11th Councilor Has Council Lost Control Over City Hall? Councilor Rivette One on One with CFN over Kilger Budget for 2014

jg2CORNWALL Ontario –  Andre Rivette was not happy Tuesday after Mayor Bob Kilger pulled a quick motion to add 1% to the 2014 budget which was quickly seconded by Bernie “Boo Boo” Clement.   Ms Clement, always quick to support her mayor was not available to comment.   Mayor Kilger, when he is in Cornwall, refuses to speak to CFN.

bob n bernieWith Minimum Wage going up Mayor Kilger also decided to push his coven of rubber stampers to up taxes to commercial buildings by over 3% which should just about devastate the few small businesses hanging on in the city core.

Mayor Kilger, who has yet to personally come out against the tanks on the former Kaneb lands, tried to add some dollars to Municipal works for infrastructure; yet seems to be fine with adding major truck traffic from the Chem tanks through our downtown roads which is about as suck and blow as you can get.

The biggest question that Councilor Rivette’s frustration raises is whether city management is wagging council’s tail via the mayor?   Mr. Rivette isn’t the  first frustrated councillor with Leslie O’Shaughnessy resigning over issues.

Speaking with other councilors last night the finger is starting to point to CAO Norm Levac who was quoted as saying that he took the CAO gig to add $30K per year to his salary and bumping him up before retirement instead of to actually serve the public.

This also highlights that Mr. Levac and other senior management do not actually live in Cornwall and pay the very taxes they are happy to pump up.   While there is little to nothing council can do about where staff live it surely must be a bitter pill for residents to see a management not bring in a budget with a zero increase when a motion was made last Fall.

Councillors also complained about questions and emails not answered by the CAO which is something this scribbler can understand as we have nearly 100 very polite emails with very basic questions sent to Mr. Levac and City Hall that have yet to be responded to.

How can we  grow and build a community when those we put on the Sunshine list behave in this manner?    We will be publishing a list of unanswered questions to City Hall shortly because frankly we just couldn’t make up something like this up.

In the meanwhile the budget process may end today with Mayor Kilger ramming home his raised tax budget.     The question is becoming quite clear.  Has this council been abducted by the Mayor, senior Management?

The process is open to the public and starts again at City Hall.   Will you be there to witness it?   You can post your comment below.

 

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19 Comments

  1. i had a feeling this wasn’t far in the future, feds increase min wage, city council want’s a chunk. instead of raiseing the cost of renting a property for retail businesses we should be subsidizeing the cost through a city grant. i’m sure property owners would rather see their buildings being used to increase the number of locally owned and operated businesses than have them empty, raising the taxes on them is not going to make it any less expensive for the tennent.
    the cost of being in business is horrendous and its only the brave at heart who will take the leap of faith, in the public’s ability to sustain their sales and therefore keep them in business. too many people only see the facade and don’t realize the underlying expenses. there are more than stock and property rental to pay.
    with everything going up in the world of retail sales, ei insurance, business licensing, federal taxes due, E I premiums, employees wages, maintenance and cleaning, accountants fees, delivery costs, just to name a few, why would anyone bother to open a private retail outlet and take the chance of failure unless they had great expectations and faith in the public for their support or they were absolutely bonkers.
    raising the property taxes, will essentially say to potential proprietors, we don’t need or want you. city council needs to stop acting like leeches, put their hands in their own pockets for a change and get them out of ours.
    although i do not agree completely with Mr. Brock Frost on all of his suggestions, i do commend him for offering up his salary to assist the cities needed facilities.
    i would like to thank Mr Frost for signing up on the NO TANKS and the RCAFA issue and should there be need for any additional protest march’s i would hope to see you make an appearance.
    i suggest if council passes motion on the tax increase that tax payers with hold first quarter property tax payment until second quarter. this may cause them to understand we won’t put up with their shenanigans anymore
    if we all band together we can achieve this goal, if you want to stop the snake you have to chew the head off not the tail

  2. How can you be critical of a mayor who remains true to his political ideology ? Rather easily I would say when he so flagrantly pulls more money out the pockets of a struggling community that can neither afford it nor adequately defend itself from an out of control bureaucracy.

