Sunday, May 24, 2009

SWSDA Meeting of the 27th of May

-------- Your tax dollars at work ---------



If I were able to, here are some of the questions I would ask at the next SWSDA meeting. Would one of the voting or non-voting members do me a favour and pose some of these questions.

1. Who else pays Mr. Anderson's salary and why?

2. How much do they pay him?

3. What services does he provide for them as opposed to SWSDA?

4. Who approves Mr. Anderson's travel expense claims? Does anyone else share in reimbursing Mr. Anderson's travel expense claims? If others do, who are they and why do they?

5. Which lawyers has SWSDA employed in the past five years and for what purposes?

6. How much was each lawyer paid and out of which funds were they paid?

7. What contracts have the MacDonnell Group or their affiliates gotten from SWSDA or SWSDA managed projects over the last decade?

8. What is the total value of those contracts?

9. Which ones were tendered and who was on the contract selection committee and who signed the contracts?

10. How much cash did SWSDA actually receive from the sale of the former Naval Base in March/April 2008 and since?

11. How much is SWSDA still owed for the purchase of the Base besides the mortgage?

12. What does the municipality of Shelburne owe SWSDA for expenses SWSDA claims it incurred at the Base? Produce an audited statement of these expenses.

13. What is the legal basis for this indebtedness of the Municipality of Shelburne to SWSDA? Produce evidence.

14. What revenues has SWSDA collected from its take over, operation and sale of the Shelburne Park between 1999 and the present?

15. What revenues has SWSDA received from the Municipality of Shelburne since 1999 to the present in support of SWSDA's operations of Shelburne Park?

16. What funding has SWSDA received from Federal, Provincial and private sources since 1999 for activities, programs and projects at the Former Naval Base?

17. What other revenues has SWSDA derived from the former Naval Base including, but not limited to, rentals, auctions and sales of property, mortgages, loans, deposits of any kind, options to purchase and/or sell?

18. Who has authority to approve and or sign legal instruments, contracts, mortgages and other financial and/or contractual documents at SWSDA and how many signatures are required?

19. Are there policies and/or regulations with limits on expenditures for entertainment and alcohol?

20 .If there are, provide copies.

21. If there are not, why aren't there?

22. Provide a written justification with evidence and documentation explaining why meetings will now only be held in Yarmouth.

23. Is SWSDA prepared to receive a delegation of concerned citizens and hold a public forum respecting the future accountability and transparency of SWSDA operations?

24. Why should Shelburne County continue to support SWSDA and not seek to have the Minister create an RDA for Shelburne County?

25. If SWSDA loses the Contempt hearing in October, how much additional money will SWSDA have to provide and when? Where will that money come from?

26. How much in legal fees has SWSDA budgeted for the two day contempt hearing on the Boys School Fund?

27. Did SWSDA actually spend both the maintenance fund and the proceeds of the sale of the Boys School before the Fraudulent Conveyance trial took place in December 2007?

28. Did SWSDA continue to spend and charge expenses against the Boys School property sale revenues and maintenance fund account for nine months after the Boys School was sold?

29 If it did, why did it?

30. Is this Contempt claim against SWSDA because SWSDA has reduced the amount deposited as ordered by the courts by the amount SWSDA has spent between June 2007 when the property was sold and March 31, 2008, nine months later?

31. Is it true that SWSDA has not paid interest on the Team Shelburne Funds for nearly two years?

32. If it is, why hasn't SWSDA?

33. If the public gets to review Mr. Anderson's travel expense claims for other years beside FY 2005/2006, will SWSDA again be embarrassed?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Relating to question one and two, I would like to know what other boards frank is on.

Anonymous said...

We know that he is a salaried employee of YAIC (minutes of YAIC mtgs.), and we know he is on the board of the Trade Centre (TCL) which Stu McInnes (Frank's legal mentor) is Chairman of.

