Regarding 'Our Duty as Elected Officials'

Mayor Bratina has a post on his blog. 'Our Duty as Elected Officials'.

It's pretty straightforward stuff.

In it, he says "People sometimes ask about the roles and responsibilities of the Mayor and Council." I won't deny that there are some who want the kinds of answers he's provided in quoting from the Municipal Act. But I'd bet a fair amount of moolah people aren't actually asking about remit and purview and limitations of power, job duties and performance expectations. My guess is that they're trying to ask a pair of pretty uncomfortable questions. (Uncomfortable to ask as well as to answer.)

"Why doesn't anyone actually lead at City Hall?"

and

"Why is there so little vision?"

Granted, most Hamiltonians possess only small amounts of understanding and comprehension of what goes on at City Hall. (In fairness, in terms our 'civics' in our education system, it's apparently limited to a Grade 10 course. Never mind the fact that most of us can't ) Such small amounts, that when something happens that seems an 'issue', when something blows up good, the existing cynicism and general distrust gets magnified by this ignorance. (Or vice-versa) Because we don't have a deep, working understanding and appreciation of the ins-and-outs, we tend to overreact. This isn't extraordinary, or peculiar to 71 Main Street West; it tends to unfold in all aspects of Life. What's that philosopher's belief? 'Knowing is half the battle.'

So it's good for all of us to have resources at hand so we can properly contextualize things. To appreciate what's reasonable, what's not, to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were. But I'd pay an additional pile of moolah to hear what Mayor Bratina has to say about leadership and vision.

M Adrian Brassington