Preliminary Mayoral report card

Although we are only a few months into this new term, we felt it was time for a preliminary look at how things are going in Clarington. Clarington This Week's February 16th editorial, "Mayor has to take job more seriously" was blunt but was accurate.

We have been asking that residents give our new Mayor some time to get his feet wet, as it is a steep learning curve for someone coming in cold, without previous council experience. However, we did expect that the mayor would jump in and work overtime to get up to speed, not leave meetings early, fail to attend meetings, and not prioritize obligations well.

The Region's Growth Plan, as well as the Provincial Growth Plan, are important aspects of his life in Clarington. For these not to be a priority to our Mayor tells us that he may not understand the importance of the planning portion of his responsibilities. We realize his area of interest and specialization is administration and finance, but he must realize that that is just one part of his overall governance duties. When he left the Regional Planning meeting early, there was no on to put forward a motion on his presentation subject, nor to bring forward his comments about the Clarington greenbelt. Charlie Trim was not present and Mary Novak had declared a conflict of interest and was silent. Had it not been for the persistence of many citizens from all over Durham Region including Clarington, Regional Planning Committee would have had their way, against the advice of Regional Staff and against the wishes of the public.

Not attending the orientation session for new Regional Councillors was a big error. Sure, vacations are important, but the business of the municipality (and being able to correctly conduct that business and understand the role and procedure) is even more important. Priorities again. He must learn to juggle them better.

Not giving a reason for missing a meeting of the Greater Toronto Area Mayors and Chairs was another false step - and another seemingly lack of understanding of priorities. And forgetting about a live TV interview... when it is so important to have both the media and the public on your side - yet another miscalculation. Then there is the "tacit approval" of previous council's position on electing the Regional Chair (against direct election) without even discussing or having a public debate on the issue. This is something the public feels strongly about.

We supported Mr. Abernethy in the election, even though he was new to the world of municipal politics. We thought he would be more serious about learning the ropes, making priorities, working extra hard to bring himself up to speed.

We did not criticize his attempts to make the board/committee appointment process better. We feel he was actually doing what would have been best and it was somewhat misinterpreted by some. We do appreciate him keeping his promise as far as attempting a salary roll-back for the mayor's position. But he seems to be listening less to his constituents and more to, well, we don't know who. Perhaps he should have a personal assistant to help keep him up to speed on all the important issues. Not a secretary - he already has one who we are sure is very capable. But an executive assistant to help him put priorities in perspective.

This Week's editorial is correct - in politics, perception is reality. The public perception so far is declining. He can't continue to underestimate the importance of understanding what is going on in all aspects of this municipality, of missed meetings, of public perception.

Admittedly, we are only about 3 months into this 4 year term. Again we want to give our new Mayor a fair chance. But he must also work as hard as possible to take all these meetings seriously. Being Mayor of Clarington involves more than just this municipality. There is the Region too, and how we fit into that picture that has been drawn by Mr. Anderson and others. There is public perception that he seems now less eager to answer questions or be as accessible as he was prior to the election. Public perception that he isn't fully committed to this huge "new career" he has undertaken. No one ever said it would be easy, especially in the beginning. And we are still glad to have a new Mayor. We just hope he will live up to our expectations.