Losing face or losing faith?

Here we are once again writing about information that should be available to taxpayers, but isn’t. Yet here we are, lamenting not only that the report and financial statements of the Hawkesbury Commercial and Touristic Society (HCTS) are not available to this newspaper or to taxpayers, but are apparently likewise not available to the Town of Hawkesbury mayor, councillors, or its chief administrative officer.
If you think you have heard this before, you probably have read about the same problem in previous years.
That’s not the amazing part. The amazing part is that none of Hawkesbury’s councillors are asking for this accountability either and they are supposed to be holding the strings to the public’s purse.
Instead, it appears as if Hawkesbury councillors are content to let Mayor Jeanne Charlebois appear like an unreasonable leader as she expresses her “disgust” at the fact that the town gives this agency  $120,000 and according to her, “has no idea what’s going on over there.”
Maybe it is just another rant from the mayor or maybe it is time for a little healthy outrage.
Case in point: in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the organization’s website, there are no questions or answers posted there. 
Somehow, this organization, with its quarter-million-dollar budget, is not to be confused with the role of the town’s own economic development department.
According to the website, this agency’s aim is to  promote and develop the continuation of enterprises in Town and promotes the establishment of (sic) new Hawkesbury Commercial and Touristic Society. 
In 2008, the agency spent $160,000 on salaries and benefits and recently, the Ontario Trillium Foundation announced $39,300 over one year to hire a coordinator who will set up cooperative and secure contracts from businesses to provide youth and young unemployed adults with employment opportunities in Prescott-Russell.
The vague description in the Ontario Trillium Foundation announcement does nothing to clarify what the Hawkesbury agency, funded by Hawkesbury tax dollars and funding from the United Counties of Prescott-Russell among other government agencies, has to do with youth employment in Prescott-Russell.
Perhaps we will hear at some point a clear explanation of how this agency, the town’s economic development department and Prescott-Russell employment initiatives are all tied together.
It is frightening to think that if we and Hawkesbury councillors can’t explain how all of this works,  how are taxpayers supposed to find the time to understand the big picture?
It is election year and that is good news for all of us because it means that there may be the opportunity to ask questions and expect answers.
Surely one of the government or non-government agencies funding this organization can explain the good work being accomplished by a quarter of a million dollars a year being spent in Hawkesbury.
From the outside, it sure is hard to see.
Perhaps we will join the mayor in her rant; we’ve got nothing to lose – except our faith in the notion of accountability.
L.S.