In regards to Ed's questions for the board members, this meeting will tell the tale as to whether the board are going to carry on as usual, or are going to finally begin carrying out their fiduciary duties without prejudice!

We think Frank has emptied his desk in prep for his early departure to a friendlier environment.

Fr: gangofthreewithallbetsonthetable

Anonymous said...

It's early so forgive me if I am behind the times on this subject, but aren't there signals that some of our Shelburne Co. reps on the BofD have a "conflict of interest", when you consider the possibility of their municipal/town debts to SWSDA?

It appears the MO of secrecy and delay is backfiring on the CEO, who will have to face the music eventually.

Anonymous said...

Oops, I forgot his plum position on the board of the N.S. College of Arts and Design (NSCAD). As Manager of the Western N.S. Agricultural Exhibition he is acting as a volunteer - I assume?

Anonymous said...

Rodney fiddles, while Hurlburt diddles, leaving Frank to piddle the fund$ away. No wonder Hfx harbour is so polluted!

Anonymous said...

It was a moment of serendipity while reading John O'Sullivan's sage words in regards to the Brit MPs' expense scandal, "The result will be parties with many new MPs - almost new parties in fact - committed to reforming not only Parliament but also the wider political system of government, scandal equals reform."
- from "The Mother of All British Scandals", 25 May 2009.

There's hope that reform will take effect within our Canadian Parliament, our N.S. Legislature, and our Municipal Governments.

On Wednesday we'll see reform within SWSDA, now that the ratepayers have seen proof of the CEO's scandalous expenses with the complicity of an inept BofD.
-fromglasshalffull

Unknown said...

I am absolutely intoxicated by the fresh elixer of optimism from the provious poster. Reform within SWSDA indeed! That the collection of directors of SWSDA will somehow find the scant spine necessary to voice even the most modest apprehension about his doings on their behalf would be more than one could hope for. No... this group of earnest public servants will return to their respective councils and constituents and plead that it was "all too much to bear" but that really, in the whole of it, "there was not much we could do" and perhaps that just by being patient "perhaps one more month or year" that, somehow reform will arrive unseeen, like the fungal droplets which give birth to dank and succulent morels in the woods.

No, dear friends, there will be no questions asked, no reform, no strength of character, no change. There will be for us another litany of excuses with which we will be expected to butter the rancid crumbs of disappopintment were are yet again left with.

Anonymous said...

How did the Shelb. Co. ratepayers who were up in arms a few years ago become so complacent again?

Wake up folks, the writing's on the wall - the day of hefty taxes is just around the corner, if SWSDA and our Municipal council are left to their own devices. You gained a few years of reprieve from the tax increases, but you left the culprit, SWSDA, unscathed. That's where your anger should have been directed - that's where the problems developed. We bought the T-shirt and we'll be paying for it for years to come.

We hoped for change after the last municipal elections, but things haven't changed an iota. If anything we hear less from this group than we heard from the previous councils. Warden Embree and Mayor Delaney have yet to speak out on SWSDA - so we'll see how they perform this Wednesday.

June 9th will surely pound the final nail in SWSDA's coffin. In the meantime, we appreciate all the info you have provided to the public Ed. We had an e-mail from B.C. today - they can't believe what they're seeing in those expense claims, and the giveaway of the two major properties. Guess you have to live through it, to realize just how apathetic this area is when it comes to protesting against local corruption.

"The rich get rich, and the poor get poorer", will definitely apply to this area if folks don't wake up and smell the coffee. There are some things that you never get to do a "do-over" on, so let's hope its not too late on this one.

fr, wepredictavacancyinSWSDAthe10th

Anonymous said...

Ah Timothy, you've been working too hard my lad. Take a deep breath and repeat after me, "Change is coming, change is coming..."

From, Ifeelitintheseoldbones

Unknown said...

Dear old bones.... just the elixer I needed. Thanks. TG

Anonymous said...

As a matter of interest has anyone looked at the financial matters of the base before the dragon Anderson too over? AnnR