    This should be, needs to be, must be a zero budget year with only the actual previous years rate of inflation attached to the appropriate municipal departments.

    When is it time to apply some braking pressure to a tax system spiraling ever upwards out of control ?

  3. Wow…just wow.

    Canadians are taxed too much and I for one believe it is time to take a stand.

    Let’s ask ourselves, what would they do if people withheld their taxes, what would happen if we purchased goods and only paid the price as marked with no taxes. Did we not already pay taxes on our money..er their money because apparently it is not ours if we have to buy it and then pay to use it….This is a democracy and we do have the right to say no..or has that changed too

    One conspiracy to consider, Federally Mr Kilger is a liberal at heart, He is obviously training a minion with Ms. Clement.

    As he trains Ms. Clement is it possible that the lack of services for fees (taxes) paid is the platform they will use for Ms Clement campaign. We all know how liberals will promise to spend on empathy. First make them starve and confused, then will see Ms. Clement stand and accuse Mr. Harper of digging into tax payers pockets and promise how liberals will end this action? It is easy to make a hungry dog eat.

    but hopefully we all know the only way they can earn the revenge to spend it is to tax us even higher or add fees. I am just waiting for the province to make me pay a fee for the kind of work I do similar to the trades…When does it stop

    It doesn’t unless we make it stop, we do not have enough prisons for everyone…even if they do we get three meals free health care an education and room and board

  4. @Hailey Brown…don’t forget that the Liberals gave the men and women in prisons the right to vote (among other things). So Harb will still be able to vote for his party.

  5. I knew it, I knew it. LOL LOL. Bare Ass raising taxes again. Gee my crystal ball was right on target. More and more businesses will disappear and more and more homes will remain empty and continue to empty. More and more people will continue to disappear from Cornwall since there is nothing left there to turn to. I can tell that André is not in good terms with Norm Levac and I never cared for Norm Levac at all and could see right through him that he is a follower. A mayor who is rarely at his seat in Cornwall – gee we must put those milk cartons all over Ottawa looking for Bare Ass. I can’t say that I didn’t warn people because I have been doing that for years.

  6. I agree with you 100%. City administrators were tasked last fall to bring back two budgets, one with a 2% raise in taxes and one with a 0% raise in taxes. Instead of following council’s orders they bring back a budget with a 1.76% raise in taxes. Which part of council’s orders didn’t they understand? I know if I had done that when I worked for the federal gov’t I would have been raked over the coals. Was it too hard for the city administrators to go back to council and ask for some direction on how to obtain a 0% tax increase? This is a case, as you say, of the tail wagging the dog. It seems like the CAO and other city managers are trying to send a message to council…..we run the show, not you. I think it’s time that the city administrators be read the riot act as this is not the first time that they have ignored city council orders. Either that or make changes with city administrators and bring in people who are going to follow city council’s orders.

  7. If André Rivette retires like he said that he would you mark my words just now and watch the town go under if that happens. It is enough that a good counsellor by the name of Leslie O’Shaughnessey left because of all the corruption and nonsense going on around the table. Mr. O’Shaughnessey is a big loss to Cornwall right there. A person who comes into council must have a knowledge of business and what is going on around in Cornwall and not some ding a ling that has no insight or it will be a great deal worse than what you all have now. These two men work tirelessly for Cornwall along with Mark MacDonald. Gerry Samson has stuck up for some people about the high taxes and the mayor gave him a scolding for standing up for the people who could afford it the least. Think about all of that folks. Taxes are way too high and businesses do not want to settle in an area of high taxes.

  8. Seems things are getting a little askew here.
    City administrators should not have to return to council asking how to achieve a 0% increase. If council already knew how, why do we need administration?

