CTA First Annual Report Card - Cobourg Taxpayers Association

The CTA hopes that you enjoy our first annual report card for our councillors. The idea was created in response to the report card done by the Northumberland News on June 25, 2015. We thought it was sadly out of touch and decided to do our own. Ratings from the CTA’s six directors were collected, compiled and consolidated. We look forward to seeing if our supporters agree with us.

When doing your own ratings, please consider a couple of factors that may cause you to weight your answers a little more carefully. Debra McCarthy and Theresa Rickerby are carrying about double the number of committees as the Brian Darling, Forrest Rowden and Larry Sherwin ( 8 vs. 4). In addition, their committees tend to be more labour-intensive and somewhat controversial. Link to councillor responsibilities here. Also, there appear to be differences in total amount of monies received (Special Mention: Forrest Rowden). See information from 2014 here. Ian Davey had not replied with our request for updated numbers at time of posting.

Criteria

Attendance
Understands the needs of constituents
Furthers CTA goals of increased transparency and lower costs of government
Accessible by constituents—prompt replies to emails and phone calls without excessive political spin
Out-of-the-box thinking—proposes innovative solutions to provide superior services while reducing costs to taxpayers
Well informed on issues in their Coordinator portfolio—reasoned discussions of issues, alternatives and impacts. Challenges other Councillors to justify proposals.

Grading System

A Excellent
B Good
C Average
D Minimal
F Fail

We gave supporters the opportunity to grade the Councillors and the results are published below along with the CTA Directors’ grades. Our thanks to everyone who particpated.