Many of the candidates running for a seat on Tantramar council on May 11th say the town’s new website that was launched last October should include full contact information for members of council and senior management staff.
“I don’t know what happened to the site that doesn’t show our e-mail addresses, but I will say that I personally think that all councillor e-mail addresses should be listed. I also feel that the CAO & Department Directors should be as well,” Councillor Michael Tower wrote in response to an e-mail from Warktimes.
My e-mail to the candidates pointed out that it is difficult to find e-mail addresses for individual members of council and that the names of department heads are no longer included on the new website along with their e-mail addresses as they were on the old one:
New Tantramar website
Old Tantramar website
New website (no contact information)
Old website (with e-mail address)
Council e-mails buried
E-mail addresses for members of council are buried at the bottom of a page on council meetings and it is not possible to e-mail them individually, but only as a group.
Ward 2 candidate Ken Hicks wrote a strongly worded e-mail to Warktimes in which he called for greater transparency from the town:
- “Every councillor should have their specific municipal email address clearly listed on their individual profile page. No resident should be forced to e-mail the entire council if they have a ward specific or private concern.
- “The heads of our municipal departments should be identified by name with direct contact information. Residents deserve to know who is responsible for the services their tax dollars fund and should be able to reach those leads directly when issues arise.
- “Contact information should not be ‘buried’ at the bottom. It should be a primary navigation feature.”
All of the other candidates who responded called for contact information to be listed on the new Tantramar website.
They were Alyssa Greene (Ward 1), Barry Hicks (Ward 2), K.C. Hingley (Ward 5), Tori Weldon (Ward 3), Allison Butcher (Ward 3), Andrew Black (Ward 3), Bruce Phinney (Ward 3).
Mayoralty candidate Debbie Wiggins-Colwell wrote in her e-mail: “Oversight for sure.”
So far, Tantramar CAO Jennifer Borne has not responded to the Warktimes e-mail which asked her whether the absence of contact information on the new website was “accidental oversight or a deliberate change in communications policy.”
To read my e-mail, click here.
Proof that those email accounts are a hot commodity when you’re running for re election.
Hey Bill.. remember those old TV ads for the phone company:
“reach out and touch someone”
There is no reason for us to contact our superiors.
If they have something to tell us, they’ll let us know.
You’re hilarious lady.
May I ask please what this post means? Are you suggesting that members of Council are the voters’ superiors? Or are you referring to senior administrators? I’d like to understand this post please.
Both are the voters’ superiors. Apparently the senior administrators are superior to the elected councillors, too.
I’m talking facts on the ground as they are in Sackville, as opposed to political theory.
The peons know their place, and that place isn’t to comment or ask questions!
Am I the only one who just picks up the land line and phones these people directly from time to time.. emailing is sooo uninspiring.. communication is a two-way street.. I like to chit chat and catch up with people for reals.. that’s my intent phoning. emails are making us behave weirdly.. and often making people verbose and less direct.
Bruce, do you ever look in the mirror yourself and wonder “am I part of the problem here?” Council faces more harassment and abuse than ever before- your little blog contributes to that. I don’t blame them one bit for making it harder for people to contact them. Shame on you! You’re part of the problem!
Journalism and accountability aren’t problems in a democracy.
Bruno, I’d say this is a classic case of blaming or “shooting” the messenger. Bruce provides solid, journalistically sound, relevant news coverage on his website. He does not control what people say about the news on various social media sites (and I agree with you that people say a lot of garbage in various FB comments).
It’s true that if we didn’t have Bruce’s reporting, we wouldn’t have news that sometimes looks bad on Town Council or administration (e.g., the fire dept. problems). But not reporting on local issues doesn’t make the issues go away.
Good journalism shines a light on issues that those in public office would often prefer remain out of the public eye. If you can point to any misinformation or inaccuracies in Bruce’s reporting, please do. But let’s not blame journalists and local news reporting for (often anonymous) FB trolls who spread misinformation or people who behave rudely.
Bruce doesn’t have an editor. He’s not a reporter. He desperately needs an editor to remind him to at least try to accurately represent the facts from time to time.