    This should have been discussed when council asked for the options in the first place. If Mr. Levac is worth what he is paid, and Ms. Adams has the ability to maintain a ledger, then it is quite simple to know in advance if a 0% budget is even possible.
    At this time I the game, capital and non-capital projects are or have to be known, so does the maintenance budget….

    Why oh Why is this not a no brainer ….oh wait I know it is an election year, yes Bob and his band of merry men and women will now discredit city administration to lift his campaign objectives of trying to eliminate taxes for four years…Yes we have increased by 1.75% and that will tide us over…..

  9. Author

    Well Hailey we still do not have an explanation to why Economic Development did not share about the Trillium tanks with Council. Another issue of Mr. Levac failing to do his job or worse yet conspiring with the mayor and some councilors. Either way not good and he should not be getting a free pass.

  10. I have had the privilege of speaking with Mr. Levac on occasion. He is very illusive in any answers he provides and the answers he can gave seem to come straight from the X files….

  11. Hailey Brown: we need administration because it is their job to implement council decisions. It is not council’s job to propose or implement the budget. But this week, it seems council was doing administration’s job, yet again, when they came up with the budget solutions.

    Sure, it’s possible to have have a 0% budget increase. But to do that there would have to be service and job cuts. Is the city willing to have job and service cuts? I don’t tyhink so, as some services are at a bare minimum now.

    I rtepeat what I said earlier I think it’s time that the city administrators be read the riot act as this is not the first time that they have ignored city council orders. Either that or make changes with city administrators and bring in people who are going to follow city council’s orders.

  12. I would like to know why council does not increase the fee of municipal violations as a method to inflate the coffers.

    Parking in a fire lane $2000, handicap zone $750, rolling stop $750, speeding $500 and enforce them …learn how to make money off of the people that prefer not to follow the rules

  13. Author

    Hugger I would agree with you that it’s time to “retire” a few more managers at City Hall who are afraid of their shadows and refuse to serve the public properly in favour of certain elected officials.

  14. yes…its time for a big change of who sits at table…The City is in pathetic need of respect….they treated the inquiery victims like they were nothing but liars …we tried to make a change then ……then …they had a five year plan …written by Gail Kaneb the woman with the stone heart….the rich speak volumes in cornwall…..sleeping , the city misses the point and looses its freedom …no one cares …these people ..Boo boo as you call her and others …they have mislead you all in their electoral plans….personal gain is what matters in cornwall……that’s the bottom line……..as far as Brock Frost ..I think he has the right idea to create change ..but he should keep his salary…..its a hard job just putting up with these clowns…the money that agape and children’s aid need….? ..it should be coming from the ones who steal from them for personal gain and a nice retirement…it should not be coming from a young man who works hard trying to make a change ……….thiefs…and liars ……..secret meetings?…..this is what it got the sleeping City….the City that Sleeps together has drinks together and contribute to the system of JUST US……..

  15. I think we are saying the same things

    Mr. Levac already knows what needs to be done as does Mr. Alexander. They work in the city engineering department and they have a matrix for maintenance projects ( infrastructure) and the costs which are probably at about a gate 2 which is to say costs are at about 25% actual…..So if they tell you anything else they are truly lying

  16. Marc Carrière you said it all right this time and there is a video of a man by the name of Pat Finnerty and it is one that Jamie filmed. Go on that film and listen from the beginning to the end. This man speaks about the children in Cornwall going to bed hungry and about the rich in their limosines. You have to listen to it since it tells the truth. For a mighty long time since I was only 8 years old I knew all about the sexual abuse and I even knew a priest who was from the State of Maine in the US who was at a Catholic church in Cornwall (one that was not named but no longer exists as a Catholic church) and they sent him back to the State of Maine and kept it all quiet. My parents knew and told me all about it. I haven’t been to church in a mighty long time. There is so much that I know and cannot divulge it here at all and mighty dangerous to know and it isn’t about Cornwall because this goes all the way to the very top of the pyramid. I have heard way too much. Cornwall is in a terrible shape and the wealthy rule and the people are in deep trouble as long as they have a mentality like what they have. They have to ditch that mentality and think something of themselves and ditch a lot of the administration and the present mayor and council and start again but this time have people who are educated and know what they are talking about.

