Nelson: The buck stops (w)here

The Transit Update in the Committee of the Whole meeting, Sep. 19, 2011, packed a startling surprise for Council! and the Whole - it was not so much an update as a revelation. Several, actually.
Needing everybody present - with the exception of City Manager Kevin Cormack and probably Mayor Dooley - to deconstruct most of what we had (been fed) before on the transit-issue - and reconstruct with what we were force-fed now by Kevin Schubert, BC Transit. His organization running us, working it - seemingly since the new buses were bought - at least.
Which actually they weren't - a crucial distinction with consequences! So why did we think they had been bought - and left to believe this?

No explanation!

But later for that. First, members of the Whole - with concerns regarding primarily the discontinuation of bus-service on Sunday - were given time to voice them. With Council making empathetic clucking-noises. Much of this voicing of concerns eventually proved to be pointless, what with all predetermined/digested for us already - this a show only!

I will start at the beginning and walk through this as it unfolded - as I read, saw, heard it unfold.

When City Hall became conscious! of budgetary problems at the beginning of the year, it looked at where/how to trim expenses, based on those of the preceding year. What jumped at them seemingly big-time - and out of nowhere? - was that their uberbuses had been costing a lot - too much - to run, feed, maintain. Surprise!? So - Council decided to cancel bus-service on Sunday, in an attempt to stitch-up the unnoticed-for-a-while hole in their pocket. This and route-cuts, but the latter didn't seem to be a major issue with the public attending the meeting.
Sunday was the evening's IT.
So who kept on refilling this pocket? With loose cash from where? I know little about financial matters like this, but doesn't a budget - planned and locked-in at the beginning of the year - take care of the year? If so - why this surprised flutter at the end? When exactly did who realize that costs were getting out of hand. Were these costs - seemingly discovered at some point during the year budgeted at its beginning? How? Who?
What's with last year's budget?
No explanation!

The announcement of Sunday being cancelled could have been the end of that topic - probably was hoped to be - if the Whole hadn't started to get uppity.

Some said then and at the meeting: Dump 'em and get smaller ones. Councillor Macdonald - always ready: There are no smaller buses; nobody is building them! Anywhere! At all! We may have to go to China to look for them there!
Oh, Donna! Seriously!

Others said: Why didn't you determine operating-costs before you bought them? Now we are to give up Sunday-service because of your poor preparation!
No explanation!

And: It seems weird that these buses were bought - just like that! - as soon as they weren't needed for the Olympics any longer.
The possibility that they were bought because of their Olympicness is not at all strange - seeing that Nelson over time cloaked its identity-issues with stuff even weirder. Mind you - if really so, I could totally get behind this urge to get them - touched by the glorious flame. Because I - a secret from my past - once sat on the same toilet Liz Taylor had sat on prior, in a Toronto hotel! My movie days! I mean - I didn't see her, but she and Richard stayed in that particular suite for a while, so she must have! I will never forget that in my whole life! So, you see, I could sympathize!
But back to just like that - above. According to Mr. Cormack - in the Whole meeting - Nelson had needed new buses for many years, so getting these should not have been a surprise. Yet to doubters the decision seemed too quick - no shopping around first. No basic questions asked or answered.
No explanation!

Another question making the rounds: If Nelson had needed new buses for years - why wasn't all that recent evaluating done earlier, to get ready for appropriate buses within an appropriate system? Instead of running it now, in no time at all - and after the (much-questioned) fact!
No explanation!

And here comes the hook to hang all else on for Council? and Nelson as a Whole - answering questions by implication. At least. The BC-Transit's man on the spot said in this meeting: BC Transit owns a fleet of buses - all the same - and communities needing buses lease! them from BC Transit.
Not buy them just anywhere! So this particular bus - an all-eventualities kind, with all (BC Transit) things considered - is what Nelson got. Was given! Leased by Nelson's city manager - or something. Council-vetted as such?
The system - seemingly for the first time - here explained by Mr. Transit ever so reasonably, soothingly - all except the costs of Sunday.

