Re: Article “Why weren’t we told?” which appeared in the Jan. 17 edition of Northern Life.

In an article in a recent Northern Life edition, the mayor is quoted as saying that the previous council was at fault for not making the office of the auditor general permanent when it appointed Brian Bigger as the city’s first auditor general in 2009.

Then she is quoted as saying “This was a mistake by (former Mayor) John Rodriguez. This should have been a permanent office. I know they wanted to have a trial period, but after awhile you need to make it permanent.”

I want to inform the mayor that neither I nor my council made a mistake in 2009 when we created the office of the auditor general and hired an auditor general from a group of quality candidates who were well aware of the length of the contract and the review provision at the end of three years.

At the end of three years, council would review the experience of having an auditor general, in terms of cost-benefit and overall efficacy of the office.

Obviously, the review period has fallen within the present mayor’s term. Because of the mayor’s lack of leadership skills, council ended up extending the auditor’s term for one year, which has resulted in a backlash from the community.

The mayor should have led council in review of the three years of having an auditor general’s office, and, by motion, decided its future. The next question that should have been decided was the length of the contract of the present auditor.

Apparently, this will finally get done on Jan. 29, but not without a considerable amount of public angst and further loss of confidence in the ability of this mayor to lead.

We may very well have exchanged the “bus driver” for the “captain of the Costa Concordia.”

John Rodriguez
Greater Sudbury