Frugal, not cheap

When I was younger, many of my friends called me cheap.
I always said I preferred the term frugal.

I am still frugal.  I was cutting firewood this afternoon and was reflecting on an example of this.

The background:
There is some form of blight or fungus killing the Arbutus trees in our yard. We wanted to top many of them while it was still a manageable task.    We would have been faced with a $3,500 bill to have a tree service come in and do all the work for us.

The result:
The attached video shows my frugal-ness in action.
Rather than paying to have the work done I decided to rent a 65' manlift, which was delivered to our home over the July long weekend, and tackle the job myself.

Total cost =  $1,000 plus three days of grueling, yet thrilling work for myself.

Tree topping video

In the attached video - that is me way up in the bucket.
I had to tie off the top of the tree as we could not have it landing on our septic field below.
I watched a couple Youtube videos to figure out how to do that, then practiced on a few small trees prior to moving to the bigger boys.

All in all, an awesome way to save $2,500.


Why do I mention this?
 
I will be bringing this kind of frugality to the council table if elected ....




Thanks to all of you who have read the posts on this blog, who are making the effort to get informed, and who will be voting tomorrow.


Thanks for reading, and for your support.
John

Water. Food For Thought - Volume 1

I'd like to pass on some food for thought for everyone about the signed water agreement with Nanaimo.

Did you know that this agreement is for (2) twenty year periods.

At the end of the first twenty years, Lantzville has the option to renew the agreement for an additional twenty year period by providing written notice to Nanaimo.

At the end of the second twenty year period, the agreement is done.    If I can borrow shamelessly from the Monty Python dead parrot sketch -  this agreement is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late agreement.  It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace.  This is an ex-agreement.

The contract terms can be found on page 9 of the agreement under Section 12. 

Executed Water Agreement With Nanaimo


 
What happens at the end of forty years?

We no longer have water being supplied from Nanaimo.  

The agreement we have signed is not for Nanaimo to supply water to Lantzville forever.  It is a contractual agreement to supply water during the two twenty year terms.

When this question was presented before Council in September 2014, a comment was made from one Councillor that this was fear mongering.

Fear mongering.  Ok, that is one perspective.

I prefer to think of it as "considering all outcomes"

What happens at the end of forty years?  

I realize that many of us will be bone meal when this forty year term expires, but that does not mean we get a free pass and do not have to think about the future.

If we are indeed thinking of the community, this needs to be considered, and solutions need to be incorporated into present planning.

Thanks for reading.
John 

2014 Mayoral Debate At The Lantzville Pub

The Lantzville pub hosted a mayoral debate on Sunday, November 9.
Thanks to Mike Seargeant for hosting this event.  All in all I think it was a well run debate.

I recorded the event with our digital camera and have posted the videos on YouTube for those interested but were unable to attend in person.

Notes:

- The debate began with three predetermined questions.  All three candidates had an opportunity to respond to each question for up to 2 minutes.

- The debate was then opened up for audience questions.  Only 1 question per audience member was permitted.  Councillors, either incumbents or hopefuls, were not permit to ask questions.  The audience could direct the question to a specific mayoral candidate, or set of candidates.  All three candidates were permitted to speak to a question regardless to whom it was originally asked.

- The session is broken into three videos.

- The video quality is not great.  I do apologize for that.
Filming toward windows on a nice day created some glare.
In addition, there is some sort of autofocusing feature on my camera that I could not turn off.



Video Links:

Mayoral Debate - Video 1 of 3

Mayoral Debate - Video 2 of 3

Mayoral Debate - Video 3 of 3

Look Ma, I'm On TV

My first time on local television.
Sadly, as the old joke goes, I have a face that was made for radio...

The link below is to the Shaw TV - 2014 Lantzville Municipal Candidate Platforms.  These segments have recently aired on local TV and have now been posted up to YouTube.

This clip is with all 3 mayoral candidates and the 10 Councillor candidates.

My slot starts at the 6:20 time stamp.


Shaw TV Candidate Platforms

Life Is Good Here In Lantzville

I was scrolling through all my blog posts last night.  It makes for a discouraging exercise  – in my opinion.

How did things get to this point in our dear town? 

But as frustrating, discouraging, and maddening as this can all be, and as much as I have written about these “issues”, I think it is equally important to reflect on the positives.  Overall, life is really quite good where we live. 

I’d like to lighten up on this post and offer my perspective on what is good about life in Lantzville.

From a global perspective:

• If you are reading this post, you belong to 1/3 of the world who can read.  67% of the world is illiterate.

• If you ate breakfast this morning you are better off than the 800 million people worldwide who will go hungry today

• If you have a nice roof over your head, you belong to a group of only 20% in the world who does.  80% of the world lives in substandard housing. 

• If you have electricity you are more fortunate that 24% of the world who does not. 

• If you have a college education, you belong to a group of only 1% worldwide who does.