Council - suddenly? finding themselves up to their necks in no-choice buses and consequences - just as dumbfounded as "we", although "they" should have known the kind of deal they were signing-off on to have these buses roll into town.

Due diligence and transparency all over the place.

At issue - here/now - is Mr. Cormack's and BC Transit's interplay in all this: We seem to have been misinformed, left uninformed; Nelson leased - not bought - these buses, with all that may entail; smaller and/or different buses never seem to have been an option; with only one choice? of bus to lease from only one source - figures of probable additional costs must have been easily available and projectable.

Unless this is another "location-specific" situation.

If operating-costs were known - as they must/should have been - most of them must have also been expected to become a fixed fact.

Council - kind of maintaining a dazed cool after the meeting's big BC-Transit whopper - neither probed the obvious with City Manager Cormack nor with BC Transit's Mr. Schubert. Or Mayor Dooley.

Honey, not in front of the children!

This is not a one-off - if Nelson is stuck with these buses, Nelson is also stuck with these costs, and that money has to come from somewhere for the duration! Like - years. Thus - if they drop Sunday and certain routes this year - what will they drop come next year's budget?

An idea - something positive: The city could rent out - BC Transit willing, bless their little heart - the buses as advertising billboards to corporations - in BC, nationwide. Culturally responsible sponsors; floating fun-murals for a fee! Can you see it?

A somewhat subdued Mayor Dooley talked about all this (what?) being for the better eventually - specifically a regionally integrated transit-system to address all area-transit needs. That would be good - look at the Trail situation alone - but - I mean, come on! - the idea is Utopian. He also  told us that - despite the perception that there had been - there was no disagreement between Nelson and BC Transit. In the meeting anyway - this had never come up. So his statement may have come from a defensive place. This should not come as a surprise; Nelson may have/should have been resistant to BC Transit making the city's transit decisions. Or not!
Regardless - even if I should be somewhat off the mark with my perception of the Sunday-scenario and observations during the meeting - lack of information, transparency, accountability, even misinformation on the bus-issue since Day 1 leaves much room for interpretation. And resentment towards the players. City Hall would be well-advised to keep in mind: in politics perception carries more weight than fact.  
Right now, right here: Sunday! And what actually got us through the week! 
Explanations!

According to Mr. Schubert, there will be several more consultations with the public, over a period of time. What else is BC Transit working (on)? He looked relieved as he turned away - finished with this round.

What is vital - when it comes to meaningfulness of these consultations - is that Council becomes fully informed for and totally open in these meetings, and that the Whole - at the same time - shows determined concern with staying-power.

With all due respect - in order for the Committee to be OF the Whole instead of FOR the Whole - may I suggest that all officials sitting behind a microphone use it.

Local news-media must stay on top of developments probingly and keep the Whole informed fully! Megan Cole's Transit cuts spur on crowds, Nelson Star, Sep. 19 - although extensive, considering what she had to work with - did not reflect the urgency behind the Sunday-crowd's presentations.

Council has not been doing well with big-money items for some time: It shopped - and continues to shop - a big chunk of horizontal/vertical land and lake to a developer without financial backbone; it shopped the cinema to a seemingly unexplored/secured financial partnership; it got on the bus with eyes wide-shut; and time will tell about the heron-post's installation.

This evening was a P.R. disaster for all doers involved - actually City Hall period!

City Manager Cormack - appearing unfazed - said in the meeting that other places around don't have bus-service on Sunday either. So there! This sort of reasoning by comparing - the thinnish comfort of company - justifies a lack of willingness. Part of his job - but!

Nelson taking steps - and through them growing-up and into an (id)entity all its own - we don't manage yet.

Well-primed Mr. Schubert did not offer us any comfort to take home. While Slipstream Donna - after all was not said and not done - found his "recommendations" during the meeting "quite brilliant".

Election!

All the explanations you can eat and swallow!