Again, I would ask you for some examples from Bruce’s articles to back up your assertion.
By credentials alone, Bruce is a respected journalist (professor emeritus of journalism from University of King’s College; retired CBC reporter and editor where he produced The House, World at Six, World Report, and Sunday Magazine, and served as national reporter for the Maritimes & Queen’s Park reporter in Ontario; columnist at the Halifax Daily News & the Coast; journalist at 3 private radio stations before CBC. If that’s not a reporter, I don’t know what is.)
All journalists’ best editors are the public: If reporters misrepresent things and get facts wrong, they lose public trust and are no longer a credible source of news. Bruce is always quick to respond and correct when he gets anything wrong, like any respectable news outlet.
Finally, as Bruce’s spouse and a former journalist at the Ottawa Citizen & editing instructor myself (now a research librarian), I play an unofficial role as his editor! I don’t oversee everything he writes, but I do provide a second set of eyes and advice when I think a story should have a different focus or could use some tweaking. Again, if you see mistakes, please let Bruce know.
The bias isn’t in the articles that Bruce writes- it’s in the stories he choses to cover. Never a positive story. Always chasing controversy and when he can’t find any, he makes a mountain out of a molehill. Time and time again, I’ve seen Bruce post his stories on Facebook and if it hasn’t gotten any traction after 3 days, he’ll reply to his own post with “no comments? Really?”. He is actively trying to stir the pot, even when the story is not in the public interest. The last 6 months have admittedly been better because we do have things to talk about. But during dry spells it would be great if he took a vacation. He repeatedly ends articles with “Andrew Black refused to comment” as if the Mayor is beholden to answering questions from a blogger! This is misleading language and he has a grudge against council because they won’t play his game. This is a small.community. We dont need to stir up trouble just for the sake of getting likes or comments on his latest blog post
“Never a positive story.”
Then you’ve not been following him for long, obviously.
I hear what you are saying about “negative” news, Bruno. Journalistic news covers the unusual, controversial, problematic, and noteworthy. Journalists themselves think in terms of “hard news” and “soft news.” The bulk of the stories on Bruce’s site are hard news (though I wouldn’t frame them as “negative”). That’s mostly because he’s a one-person show and doesn’t have any reporters to go cover good-news stories like sports or grip-and-grin photo-ops at awards ceremonies. If he won the lottery, he’d hire more reporters and provide a bit more of that soft news.
I think at the heart of your criticism, however, is a belief that Bruce’s coverage and “standing” in the community is illegitimate. You don’t think he is a legitimate reporter or that he should be treated as one. Instead, you think he is a pesky “blogger.”
I strongly disagree for a number of reasons, one of which is he doesn’t meet the standard definition of a blogger. And I think the mayor does have an obligation to respond to him, and any news media. Bruce is providing some of the only news coverage we have in town, and it is bona fide news coverage that meets all professional news standards (as opposed to personal, opinion pieces or daily observations, i.e., a blog). Simply because he’s doing it for free in his retirement — after a long and distinguished journalistic career — doesn’t make it any less legitimate.
All these problems — firefighters resigning, lack of transparency, poor communication, and more. One common denominator: The CAO. They need to go.
Mario… please don’t add to the witchhunt of people on this site… as if the university crowd don’t meddle enough in our local politics… this is an H.R. matter and will be a resolved issue soon enough within the fire department that seems to be sorting itself out over time.. as indicated by those who are known troublemakers leaving their posts in such a dramatic fashion.. to that end.. we are left with the core group who are not dramatic, loyal and stable one and have remain.. let’s thank them for that.. and like nature.. let it happen…. and that’s the simple truth. Some will do well to reserve judgment on matters they are not privvy to all the fine details and remember this was told to me once by an old criminal law barrister from England: “cherchez la femme” back in the 80s.
” as indicated by those who are known troublemakers leaving their posts in such a dramatic fashion”
Oh really? And you’ve names for these “troublemakers”? Because I know some of those who left and each one had a DAMN good reason to leave. Not ALL had to do with the CAO.
I don’t know if you’re on the outside looking in, or you have some sort of inside information, but the SFD has been – in my PERSONAL OPINION – a place with issues for years.
