To the editor:
Overall I think Mayor Keith Hobbs has done a good job, but in some areas he has failed miserably.
We’re facing another tax hike and another increase in our water rates. This seems to be a yearly occurence, and an easy fix.
Put the burden on the taxpayer. I have a pretty good idea how the city works. A manager manages a manager, who manages a manager.
Where are the cutting of redundancies? How many managers does this city need?
I worked at Provincial Papers when an efficiency expert was brought in to save a sinking mill.
His first course of action was to cut out half of the management.
He did not do this in a hide-em cowardly way. Security was called in and each of the managers was escorted off the property with no warning. Some left in tears. They lost a lucrative situation.
How about some courageous moves?
Shut down one of the fire stations. Half a million would be saved on wages alone.
Our firefighters claim to need to keep on par with other cities wage wise.
Toronto is a city of skyscrapers; they need many firefighters and they earn their keep in that dangerous field.
I laugh when I hear of comparisons to large cities given our small hamlet. I would probably shutdown the Junot Street station.
I don’t know anything about the south-side stations.
With the emergency ambulance services coming on line they could take over the medical emergencies.
A few years ago I bought a permit for a fire pit on my property.
A fire truck showed up and no less than five firefighters entered my backyard to survey the situation.
I doubt if my $20 permit paid for this evaluation.
So, Mayor Hobbs (and council), take the high and courageous road and start cutting out some of the waste and you may find no increases are necessary for a couple of years.
Jim W. Fayle,
Thunder?Bay
