If there’s any theme I’d put on this week’s stories, it’s a failure to communicate.
First, there’s the North East School Division’s decision to not go ahead with leasing parts of Gronlid Central School to house a proposed daycare in the hamlet. While it’s perfectly in their rights to make that decision, it was a poor choice on their part to send a letter to the proponents – who spent months on the proposal – that they made the decision because of “various reasons” and then fail to elaborate. I’m certain that if at least some of the reasons were briefly touched upon, the division would be facing less anger than it is now.
Then, there’s the Archerwill tax controversy. That, too, was a decision that village’s council was in their rights to make, even though one might disagree with how well they balanced the limited resources of the village with the limited resources of taxpayers. In that case too, council needed to be able to explain why they made the decision they made, commit that explanation to memory and spread it far and wide. When citizens don’t understand what is going on and why it’s happening, they tend to get angry.
An example of good communication this week: the discussion in Melfort about creating a business improvement district. The informational meeting explained what it was – and more importantly – told the businesses that it’s going to cost them money. They also booked another meeting so that more people have the chance to ask questions.
We’re not going to agree with everything that our governmental bodies do – there’s just too many interests out there to do that – but in the end, we as citizens should be able to get clear and understandable reasoning why that decision was made. It’s better for all to get it before we ask for it.
