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HERB DUNCAN
The silent majority

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I have to admit I was a bit taken aback as I watched Mayor Ivan Court at a common council meeting launch a verbal accusatory rant at the Telegraph-Journal, publisher Jamie Irving and senior editor Ron Barry. I felt, well, to tell you the truth, left out. After all, over the past two and a half years who has been more critical concerning senior city management and council's performance than me? I'm not the Telegraph-Journal, just one of the thousands of taxpayers in Saint John taxpayers who are sick and tired of council's making excuses and not holding city management accountable.

The Telegraph-Journal hired Corporate Research Associates, an independent company, to poll Saint Johners on critically important issues and the people have spoken. The problem is that King "¦ I mean Mayor Court ... doesn't like the results so he attacks the messenger. The articles contain questions that deal with the same long-standing issues that candidates were introduced as they went door to door during the election campaign in May 2008 and yet again during the town hall meetings in the fall. Court doesn't like the results so now he is trying the same bully tactics on the newspaper that he uses on councillors who don't see things his way. Why do you suppose local real estate agent Gerry Webster has so many people eager to sign his petition to recall the mayor? You can download the form at www.recallsaintjohn.ca and, by the way, I plan to sign it.

How about the reason Court gives to the media for city manager Terry Totten's resignation? Why it's because of all the negative articles leveled at Totten by the Telegraph-Journal. Hmmm "¦ let's see ... if you have a baseball team that has lost 19 out its last 20 games, how do you propose we spin that into a good news story and why would you? Well, let's see? We could try. ... "At least they kept their uniforms clean."

Back to basics and the facts: Saint John has a city manager form of government. That means the city manger is responsible for running the city, much the same as a chief executive officer in a corporation. Council, on the other hand, functions like a board of directors to protect the interest of the taxpayers. The city manager brings recommendations to council for consideration and approval. Now, here is the really important part: Council "relies" on the city manager to bring forward "sound recommendations." Over the past 15 years, Totten brought more than 5,000 recommendations to council. This and previous councils accepted all but a few. How should we gauge the quality and soundness of those recommendations?

Let's take a quick vital signs snapshot for Saint John

* We have the second-highest tax rate of any city in Atlantic Canada.

* We have the highest fire protection cost per person of any city in Atlantic Canada, (more than twice the New Brunswick average).

* We have an abundance of dilapidated and fire-trap buildings that should have been leveled years ago.

* Our population base continued to decline up until the 2006 census. Saint John was one of only two cities in Canada to have a declining population (Moncton's increase in population out-stripped the national average).

* Highest level of poverty per capita of any city in Canada. Why? Because too many of Saint John's upper to middle income bracket have "escaped" to the valley.

* A sewer and water system that has been allowed to deteriorate to an unacceptable and dangerous level.

* Roads conditions that are appalling. Don't believe me? Take a drive on almost any street.

* A pension fund with a $140-million-plus unfunded deficit.

* A city employee long-term disability rate three to four times higher than"¦. Oh, there's that word again ... Moncton.

* A lawsuit by the pension board against former councillor John Ferguson, who dared question the management of the fund and disability numbers. (Remember, Totten is one of the plaintiffs in the suit.)

* The last 15 years with no formal sick leave policy in place.

* The last 15 years with no benchmarking or performance criteria for any department. (You can't manage what you don't measure.)

If the above were the statistics for a company, how would you say we are doing?

Is that enough?

So did Totten resign because of negative articles about him or did he resign because the people and council had lost confidence in his ability to effectively manage city affairs? It's your city, you be the judge.

Herb Duncan is a Saint John businessman who has followed city issues for more than three decades. He can be reached by email at duncan.herb@telegraphjournal.com