Public Input - Continuing The Discussion

This week Editor Bob Groeneveld of The Langley Advance published this Opinion piece. He makes it clear that even if all the seats of the Municipal Facility are fully for a public hearing, those 160 - 200 seats are still but a fraction of the now 104,000 people that call Langley Township home.

If council's final decision agrees with those numbers, the "winners" will applaud the triumph of democracy - and the "losers" will point out that a simple head-count at a public hearing is meaningless, in the final analysis, because even well-attended hearings, like the one concerning much of Fort Langley over the past two weeks, attracts only a small minority of the total population of the area affected.

At the end of the day, the rule of municipal democracy still comes down to the council table, and the weight that council members put on the votes they need to get re-elected, the contributions they'll need for their next election campaign, and - if democracy really, truly is working well - the facts of the issue, as they pertain to the greater good of the entire community.

-- Bob Groeneveld

We highlighted "entire community" because this is what we see is lacking in the current process and the politicking of a few council members (including Mayor Green). Instead of relying on the facts and greater good of the entire community, Green and company use this group of vocal residents to solidify their political futures. Or so they think...

The 208th Street Open House attracted approximately 750 people and that included many who do not live anywhere near 208th Street. Then look at how many people came out from Walnut Grove as compared with Willoughby. Are these numbers as substantial as The Langley Times (or Green Times) made them out to be?

Most new developments on 208th have added 1,000 - 1,500 people per development. If we took five developments along 208th alone, that would conservatively be 5,000 residents. Is 750 out of 5,000 and overwhelming response? Enough people for council to throw away all plans and leave things as they are? How many people live in Fort Langley? 91 people spoke for or against and that includes many repeat speakers (people who spoke more than once). Why wasn't it reported that a substantial group of silent and respectable people wore "Support The Plan" stickers in support of Parklane?

Good on Groeneveld for being well-balanced, rational and accurate. Now if more rational people in the community look at facts and operate from them (in place of emotions), Langley will be a better place for it.

Is Rick Green Worth The Expense?

Council recently released the annual report of mayor and council expenses in the Township. We have remained silent, but some serious questions need to be investigated and answered. Primarily the controversy centers around Mayor Rick Green's expenses.

Kurt Alberts was on a self-imposed salary of roughly $40K and donated all his automatic salary increases. I had said $58K at one time and was corrected. Rick Green makes $93K per year and with his Metro Vancouver pay he is at $120K ++ I was able to locate expenses for Former Mayor Kurt Alberts for 2007. Here is the comparison:

Former Mayor Kurt Alberts 2007 Expenses = $ 2,419

Mayor Rick Green's 2008 Expenses = $ 12,620

Why do you suppose that for the same work and meetings, Mayor Rick Green has managed to spend 10 times more than Former Mayor Kurt Alberts? How does that happen? We watched the webcast of the Special Meeting of Council on Monday and when questioned by Council members, Green stated that he received the money "automatically". He claims to have not had to submit receipts or sign anything for the expenses. He stressed this 4 times during the discussion, cutting Council members off to do so.

The Langley Record is investigating this claim, but so far Green's statements do not add up. We checked with several municipal experts and thus far, all say that Mayor Green would have to sign to approve these expenses. It is routine and a required municipal accounting practice and process. Stay tuned. If the local newspapers don't do their homework, we will do a Freedom of Information Request to get you the facts.

What do you think about this 10 fold increase in the mayor's expenses, despite Mayor Green getting a salary more than 5 times that of his predecessor and getting 1/3 of that tax free by statute?