Civic Affairs

[img_assist|nid=162|title=City council tablets|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=500|height=589]I suffer from tablet envy every time I walk into the city council chamber.

Had I but one cast-off iPad from a city councillor upgraded to newer gear, my council meeting Twitter stream might keep up with that of my JRfm counterparts, Jenn Ferguson and Taylor Renkema.

There are possible implications and undercurrents to this story of Brockville Police Chief John Gardiner's looming retirement, things I cannot discover without NSA tactics not accessible to me.

[img_assist|nid=156|title=Police services board chairman King Yee Jr.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=500|height=489]In my last post, I referred to the surprisingly low 2014 police budget increase as a head-scratcher, and to be sure, it remains quite surprising.

[img_assist|nid=154|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=500|height=333]Each year at the start of budget time, city councillors and officials scratch their heads at the enormous challenges driving up the levy.

[img_assist|nid=5|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=500|height=413]Despite the protests of some online commenters, who claim to be sick and tired of hearing about the OPP costing issue, I must indulge my inner wonk on this question of procedure.

[img_assist|nid=18|title=|desc=|link=none|align=middle|width=1000|height=209]

So Councillor Jeff Earle's political math did not prove to be quite accurate.

City council's vote last night on his motion to halt the OPP costing process ended up with a five-four split in favour, rather than the six-four result Earle had anticipated.

[img_assist|nid=138|title=Jeff Earle, left, and Mayor Henderson|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=500|height=333]Predicting the exact outcome of city council votes is not something I've done up to date. Since party whips and agendas are not involved at the local level, one has to get into people's heads.

I have no qualms doing it, however, when someone else is doing the predicting.

[img_assist|nid=57|title=City police officers will be armed with a sound meter.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=500|height=333]On paper, Brockville's revised noise bylaw has enough in it to get people worked up.

That's evident in the online responses to our story, and the lopsided (if unscientific) poll results.

Later this month, city councillors will debate a motion to reduce the size of council by one.

As I've said before, the idea of reducing a 10-member council by only one is likely to generate a certain “Meh” response from the public.