COVER YOUR ASS IN WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP

Back on September 2, 2014 the Woolwich Observer published their Editorial titled "You must think like a bureaucrat to justify $25,000". This Editorial lambasted Woolwich Council plus senior bureaucrats who made the decision to spens $25,000 while chasing $3,200 double expensed by Mayor Todd Cowan. Also keep in mind that as of that date Mayor Cowan had already returned approximately $2,700 of his alleged "ill gotten gains". Steve Kannon of the Observer describes Council's decision to spend the $25,000 as nothing more than CYA or Cover Your A.. . As Steve states it "...was an easy misdeed to identify..." yet both councillors and senior staff wanted a third party to do the dirty work for them all expensed to Woolwich residents. Further Steve writes "This is just the latest example of both groups living inside the same bureaucratic bubble, the one where even the most crass and self-serving ideas make perfect sense inside but not at all to everybody else.". I suspect that Steve is essentially correct but I also suspect that this is the norm for the vast majority of Councillors and staff municipally. Yes relying on experience is not inherently wrong however it is the Councillors who were elected not the staff and perhaps this occasionally becomes lost on one or both parties.