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Wednesday, October 10, 2012 1937 - 2012 · Celebrating 75 Years Orono Weekly Times - 5 Council mid-term review Clarington councillors spent most of the day last Thursday looking at how to get the most out of this term of office. Halfway into this four year term, councillors and senior staff looked at where they were at. "I felt this was a snapshot of where we are half way through this term," Ward 4 Local Councillor Wendy Partner told The Times. The morning session of the special council meeting held at the Newcastle and District Recreation Centre was held behind closed doors. The incamera session centered on, "How are we going to move forward more effectively," Mayor Adrian Foster told The Times on Tuesday morning. There were some frank discussions on council's view of staff and how councillors and staff can work together better, according to Foster. "There were some frank observations on both sides," he stated. One of the things council will be looking at is doing public opinion surveys on a more regular basis, Foster told The Times. "We need feedback from the public more frequently than we have been getting, on how we have been addressing their issues," Foster stated." Council dealt with some very controversial issues during the first half of this term according to Foster. "The incinerator issue set things off," Foster stated. Then council dealt with the train whistle issue where a number of residents wanted council to enact a train whistle cessation by-law, which did not pass. They also dealt with two pieces of legislation at the request of the police; the anti-fortification by-law and the nuisance bylaw. "Do you really want someone setting up a meth lab next door?" Foster asked. "The police came to us and said we need help with that." Looking forward to the next term Foster said, "The big stuff is the stuff we don't anticipate." A pubic park at the Port Darlington waterfront is high on Foster's to-do list for this term. "We spent a ton of money on acquiring land down there," Foster stated, "Now is the time to deliver." The proposed new federal electoral boundaries will have to be dealt with soon, according to Foster. The division of Durham Riding as currently proposed would have Clarington split into three different federal ridings, a scenario the municipality is dead against. The mid-term review session was informative and worthwhile, according to Wards 3+4 Regional Councillor Willie Woo. "Overall the municipality is operating quite well," Woo stated, "notwithstanding there is always room for improvement." Using a series of slides in the afternoon open session of the special council meeting, Municipal Chief Administrative Officer, Mr. Frank Wu compared Clarington to the other Durham Region lakeshore municipalities. His conclusion was that the municipality was meeting the challenges of a large geographic municipality. "We run a very tight ship," Wu stated. Areas of concern are the deteriorating quality of Clarington roads, managing the operating costs of the Emergency Services Department and supporting significant growth in new customers across all departments. Included in Wu's analysis was a municipal risk assessment. According to Wu, the municipality is at a low risk of disruption due to a labour strike, a nuclear or natural disaster, infrastructure failure and fraud by vendors or employees. He assessed the risk a bit higher for workplace injuries, municipal debt, an economic downturn, and a knowledge drain at the senior level. According to Wu's analysis, the unpredictable nature of municipal governance can elevate the municipality's risk of indebtedness. In the segment of Wu's presentation comparing Clarington's debt levels to that of neighbouring municipalities, he included a slide showing Clarington's debt trend levels. That slide showed a spike in debt beginning in 2006 ­ the first year of the recreation wave, the vision of former Mayor John Mutton and his council. When Councillor Ron Hooper asked Wu if he could see another debt spike coming down the pipe, Wu responded, "I hope not, that depends on the will of council." Staff would not put forward capital expenditures for council to consider if it would create a spike in the municipalities debt levels, according to Wu. "Clarington is an amazing community," Foster told The Times, "The whole team is pushing for the same thing, we just have to find out how to do that more effectively."