Alan Halberstadt, City Councillor, Ward 3 http://www.alanhalberstadt.com Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:27:09 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10089&Itemid=87 Monday night was another tortuous meeting at City Council, ending in the sudden death of seven city-run daycare centres, five in the city and two in the county. I voted against the complete elimination of the centres, eschewing the meat cleaver approach. Given the lateness of the night and a fight with a miserable cold, I felt troubled when I dragged myself home that I didn’t fully explain my rationale. In retrospect, there wasn’t time to do it anyway with the bewitching hour near. Today in this space I will attempt to fully explain. First, I would like to restate my belief that the city needed to impose contraction on its daycare program. It is a high-cost, unsustainable service in these economic times, and several of the daycares are running far beneath capacity with the specter of free full-day JK and SK programs stealing four and five-year olds starting in September. The city purchases services from 31 non-profit and 30 private daycares which offer spaces for less than half the cost of the city-run centres. I have personal experience that these non-city centres offer quality care, and the administrative report indicated that they have more than 1,400 vacancies which can absorb the 425 children enrolled in the city-run centres. My option was to close four under-capacity daycares in September while giving a reprieve to the three most successful and specialized city daycares. The admin charts, as of November 2009, show Jefferson in the east end consistently running at capacity, Glengarry in the core at 69 percent, and College in the west end, at 81 percent. City-run daycare proponents begged Council for more time to consult and to wait to see the real impact on enrolment of the JK, SK launch before axing all seven centres. Keeping the three most used centres open until Sept of 2011 would have allowed that time to consult with skateholders, and reassess. This strategy would allow Jefferson to continue offering rare extended hours for shift workers and give the private and non-profit sector a chance to develop more extended- hour spaces. Glengarry and College could continue to offer invaluable outreach programs to single mothers, infants and toddlers in the city’s most sensitive neighbourhoods. More than that, this strategy would staunch the flow of some 80 city workers–full-time, regular part time and temporary part time – onto the street. As it is now, temps will be separated in September, while 90 regular full-time and regular part-time workers will have bumping rights with 40 hired prior to 1993 totally protected. HR is facing an horrendous task in placing displaced childcare workers within the corporation. This necessitates training money and knocking the city’s most junior employees out the door over the next few years. People will bump into jobs they don’t like and are not suited for, many of them lower paying. This can’t be good for efficiency. If alternative employment is not found for all of the CUPE 543 employees with bumping rights, the contract allows the union to prevent the city from hiring some 120 summer students this year. This is virtually a certainty, according the 543 president Jean Fox. And the city would also be blocked from hiring up to 200 unpaid student and work placement positions. This can’t be good for productivity. All of this comes at the cost of further damaging morale at City Hall. The delay and reassessment of closing three of the daycare centres would temper these emotion-sapping exercises. The collective agreements tie the downsizing process up in knots, and I anticipate that bumping language will be a huge issue in the next round of negotiations. But that won’t come until 2012. As for the budget issues, the seven closures will save the city $743,000 a year. That is welcome and significant going forward, but there will be little or no gain this year since the layoffs will not kick in until September. Monday’s decision will save the city only $266,458 in salaries and day care accessories in 2010. Virtually overlooked by the media in Monday’s resolution were big-time transitional costs: ** $300,000 related to the placement of two temporary full-time employee relations assistants to assist with the placement, counseling and job-search assistance of pink-slipped employees. ** $5,500 for six additional counseling and trauma debriefing sessions through the employee family assistance program. ** $70,000 to allow all displaced employees an opportunity to complete their internal Computer Proficiency Certificate in addition to a variety of Employee Development workshops. The cost of keeping Jefferson, Glengarry and College open is at a net city cost of $333,465 per year, less than the $375,500 for the three trauma-mitigation items listed above. The $375,500 will be absorbed by Old Faithful – the under-funded Budget Stabilization Reserve. There will also be “temporary” utility and maintenance costs incurred prior to the disposition of the city-owned facilities. From the 400 Building and WFCU consolidation experiences, we know how “non-temporary” that is likely to be. The Glengarry facility is locked into a 99-year lease which will have to be bought out or otherwise dealt with. We cannot forget the coterie of daycare non-union managers who will be absorbed within the corporation or given expensive severance packages. As you can see the toll of restructuring is excruciatingly high in both human and dollar costs, although there is no doubt Monday’s decision was politically shrewd. It made taxpayers and the long-suffering, non-city run daycare operators happy. The CUPE supporters who raised hell are not going to support the five aye-vote Councillors anyway in October’s election. The special-interest, city daycare community in Windsor is not large, perhaps 350, and many of those parents are from notoriously low voter-turnout neighbourhoods. As for the county, there’s no city voters out there. Put it all together and you get what you got Monday