Absence Does Not Make The Heart Grow Fonder

It's cheap shot time in Windsor.

Yup, Councillor Marra missed on average about 6 Council meetings a year.

Yup the Star played it out on a headline

Yup, the Star pointed out, as everyone at City Hall knows, that his wife is quite ill and MUST travel out of town frequently for treatment.

Yup, it was a cheap shot.

Yup, Edgar (aka Eddie) and the Star are desperately afraid that Bill Marra might be the next Mayor.

This reminded me about what Edgar told me when he first ran for Mayor. In the year before the election, he did not spend one single penny on expenses so that when the story appeared in the press, it would show how frugal he was in comparison with other Councillors.

Oh, that was the year he ran against Marra for Mayor. Déjà vu?

Too bad we did not find out how many Committee meetings Edgar missed or only attended for a few minutes since he gets paid for those too. And he keeps those fees all to himself and does not share them as Councillors do:

• "the capital budget requires $19.6 million in spending this year to match the system’s needs, he said.
  
  “It’s easy to maintain the status quo, but that does nothing to ensure we are providing safe and reliable water,” Wladarski said.
  
  The board Thursday approved spending $12 million on capital projects for 2010 and will decide in the spring after the public consultation sessions whether to approve the hike to bolster the infrastructure spending and match the request by Wladarski and administration.
  
  WUC commissioner George Sandala said he agrees with the rate hike.
  
  “These are tough economic times. I get that,” he said. “But the public needs some idea what we need to invest in our system to keep our water safe. We are not self-sufficient.”
  
  WUC member Mayor Eddie Francis was absent because of a trip to England, but chairman Ken Lewenza Jr. said the commission will listen to public comments before making any final decisions."

Did you notice that the Mayor just wants to look at "in-camera, special or budget meetings." Considering that he calls them, I am sure his attendance will be almost perfect there! Marra's absence numbers will be huge then too since many in camera meetings are held on the same night as a Council meetings.

Oooops, missing that WUC meeting does not count. Edgar put another term to keep his numbers low: "do not include any meetings missed by councillors or himself because of city business." That means no matter how long the UK trip was.

Silly me. I thought the Mayor and Council were supposed to run the City since we have so many important issues to solve. Didn't Edgar scold the Councillors and tell them to stop electioneering? Of course now he wants openness and transparency when he can slam Marra:

• "It's about accountability. We knock on doors saying we want to represent you at the table.... I think the public has a right to know," said Mayor Eddie Francis."