. So what happens when the municipality reaches or exceeds that limit?

Quite simply, they lose their ability to shield their tax payers from huge tax hikes in the event of large unforeseen expenditures like a road failure, or a bridge collapse.

Unlike you who might have to sell your house in such circumstances, or liquidate your assets in order to pay your debts, the municipality simply raises our taxes. In other words, their guarantor is YOU and ME.

Click to Open the May 12, 2010 Edition of NRU

Thus in a scenario where there is no more credit, such as now, our taxes are always at imminent risk of sky rocketing, and that might mean for some tax payers, having to sell their home in order to pay or avoid a 30% tax increase that could come at any time with out warning.

It almost happened in 2007 – all indications are, it WILL happen in 2011, 2012 or 2013…

“Mortelliti pushed to defer the recommendations of staff report until certain minimum information had been satisfactorily provided. He said he wanted further financial data, combined with a 20-year projection of the tax implications of the concurrent projects that will be required as a result of installing the sewers, as well as the $4.9 million Township portion for the proposed Schomberg Arena Curling Facility, as well as other projects currently on the books, including projections for upgrades to the King City and Nobleton Arenas.” King Sentinel, Sept 23, 2009

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I was never provided with this information, and without it my concern is that the increase in our debt ceiling will still leave us maxed to the limit, or beyond once the Schomberg Arena is opened, and once all the roads have to be rebuilt in Nobleton from the sewer construction. In King City, we ran out of money for top course asphalt works. If not for stimulus money from the feds, our roads would have remained in an uncomplete condition. I think this is what will happen in Nobleton. When you embark on a major project, shouldn’t you do your homework to make sure you can afford it over the long term, to secure the stability and welfare of your family, your home and your business?

Shouldn’t the municipality be required to do the same? Or should the council of your municipality be permitted to gamble with your tax dollars, and the financial viability of your future?

With everything that is happening in the U.S. and abroad, with the state of the European Union, the Euro and the insupportable public debt in Greece, Portugal and other countries, what sort of arrogance is this to think that we are some how immune to the same fate?

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