night – a blunt instrument. Blog - Blog Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:37:25 +0100 http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10088&Itemid=87 Windsor is currently competing with other cities across Canada for the opportunity to be represented on the anniversary edition of Monopoly. Please take some time to Vote for Windsor (http://www.monopolyvote.ca/en_CA/world), today and everyday between now and February 21st. Register on the site and vote once per day for Windsor! MONOPOLY is launching a new Canadian Edition and is inviting Canadians to vote for their favourite cities. The vote will determine the top 20 cities and the top 2 wildcard cities that will be the property spaces on the MONOPOLY Canada game board. Please vote for your friend’s cities or choose your own cities! Every day you are able to vote for up to 3 of your favourite Canadian cities from our pre-selected list and to nominate one city not on the list as a wildcard. To do so, select a city from the map and add to your cities, or enter your wildcard city in the designated area. To keep the vote fair, you will be asked to register and to verify your email address via an email you will receive once your registration is received. Happy voting! Blog - Blog Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:41:30 +0100 http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10087&Itemid=87 When Windsor City Council hired the Integrity Commissioner in October of 2008, I was the lone dissenter. I stated that it was my belief that the city could find better ways to spend $50,000. Considering what has transpired since, is there any wonder that it remains my belief today? The plot thickens as the bizarre saga of Integrity Commissioner Earl Basse seemingly nears its conclusion. Mr. Basse created a stir last Monday by not showing up at an in camera Council meeting to deal with his final report and recommendation to City Council on the Ron Jones-Jean Fox cell phone “scandal.” Counc. Jones had his lawyer there to counter Mr. Basse’s assertions regarding the appropriateness of Counc. Jones’ communications with CUPE Local 543 president Fox throughout last summer’s bitter strike. At least one Councillor (me) had some questions ready for the Integrity Commissioner. Blog - Blog Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:57:51 +0100 http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10086&Itemid=87 By Alan Halberstadt City of Windsor Ward 3 Councillor Those who are caught up in the outsourcing issue of Provincial Offences Officers at City Hall need to heed Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: Doing things over and over and expecting different results. Twelve years after a previous Council looked seriously at privatizing this function and then caved in spectacular fashion, the current Council voted in November to issue a request for proposals from private sector bidders to take over the parking ticket enforcement in the city. After a marathon debate in which Councillors favouring the RFP were accused of everything short of Fascism, Council voted 7-2 to call for bids. Blog - Blog Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:16:05 +0100 http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10085&Itemid=87 There is a smattering of calls for a public inquiry to expand on the 400 Building Audit, including one in the comments section beneath my Dec. 23 blog – Pistol Pete Audit Conclusion Scary. This reader is demanding to know why the audit committee, of which I am a member, has not recommended a full-blown public inquiry into the conduct of Councillors and bureaucrats who broke the laws of RFP tendering by naming a non-compliant bidder to construct the building that started out as a $24.9 million project and finished up at $32.5 million. There are a number of reasons why, but the two main ones are these: Blog - Blog Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:22:36 +0100 http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10084&Itemid=87 Only in Windsor can politicians who engage in activity that blatantly violate Common Law and the bylaws that govern the City of Windsor be hailed as heroes. Admittedly, Former Councillor Peter Carlisimo is putting himself on such a pedestal, along with two other former members of the 400 building selection committee (former Councillors Charlie Hotham and current Councillor Fulvio Valentinis) But don’t be at all surprised if this frightening myth gains currency among the people who try to manipulate public opinion in this small town city. The story on Page 3 of the Windsor Star today (Dec. 23) quotes Carlesimo as claiming that he and his subcommittee colleagues saved taxpayers $2.3 million. This is blatantly and mischievously false. More on that later, but first some preliminary details on what the audit said about Peter and associates. Blog - Blog Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:07:18 +0100 http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10083&Itemid=87 By Alan Halberstadt (Ward 3 City of Windsor Councillor) It is time to re-open the debate on whether or not the City of Windsor should be in the golf business. For those of us who believe it should not be, since it is a service the private sector can and does provide in ample quantities, the evidence has never been stronger to sell off the asset. Yes, the love-hate relationship between Roseland Golf and Curling Club and City Council has bubbled to the surface again. As in the past, logic and the thought processes of certain Councillors are more than a 300-yard tee shot apart. Blog - Blog Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:18:06 +0100 http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10081&Itemid=87 Needs An Unbiased Vetting By Alan Halberstadt (Ward 3 City of Windsor Councillor) In a report to City Council on the prospect of developing an air cargo village last February, Windsor Airport general manager Federica Nazzani issued the following warning: “A ‘build it and they will come’ approach can be economically disastrous.” Blog - Blog Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:35:41 +0100