Reader urges Kincardine community to hold municipality accountable

Hi Liz:

I want to congratulate you and yours on the second anniversary of the Kincardine Record! There is nothing more pleasurable than being able to read, almost in 'real time,' news, events and happenings from in and around Kincardine in such a timely manner. Sincerely, thank you for all that you do. The travel, alone, must be expensive to cover the area.

We landed back home a few weeks ago and have been in the Kincardine area spending time at our place, gearing up to head south Sunday. I have been catching up on my Kincardine Record readings, and there seems to have been much happening over the past few months. 

The following are some of my concerns about the issues of the day:

Increase in property taxes

Why is it that our costs continue, yearly, to escalate and hover around the double-digit (10-per-cent) mark? It's unreal. I appreciate other communities, for the past few years, have had zero to three-per-cent increases to their property taxes.
I understand it take taxes (money) to ensure services are delivered to the residents, but at what cost (and at this stage 'what' is being delivered for what we pay)?

The Broader Public Sector has been under a wage freeze over the past many years (recently, the freeze was relaxed). However, wage parity continued, annually, to escalate, and municipal staff and administrators' salaries continued to increase and that cost was passed on to the taxpayer.

I understand the municipality is not part of the Broader Public Sector, as are the hospitals for example, but why doesn't the municipality adopt a similar philosophy to propose a performance portion of the base salary which is tied to performance indicators and targets? It just does not make sense why everyone else's living expenses and costs are increasing with stagnant wages and increases to the tax base, while those in the municipal sector continue to increase yearly.
 
Kincardine hospital services
 
Services generally seem to be curtailed or reduced at the hospital. Is it a wonder why it is losing DECENT STAFF to other centres? No wonder the morale has been the lowest it has been in years.

I have no intention of undermining president and chief executive officer Paul Rosebush. It is challenging to ensure a balanced budget on the backs of those who make the hospital run – ie. dietary, housekeeping, laundry services, physiotherapy.

How do we justify having a hospital Emergency Room (ER) that is only good for triaging you over to the medical clinic to be seen by the family health team urgent care clinic? Why is it that when you go to the ER with a broken bone, you are sent home and advised to report back about 10 hours later for an x-ray to confirm the suspicion, because they don't have an x-ray technician on staff in the evenings and don't want to pay overtime to call the technician back to the hospital to ensure patient-centred care.
 
I often think about the current state of our local health care, and am not entirely sure I can identify exactly what it is that Mr. Rosebush has contributed to the hospital or our communities during his tenure of the last (almost) five years. I do recall reading he moved the parking gates, is sitting on a few committees, gained approval for an OHIP-funded, limited-time physiotherapy clinic that benefits select people on social assistance under 18 and over 65.

I am hard-pressed to see how the proposed initial hospital re-design went from a proposed $110-million expansion idea, to a scaled-back $50-million re-proposal, to a $5-million compromise. The hospital board had to get the municipality to contribute some of the $500,000 application fee, required to merely submit the application for consideration with no guarantees of success or approval.

We are still waiting to hear if the health ministry (not the Local Health Integration Network or LHIN) has approved the proposal, or when do we hear the municipality has lost $500,000. What does that represent to the tax base (one per cent or two per cent)?

What does a scaled-back, $5-million re-re-proposal look like? I mean, after consultants' time, we'll be left with a nice entrance to a new ER but still have a dilapidated, asbestos-filled hospital.

Speaking of figures, what has been accomplished in each of the years Mr. Rosebush has made a $200,000-plus annual salary? I am very curious and interested to know. What accountability is in place, and what tangible events transpired during the last four years? Maybe there is some great master plan he isn't revealing just yet - stayed tuned, with breathless anticipation!
 
Bruce Telecom alignment as a separate corporation

I am familiar with the old Bruce Municipal Telephone System (BMTS), now called Bruce Telecom. For years, the municipality advocated that it be a stand-alone company with its own board of directors. Now, the municipality wants to establish Bruce Telecom as a municipal services corporation instead of a municipal services board. Is the company to be part of the municipality or separate. The press releases suggest that the municipality doesn't know what it wants to accomplish.

And speaking of squandering tax money, there is one huge legal bill I noticed for defending the defunct sale of Bruce Telecom, and the subsequent challenge that was lost. Thank you, taxpayers for your contributions. I would like to know what the salary disclosures are for the phone company - I mean, that is, if it's really part of the municipality!
 
Poor customer service 

I don't know if this is just me, but I frequent McDonalds often for coffee. From London to Owen Sound to Sarnia, it is speedy, generally courteous service, that is fast and consumer-focused.

I cannot count the number of times this has not been the case in Kincardine. I have complained twice to management and nothing has ever been done nor any follow-up. All I can say is that service generally is very poor.

Other establishments are similar in poor customer service. But the Kincardine Home Hardware is, by far, the most progressive customer-focused place I have ever frequented. For that fact alone, I drive out of my way to shop there!


Wind energy tribunal decisions and squandering of tax dollars

I am flabbergasted that the municipality, year after year, is trying to 'fight' the provincial government and the Green Energy Act for installation of windmills. I am not taking a position either way, but for illustrative purposes, most recently, it was once again communicated that the municipality's appeal or challenge was denied and the Act and the respective companies were free to proceed.

I appreciate that people suffer health conditions from the nearby turbines and there are arguments on both sides, but my overall impression is that after the first or second 'denial,' maybe fold your tent, keep some money in your account before draining it to appear as if you're winning a David/Goliath battle!
 
Physician recruitment

With the recruitment of new physicians, all being provided $100,000 incentive funding (tax-free) as enticement to come and stay in our area, as well as being provided lifetime memberships to the Davidson Centre for their entire immediate families, golf memberships, and a new one I just read in a municipal press release (a few months dated at this point), that they are also provided funding assistance for relocation and housing while here.

What are these amounts? Are these tax-base-funded, or Bruce Power? I don't believe Bruce Power would be paying for a physician's living expenses. I mean, after all, the company doesn't owe the municipality anything. If anything, the municipality relies on Bruce Power to gouge for the tax base for its lofty pet projects.

Seriously, I would like to know the true and actual costs of recruiting one physician to our area. As well, the physicians all work out of the medical clinic. Do they pay rent, or is it free as well?

Speaking of salary disclosures, physicians are taxpayer-compensated, and I support the government's motivation to add physicians to the Sunshine List - for transparency. We've heard for many, many years that physicians' salaries are being cut and the 'poor-me syndrome.' I would like to see how their 'poor-me' relates to everyone's 'poor me.'

Physicians' pay, alone, accounts for more than one-quarter of the TOTAL Ontario government health care budget. This is not acceptable nor sustainable. Everyone needs a reality cheque. 
 
I really shake my head at many things. I am not a general complainer but we (community) need to start holding people accountable. It is not as if these things just crept up on us the past year or two. It has been ongoing for many, many years.

I'm not sure how we can initiate a culture of change in an environment not responsive to proactive change. A case in point: safety apparatus along the beach. WHY does it take a tragic event to open a dialogue about whether it's a good idea to have flotation devices available, or a direct dial-911 phone line? I mean, it works well in many other communities operating unsupervised beaches.

I just don't understand the apathy toward proactiveness, accountability, due diligence, transparency and a fundamental sense of 'right' and 'wrong.' 

Marta McBride
Fergus
Seasonal resident of Kincardine