  17. Yes Jules..your right as well….but its not about the church….its about all the other prominent pedophile protectors who are working at positions of trust…..they are not trustworthy…..What the hell was gail kaneb doing …witnessing stories of survival from the victims who came forward….i’ll tell you ….she is the first to turn her back ….its not about the church ….its about the rich and powerful of cornwall….who get what they want the illegal way….they mislead the people ….they lie to the people….they promissed to make change….they did nothing….absolutely nothing for these unfortunate city tax payers who were molested by the top, choice, elite of this city that sleeps….nothing has changed if alot of people including the dunlop’s had to move from there or be harrassed like i was……..cornwall is my city ….i love the peace that people want there….i love the friends i’ve made there…..i’m disappointed at how i was treated by these mongers….monsters….bashed right into my fifties for speaking the truth…..and the truth is Cornwall will never , ever see honest change …only dishonest change……changes made without the approval of the citizens…..changes made by the city hall ” Clique”…..dishonest city counsell…..greedy politicians, ….power hungry police……Pedophile protecting children’s aid…….want to hear more……contact all the people who were neglected and had to leave town….ask them why alot of them left……they left cause they were being abused ….i know of a whole generation who left for out west and never looked back. …The City is pathetic……people work against each other…..and still bash others out of town…..this will never change and i know that its in every city ..but Cornwall is not every city …its my home…….and right now ..i’m not liking how people treat each other…no wonder their not getting anywhere……
    ..

  18. Marc Carrière you are absolutely right indeed in what you said about the rich people in Cornwall who abuse the little people and I have been saying this for more years than I can remember. We know fully well about the priests as sexual preditors but we don’t think about the people that we hold in trust like doctors, lawyers, teachers, social workers, police, etc. who were the real preditors. I never have trusted anybody who is well to do and they are the leaders of the pack of preditors.

    Here in Ottawa there is Harper’s drummer in his band who is a teacher and up for sexual abuse. There used to be a scout leader here in Ottawa who abused children in his pack and he received many years of prison term and they tore down his house as well.

    Mr. Perry Dunlop had to escape with his family for their lives or else they would have been murdered and not just ostrocized. This is a man that I hold up high in society for trying to help people. I can never live in Cornwall because of all the horrible things that have happened and the mentality of the people who have no self esteem for themselves. I am living here in Ottawa a big city and I know only a few people but I keep my distance because this is a lesson that I have learned from Cornwall that you cannot trust many people. I cried my eyes out in front of the computer for a long time reading about the pedophilia that went on and still going on as we speak and I thought that I was losing my mind. It is a great deal worse than what was printed.

  19. Norm Levac is a follower. If you look at both Mr. Alexander and Norm Levac and you can see that Norm Levac will do what Bare Ass tells him to do and does not have a mind of his own – a typical Cornwall mentality. Things will not change in Cornwall until everyones mentality changes. Too many people are afraid to stand up for themselves and people do not know their rights. I have said it since the time that I was a young child that I could not live in Cornwall anymore and that I wanted to leave by whatever means I could and did just that. The vast majority felt the same as I did and even the young people of today will not remain in such a place but will move on for opportunity and equal opportunity and have a good life for their families. Cornwall has always been for just a very few and Mr. Gerry Benson you can shove your money elsewhere because people with their self respect couldn’t care less about what you have even if you were the wealthiest man in the entire world. I am one who would not bend my head to you or to anyone. I respect the people who have their self esteem and their self respect. Money does not bring happiness but only brings out the worst in people. Throw the money in your coffin when you pass away and see if God cares about your wealth because it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get to heaven.

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