At a time when Colwood is poorer than poor and barely treading financial water I was shocked to learn that our fair city went on a hiring binge increasing salaries that we have to pay by $500,000 each year — positions like deputy engineer, deputy finance director, deputy fire chief. What’s with all the new “deputy” positions? The two declared individuals running for mayor of Colwood have failed to address this situation with an action plan.
For direction, they need look no farther than our successful neighbour Langford. Their mayor has had a consistent vision and an action plan to make things happen.
Anyone living in Langford can run for political office in Colwood. Therefore, we need to convince one of their successful councillors, someone like Lillian Szpak, to run for mayor of Colwood.
This makes perfect sense as she is part of the team that put Langford on the map. She would get rid of the high-paid administrative extras at Colwood city hall and significantly reduce red tape in Colwood.
Currently, it takes 18 months to get a straight-forward commercial building permit in Colwood and only three months in Langford. Getting a building permit in Colwood should be called the “Colwood Crawl.”
Colwood also needs to change its tax base by adding significantly more commercial development — a Langford speciality. Why are we constantly trying to reinvent the wheel in Colwood when we have specialists next door in Langford who can show us how to get the job done?
Bring in a hired gun for mayor.
John Townson
Colwood