Nanaimo-Info-blog: Colliery Dams To Get Second Look

 City Councillors OK Sober Second Look At Dam Options
Three delegations from the Colliery Dam Park Presevation Society addressed city council and made a compelling case for considering the rehabilitation of the dams as a means of meeting safety concerns, keeping the dams and saving tax dollars in the process. This presentation has resulted in council agreeing (after the usual ride on the merry-go-round) to instruct staff to determine the cost to remove the dams or to rehabilitate them as Mr. Gale’s presentation directs.

A very thorough and  professional presentation by engineer Lorne Gale made it clear that the city needs to consider the options he presented to council, even though it seemed as if several councillors simply ‘didn’t get it’. The councillors who had trouble considering the options Mr. Gale presented seemed to think that whatever decisions city staff had come to, simply have to be the only options. Clearly, some councillors have not spent much time looking into this matter, and seem content to take staff’s opinion as gospel. Admittedly it is a very complex subject which requires more than reading the executive summary.

They seemed to miss the point that staff considered the information brought by Mr. Gale as something not previously considered, and they did not so much as offer an opinion. You would think that our ‘professional’ staff would have already weighed this option and found it wanting, and would therefore say so. They did not so much as offer an opinion. Mr. Gale, did not bring any new studies to the table, but simply used information staff already had at their disposal from previous studies.

Our youngest member of council seemed to see fit to challenge Mr. Gale’s credentials and demonstrated his blind loyalty to the opinion of city staff. The concepts presented seemed too much to understand simply on their own merits.

Given it is the season for goodwill towards all men, I will be charitable when I say, that it is clear why some councilors prefer to conduct city business behind closed doors.

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