S.A. Cunliffe
I disagree and, to be clear, I am not on a witch hunt. As a citizen, everybody’s voice matters, university crowd or not. Further, it is not “your politics”. I live here too so it is “my politics” as well. We are one community and as a member of the community, I can voice my concerns like anyone else.
The crux of the matter is that we have several ongoing issues in town that for reasons unknown to the broader public are not being resolved and that lack full transparency. Town council also cannot interfere into the day-to-day workings of the Town; rather, they can only direct their efforts through the CAO. If issues persist, then this calls into question the effectiveness of the CAO and what should the Town council do? The choices are a/ do nothing and let things continue as is; b/ ask for more consultant’s reports, and hope that it provides clarity on what to do; or c/ admit that other options have been tried and failed, so, we need to replace the CAO in the hope that a new CAO would be able to better address things.
We have tried option a/ and option b/. As a citizen of this community who has an equal voice as others, I say it is time to explore option c/. I think that is a reasonable analysis and the task before our new Town Council post-election on the 11th.
I would caution you about your approach Mario.. that’s where I believe professors often fall down .. they lack the discernment to listen more and shut up.. no other way to put it.
I am sorry but I will not be bullied into silence because of my place of employment. If you do not agree with my points, I accept that and I think the discussion it fosters is healthy for a community. Bruce does an excellent job of covering local news stories and like others in the community, from time to time, I comment on them. In fact, I think I have commented on stories on The New Wark Times about 5-7x since last Spring. How many times have you commented? If anything, I think this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Mario, It is difficult to tally how many comments that S.A. Cunliffe has made on WarkTimes over the years because she has used approximately 10 different aliases that I know of.
Thank you for trying to make OUR amazing municipality an even better place to live. Your much needed input is very much appreciated by ‘almost’ all!
The irony of you telling someone/a group of people to “listen more and shut up” is hilarious.
An example of pot and kettle syndrome, or perhaps a take your own advise situation?
Mario is right; his option C is at this point the only real solution there is right now when the community has no faith/respect in the CAO and the job they are doing. At least with new council – or some new council – on the 11th, perhaps that will be one of the first things they do (I’d say if not then they’ve already set themselves up to fail as most other council’s have before).
Elaine, Mario and Percy: You are not helping matters here… at all. Taking cheap shots at me is pointless Percy and just makes you look even more silly than you already do. Calling for the firing of our Fire Chief or the CAO misses the mark completely in this H.R. matter in our sweet little town on the marshlands that’s full of Facebook gossips. And yes, I do have some rather key information that isn’t published here by Bruce Wark [probably due to fear of a backlash] about the “issue among the firehall staffing” but you’ll just have to pop the popcorn and wait for the BIG REVEAL by the right people in due course. Take care to NOT feel the need to weigh in on every little bit of drama that rolls out here…..
And you think you are “helping matters”? Being purposefully blind/dismissive of the actual concerns on the firefighters and somehow twisting it around to be the fault of those same firefighters doesn’t help a thing, surely you see that, yes?
I’m not calling for the firing of the Chief – I personally think that should be up to the town AND the input from the people he oversees in his department (for the record I do owe Chief Bowser gratitude for a number of things over the years as it pertains to the fire department and experiences I’ve had with them). But I DO think there are enough issues with the CAO at this point that yes, something needs to be done, whether it’s firing or removing to another position where there is no direct involvement in affairs dealing with the fire department, because there is now suspicion and lack of trust there, in appearance if not in fact, and in positions like hers, appearances matter.
I agree, it is an HR matter, but just as you can share your opinions, so can others, right? 🙂
If things are revealed ‘in due course’, they likely WON’T be popcorn worthy. Depending on what it is, and when it’s revealed, if it’s anything about what *I* know… a lot of lives will be changed by it.
I think you need to take your own advise about not feeling the need to ‘weigh in on every little bit of drama that rolls out here’. Personally, I comment on things I think are worth making a comment on and don’t really seek “Drama”. I leave that to others who have that talent (but will respond if I feel the desire to respond, obviously 😛 )