• If you accessed this post via the internet, you are part of 7% of the world who is connected to the web.  

• If you have never experienced a war, a loneliness of an imprisonment, torture or a famine, you are happier, than 500 million persons in this world. 

•  If you have a bank account, money in your purse or wallet, you belong to 8% of well-provided people in this world.

• If there is a meal in your refrigerator, if you are dressed and have shoes, if you have a bed and a roof above your head, you are better off, than 75% of people in this world.

I'd like to offer my highlights of Lantzville in particular:

1)  I like how I can hop on my bike, and in ten minutes:

•  be playing at a number of playgrounds

• be at the local school

• be at my dentist, doctor, or accountant.

• be eating ice cream from the local store

• be walking in the forest

• be throwing rocks into the ocean with my kids

2)  I love that I built a house beside the very house that my parents built themselves, together, in
    1977.  

3)  I love how I am now coaching my son soccer in the same gym my parents coached me
     soccer in some 30 years ago. 

4)  I love how Seaview School stills smells exactly like I remember it as a kid.

5) I love the community events. 

• Minetown day and the Halloween fireworks were highlights for me growing up, and these have become highlights for my kids. 

• Breakfast with Santa by the Rotary club is also a big draw for the kiddos.

There is a great bunch of community organizations in this town.  Groups that are part of the
fabric of what Lantzville is. 

I love how I can go to one of these events, recognize and chat with dozens of people.

6)  I love how I still see and have conversations with folks who I delivered papers to or baby sat
     for as a teenager.


7)  Outside of baby sitting and a paper route, my first real job was working for Ron Doumont at R&R Welding, in the Lantzville Industrial Park. It was a 5 minute bike ride from my house.  It was a great experience and character builder for a 16 year old.  I did everything from sweeping the shop, helping cut fabrication pieces, to helping split firewood for Ron’s home.  I weighed about 80 lbs back then so you can imagine splitting firewood was not a real strength for me.  Ron would give me a rough time in the morning for being terrible at splitting wood.  He would then show up in the afternoon, hand me a creamsicle and tell me I was the best employee he ever had.  I still have fond memories driving by the industrial park due to those experiences from over 25 years ago.

 Yes - this is a great place to live ....

As Joe Friday Used To Say "Just the Facts, Ma'am"

I did a post back on October 8th regarding a questionable series of actions by the District and Council pertaining to a draft water agreement that was not revealed to Council for 18 months.

Something is Rotten In The State Of Lantzville
   
The highlights of the article were:

• The CAO of Lantzville had a draft water agreement from Nanaimo in 2011
• A draft agreement which would have supplied water to 651 homes in Lower Lantzville.  This would have freed up the Harby Road well field to supply homes in Upper Lantzville at Lantzville’s discretion 
• In February 2012, the City of Nanaimo resolves to not conclude a final agreement on water supply to Lantzville due to uncertainties surrounding the City’s water needs.  At this time Nanaimo had not received a reply from Lantzville regarding the draft agreement it had provided
• It appears Council was not notified of the existence of this 2011 draft agreement until June 2013

Since the original time of publishing that post, I have found further reference within Council minutes that speaks to the specific date the 2011 draft agreement was received.  Dec 21, 2011.


To reaffirm my position of the existence of the Dec 2011 draft water agreement, I have provided a link to the publicly available District staff report which:
1) proves existence of that water offer/agreement and,
2) notes when it was received by the District.  


Mar 24.2014 Report To Council     (See page 2)


Over the past two months I have made queries to numerous members of Council regarding this questionable timeline.  It has been met by a variety of answers, none of which are consistent with each other.

• During a regular Council meeting in Sept 2014, I questioned Council on the draft water agreement not being revealed until June 2013.  One Councillor said ""we were made aware of this draft agreement before then".   The mayor also stated "Council was well aware of the agreement". 

•  I asked one Councillor, in person, when they became aware of the 2011 draft water agreement.  June 2013 was the response. 

• In October 2014, through in person and email discussions, another Councillor denied the existence of this agreement.  

(I guess the good news is that we have found some common ground - we are both at a loss for what to say.)


Why was this agreement not revealed to Council in a more timely fashion?  
A material piece of information that could have drastically changed the nature of water supply to Lantzville – and it is not revealed to Council for one and a half years

Why are there such  inconsistencies in the responses to not only if, but when the draft agreement was revealed to Council.
The if cannot be disputed.  It is referred to in several pieces of information available on the District website.

The when.  That seems to vary depending on who you talk to. 



Cue the shameful sigh....

Election Literature - A Little Bit About Me

I just wanted to share a few of my personal literature pieces created for the upcoming election.

The first link is to a candidate questionnaire from the Nanaimo News Bulletin

NNB Candidate Questionnaire

The second link is for a flyer that will be mailed out over the next week.

John Coulson Election Flyer

Thanks for reading.
John