Over the past 2 months of watching The Town of Orangeville Council proceedings, I have seen many things that have shocked me, outraged me, and left me with a puzzled look on my face. I sit in council chambers, quite purposefully, out of camera shot for the very reason that I often wear my heart on my sleeve, and just the same, I wear my reactions on my face. I’m sure that if I did sit in camera shot, the folks at Rogers Cable would be able to make an entire blooper reel just based on my facial expressions at Town Council Meetings.
Even though I sit in Council Chambers, I still PVR the taping on Rogers Cable so that I can fully pay attention during the meeting and re-watch it when I get home to get my quotes, or just to re-watch an area that may have left me confused. I know, I know, I’m a bit of a political nerd…and I am ok with it!!!
There have been multiple points since the December 1st inauguration of council that I have pondered the question “What if elected officials were treated as most employees of any company would be?” And by that, I am referring to things such as the Code of Conduct – again one of those things that left a puzzled and angry face. And most importantly, what if they were held to the same 90-day probationary period that new employees are held to??
I know as a retail manager, I have had to use the 90-day probationary period to terminate new employees to didn’t quite “cut the mustard”. During the interview process, the reference check process and even the initial on boarding phase, they had given me the impression that they would be great employees. That they would live up to the job description as was outlined at the interview. That they would live up to all of my expectations as their manager. The reality is that I am usually a good judge of character and usually I make the right hiring decisions, but sometimes I don’t. So that 90-day probation, protects me as an employer so that I am not “stuck” with a bad decision. I think voters should get that same “get-out-of-jail-free” card! We, as voters, vote for someone that we think (based on their campaign brochures) will do a great job representing us as taxpayers, and sometimes we get it wrong!
Now maybe to be fair, based on the fact that they do only meet a couple of times per month, maybe it would need to be a 6-month probationary period, or even a One-Year evaluation!! In my humble opinion, that little bit of extra accountability may do a whole lot of good!
I would love to hear your thoughts on this one!!