Rob Ford's Toronto

[nfitz]

I wonder why the two councilors on the board who joined the board in December 2010 got kicked off, while Mammoliti, who served during the time of the spending abuses got off scot-free?

I don't believe Mammoliti is on the board anymore either.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Mammoliti claims he's not responsible for anything because the board held their meetings in the morning so he never attended. Seriously.

I don't think it's entirely accurate to claim Nakamura was exonerated. It would be nice if the report would actually go before the audit committee and then council so that councillors could ask questions of her and other staff. That process is important.

It's critical to remember here that the important thing isn't to fire everyone who made a mistake but rather to ensure better practices and processes are in place so that this doesn't happen again.

 

[SlickFranky]

Mammoliti claims he's not responsible for anything because the board held their meetings in the morning so he never attended. Seriously.

haha! Classic!

 

[Torontovibe]

Mammoliti claims he's not responsible for anything because the board held their meetings in the morning so he never attended. Seriously.

Are you serious? lol The guy was being paid to be a board member but he wasn't attending meetings?

Well, now we know where some of that gravy went.

 

[nfitz]

I don't believe councillors received any extra renumeration to sit on board meetings ... except perhaps travel expenses, etc. So perhaps he actually saved the taxpayers money.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Here's the Mammoliti thing:

The fixtures deal, the auditor reported, was split into small increments to avoid board oversight. Mammoliti offered another reason he might never have heard about it: committees sometimes met by telephone at 8 a.m., when he was busy with his family.

“It could’ve been discussed in the morning meetings, I don’t know. I never partook in those early morning meetings because I’ve gotta take my daughter to school,” he said.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/950171--mammoliti-i-was-a-responsible-tchc-board-member

Looking purely at competence, Mammoliti is probably the worst councillor the city has.

 

[Torontovibe]

I don't believe councillors received any extra renumeration to sit on board meetings ... except perhaps travel expenses, etc. So perhaps he actually saved the taxpayers money.

So why is Ootes getting paid if it's a non payed position?

 

[nfitz]

So why is Ootes getting paid if it's a non payed position?

Because he isn't a city councillor.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Don't look just at Mammoliti's past record on boards and commissions with previous mayor's. Why don't we also look at former Councilor Rob Ford's record on boards and commissions as well? I understand that sometimes, former Councilor Rob Ford skipping a few of those meetings.

 

[jje1000]

Why in the world is Ford trying to do this? the TPL is probably the best-run city program of them all.

Councillors see Ford’s hand in plan to cut library board
March 11, 2011

Daniel Dale

Among the proposed changes to the city’s public appointments policy, one recommendation in particular has drawn the ire of Mayor Rob Ford’s opponents: a call to remove three councillors from the library board, which has defied Ford.

In his report, city manager Joe Pennachetti justified the proposal on benign grounds. He said the 13-member library board is one of several “fairly large” boards that would make decisions faster with fewer members.

He also said the board would be more effective if its balance of members was tilted in favour of citizens with “specialized expertise.”

But the mayor’s two most vocal councillor opponents on the board, Janet Davis and Sarah Doucette, believe the proposed change is an attempt by Ford to exact revenge for their efforts to fight budget cuts.

“The mayor, again, has demonstrated that people who oppose him will be punished. It’s punitive and anti-democratic,” Davis said.

Doucette spoke more cautiously, but she generally agreed that Ford was seeking to punish dissent. “It looks that way,” she said. “It might not be, but it definitely looks that way.”

Davis said she believes Ford also wants to reduce the number of councillors on boards for tactical reasons. At present, she said, there are too many board spots for Ford to fill them all with allies, forcing him to sometimes appoint critics.

But she and Doucette said Pennachetti had made a “mistake”: the library board can’t be shrunken until 2014. Pennachetti suggested council make changes to several boards halfway through the current council term, when many appointments expire, but the provincial Public Libraries Act requires that library board appointees sit for four years.

“I don’t think they’re going to be able to get rid of us,” Davis said.

A city spokesperson said Pennachetti would not comment until an executive committee meeting on Mar. 21. Ford’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Councillor Frances Nunziata, chair of the appointments committee, dismissed the accusation that Ford was trying to cleanse the board for political reasons.

“They’re gonna complain about everything, no matter what you do,” Nunziata said. “You could put 12 councillors on and they’d still complain. I don’t take their complaints too seriously.”

Councillor Michael Thompson said Ford simply wanted to give citizens a greater say in decision-making. He said Davis and Doucette’s claims were “beneath them.”

“It would be very unlike Joe Pennachetti” to make a recommendation intended to hurt Ford’s opponents, Thompson said.

The board is composed of eight citizens and five councillors. Pennachetti proposes a board of seven citizens and two councillors.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/952932--councillors-see-ford-s-hand-in-plan-to-cut-library-board

 

[Torontovibe]

I don't believe councillors received any extra renumeration to sit on board meetings ... except perhaps travel expenses, etc. So perhaps he actually saved the taxpayers money.

If city councillors are not getting paid anything by sitting on boards, why are they all fighting desperately to get on boards or remain on boards? So what is the benefit for the counciller? There must be some reason they all want to do it and it's not because they just love Toronto so much, I can guarantee you that. It must be some kind of $$$.

 

[allabootmatt]

If city councillors are not getting paid anything by sitting on boards, why are they all fighting desperately to get on boards or remain on boards? So what is the benefit for the counciller? There must be some reason they all want to do it and it's not because they just love Toronto so much, I can guarantee you that. It must be some kind of $$$.

Input on issues that matter to them? A calling to public service? Just guesses.

 

[lafard]

If city councillors are not getting paid anything by sitting on boards, why are they all fighting desperately to get on boards or remain on boards? So what is the benefit for the counciller? There must be some reason they all want to do it and it's not because they just love Toronto so much, I can guarantee you that. It must be some kind of $$$.

They have to sit on various committees, it's in the rules. Ford was on Licensing and Standards and TRCA boards even though I doubt either Miller or Ford himself wanted him on them. It's part of the job. I doubt Ford went to many of the meetings of either board which probably suited everyone pretty well. Similarly I doubt that the brothers Ford really wanted the McConnells, Mihevcs, or Vaughans on council sitting on various committees, yet he had to put them somewhere. I'm sure he would like it best if they showed up around council as often as he did when the City held budget meetings back in the day.

 

[nfitz]

I can guarantee you that. It must be some kind of $$$.

Your kidding me, right?

 

[gristle]

Sadly, he's probably dead serious.