Two highly placed municipal officials were forced to resign by Mayor Gérald Tremblay, who’s trying to appear above it all. But according to The Gazette, the report details “58 findings related to overspending, administrative laxity and poor communication in the awarding of the contract, which the city council approved unanimously and without debate in November 2007. It provides 26 recommendations for changes. s 58 findings related to overspending, administrative laxity and poor communication in the awarding of the contract, which the city council approved unanimously and without debate in November 2007. It provides 26 recommendations for changes.”
Among the most damning things are details of the way that the legal work and specifications were farmed out to consulting firms, even though the city has its own legal and engineering departments. It would seem that those involved were great believers in the private sector, which, we all know, has profit not the public good as its bottom line
Tremblay has a reputation for being personally squeaky-clean, but if he wasn’t involved in wrong-doing, it seems that he was clearly not acting like a competent manager of a great city. We need strong, effective public servants working in an atmosphere where honesty and duty to—well, call it the people, the collectivity, the public, or whatever you want—prevail.
We also need water meters—it’s clear that a lot of water is being wasted because people don’t know how much they’re using—but there’s no reason why putting them in should cost so much or why our tax dollars should be wasted by network of the old boys and the Public Private Partnership posse.
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