First off, Happy Holidays Cochrane! Also, a personal thank you to Coun. Marni Fedeyko for taking time out of her busy day (2017/12/31) to meet with me to discuss some recent council activities.
I also want to say I continue to be cautiously optimistic about some of the motions coming forth from council, most recently, hearing that Coun. Alex Reed is asking for financial transparency.
I have written in the past that I am not a believer in “trickle down economics.” There are systemic challenges for people who sometimes require more from our community. I’ve also written that I do not believe in the justification that a town the size of Cochrane needs to pay equivalent salaries for top executive positions in order to “compete” with other larger cities like Calgary.
The argument to pay equivalent salaries has two fundamental errors. One, we live in Cochrane for what it offers as a community. I, for one, like seeing the mountains, being close to the mountains and having the choice to attend large events like a Calgary Flames Game if I want, but not having to live in the chaos of Calgary. This argument also lacks common sense. When does it make sense to pay someone the equivalent salary for the same position for a city of more than 1.5 million people when we have less than 30,000?
My only concern with “transparency” is what we do with these numbers. Do these numbers translate into political gamesmanship that offers short-term gain for a select group of politicians? Or do we use these numbers to look at more economical long-term planning hiring practices that will benefit the town. All the present council ran on a platform of financial responsibility, let’s hope this is the end game of this motion.
Dan Cunin
