Onagawa Truck: Life-Giver!

There's a crack in everything;
that's how the light gets in.
                                   
                                      Leonard Cohen



Following below the first picture is the text - with revelatory clarifications - of my presentation to the Committee of the Whole (COW) - Nov. 19, 2012. 
There, prompted by the Chair: Kevin Cormack, City Manager - staying clear of my 4 simple questions - rambles on sideways: avoiding his microphone. On the spot developing a scenario long on words and short on facts - generally waiting for the mayor to tell us what to do, and then we'll do that. When he gets back. You can get your answers from HIM! 
This resistance later makes me think: what I had intended as only a brief in-person presentation of recent developments to Council and (very important!) those of the Whole sitting behind me - really has to go out there to face the greater Whole: the Japan-disaster-relief donors! Like: it's their money Mr. Cormack doesn't want to talk about. 

This post builds on and boils down the recent preceding 4 - but may not be the last, considering that now clearly all roads lead to City Hall.
I must assume that the reader is familiar with this truck-issue - as I couldn't possibly again deja vu all over again.

Onagawa Truck: Who Pays What - Why and How?
This is the heading of my presentation to the COW. But before getting into that:
The What and How ought to be of major concern, I mean, how much flat-bed truck can 30.000 Canadian dollars buy - and a flat-bed truck is what Onagawa now wants! A very used one - as good as new? Driven to church on Sundays only by a little old Japanese lady? For you cheap? Provided there still are $30.000 in the City-kitty, by the time whoever gets down for real to this long-distance truck-business.
It seems that the Nelson-group - in its magnanimous swoon - failed to make clear to the Onagawa-group that there is only so much money to be lavished!
Oops and hello! and now what!


TEXT

Transparency
In The Nelson Daily, Oct. 18, Mayor Dooley says the committee and the City now need to work out the truck purchase.
Meaning: the mayor is unilaterally making available unspecified time, manpower and money at/from City Hall, for an unapproved, undefined project. According to a member of his committee: it is he as the City - not the committee - who is now in contact with the Japanese Consulate in Vancouver over truck matters.
Question to Mayor Dooley:
Why is neither Council nor the donating electorate informed of your role in this disaster-relief disaster?

Accountability
Council approved a scholarship of $10.000 for Onagawa. This scholarship was never defined in terms of intent and structure. Regardless - according to the same committee-member - Onagawa rejects scholarships as unsuitable. Seeing that this fund was approved for a scholarship only, it would seem decidedly inappropriate to apply it to a truck-purchase or anything else.
Questions to Council:
1.
Are you aware of this and if so: what happened/will happen with the money?
2.
If you aren't - why not?
3.
Why is the tax-paying electorate - whose money was committed - uninformed of any of this?

Accountability:
Back to Mr. Cormack. It was never made public how much donated money exactly went into the City-held account - it is not known how much money exactly is in this account today. Presumably there are about $30.000, not including the $10.000 for the scholarship.
A serious lapse in professionalism: there is no written legal document identifying a person/persons with authority over safeguarding, releasing, transferring and/or applying these funds. This - in connection with the mayor saying in the same Nelson Daily: he does not know to whom these funds belong legally - has created a possibly very questionable situation. And Mr. Cormack says in this meeting - a bizarre first! - that the collected funds were donated to the City! Right! Covered!
Questions to Mr. Cormack:
1.
How will you allocate funds for the process of Mayor Dooley's truck-purchase?
2.
Will these funds come from City Hall or the donations, seeing that - unapproved - neither source would be justifiable?
3.
Have there been any withdrawals from the account?
4.
Why is neither Council nor the donating public informed of any of this?

Credibility
The same committee-member writes recently:
A flat-bed truck could be used either for setting-up community-events or to aid in evacuation, in the event of another disaster (for example a large typhoon such as Sandy)..... Also the citizens have been left with high anxiety levels, and a truck...relieves their anxiety.
Aside from ascribing mood-altering properties to this phantom-truck - this latest justification for the absolute necessity of it seems to make it the ONLY truck in a town the size of Nelson and presupposes this truck will survive until and in the next disaster - surely just around the corner.
She also stresses that giving these funds to the Red Cross or the Onagawa Hospital would not make the donation identifiable. Meaning: no glorifying plaque for Nelson! Clearly showing again: this effort has never been about compassion but calculated for applause!

The Donating Public
The Nelson public - various fundraising groups and many individuals - have been left uninformed for over one year. Many of them came from giving spontaneously and generously over 18 months ago, to offer some disaster-relief to those in immediate need. While now possibly looking at these funds being turned into a feel-good gesture only: for a select group of Onagawa Japanese - by a small special-interest group of Nelsonites.

With most of the money to end-up in pockets of middlemen and a truck dealer?

A long-overdue in-depth look at this City-Hall tangle must be facilitated by a willingly! proactive Council NOW!


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