Events of July 6, 2005

"Ted Mouradian was selected to be the Chair and Marilyn Bodogh was selected to be the Vice Chair." ~ From the CVC Minutes

For the Record:

 

• Based on his professed knowledge and facilitation experiences to the committee for becoming Chair, plus that fact that I had known him for a number of years, I voted for Ted Mouradian thinking that he would do the committee justice. ... So much for what I thought.
   
• I had also known Marilyn Bodogh while in High School, curling with her for a few years before I went off to college.

 

Events of June 12, 2006

On June 12, 2006, the Strategic and Corporate Planning Committee of council received the final community vision committee's recommendations for the Strategic Plan for the City of St. Catharines. I used the 'open mike' period to address my concerns regarding the CVC's final report.

For the Record:

 

Strategic Plan Address - June 12, 2006
Presented along with a set of Priority Comparison Tables

Mayor Rigby, Committee Chair Washuta, Councillors, Staff and members of the public.

I am Bernie Slepkov. I live at 213 St. Paul Street, Unit 1

Thank you for letting me address the Strategic and Corporate Planning Committee tonight.

I have carefully reviewed-and I think-objectively assessed the CVC report. I have serious concerns that stem from my findings (reflected within the tables I have provided). I have even deeper concerns as to how the participation of only a couple of hundred residents, and some 16 out of over 300 organizations have been translated into "the opinions of thousands" and "what the citizens want." In reality "it is at your peril" that you accept this report and its proposed Strategic Plan. In their current forms they cannot adequately assist council or staff in making good, informed decisions for the next couple of years, let alone 10. The main reasons for this are:

1. The vision themes, their goals, objectives and actions do not adequately reflect, nor even support the priorities identified by this report.
2. The report lacks sufficient information from which to adequately identify community priorities and generate a feasible strategic plan. Furthermore, significant portions of the survey are missing from this report.
3. The majority of the statements are too general or vague to give direction or even identify means of measuring results. A number of statements for the most part, seem to be outside the scope of council or staff.
4. Whatever issues or ideas have been identified through a public engagement process have not gone back to the public for prioritization, which should have been done prior to attempting to create a Strategic Plan. (Cite the example of the Soapbox Derby idea, without community prioritization of ideas collected will never have weight)
5. To my knowledge neither a SWOT analysis, nor an environmental scan was ever undertaken by the committee.

The CVC Report and Draft Strategic Plan fails to adequately include, or address:

1. The recommendations of the CAO's report dated April 11, 2005. These include comparative studies of identified communities, specific direction of council to address youth strategies, assessment of the current environment, as well as to provide ways to measure results.
2. The motion passed by this council directing staff, I imagine through the committee established by that motion, "to identify a strategic approach for the City of St. Catharines' participation with the Region of Niagara".
3. The city's community-based Comprehensive Development Strategy, nor the Region's 2005-2010 Economic Growth Strategy.
4. Top priorities clearly identified by both the Planning and Economic Development departments at the time of their presentations to the committee back in August. Both departments claimed that Community Economic Development would be a top priority over the next few years, and Planning identified the rising cost of oil as a major issue. The data as well does not reflect either of these and other key issues. These will constantly leave council and staff in reactive states.
5. Full acknowledgement, or public disclosure of the complete CVC membership and the names of individuals who participated in the public meetings, or took the time to give their submissions for this process, as is done traditionally with any community-based undertaking.
6. Assorted recommendations made by the Chamber or Commerce, as well as Dr. David Siegel's recommendations to council, specifically a liaison for higher-levels of government and Mrs. Atkinson's recommendations regarding signage pollution.

Compared to a vision like "a community that is cleaner, greener and safer; that values human and natural resources; and that provides an economic system that will keep our children here," I find nothing within the recommended vision to inspire and entice council, or this community to strive for greatness. In conclusion, I would recommend is the following:

• Prepare a survey more dedicated to extracting usable data to be ready for the up-and-coming election campaign.
• Have it available online, as well as at every candidate's headquarters, and for public access at debates.
• Encourage candidates to encourage or even help electors complete surveys.
• After the elections, the collected data should be assessed and made available for the public to prioritize.
• This data could be used by the next council to give an indication as to the public's priorities and concerns while a more useable Strategic Plan is prepared.