2010 grade: C
2009 grade: C+
2008 grade: B-
2007 grade: B
In March, Sue Uteck’s dog, a 135-pound bullmastiff named Homer, jumped on a woman in Point Pleasant Park and broke both the woman’s arms. The story was spun in the Chronicle-Herald to portray Uteck as caring and quick-witted, going to extra lengths to help the woman get medical aid. Go figure.
I only bring the issue up because Uteck seems to have taken a page out of Homer’s book in her approach to the city budget; she threw her entire self into analyzing the budget, and to her credit was able to break staff into coughing up the line item details of the budget, which I then put live on thecoast.ca, the first time such deets were made generally available to the public. Moreover, Uteck challenged a lot of the specifics in the line items, and uncovered a budget catch-all account—line item #6999—that looks like a way to obscure and cover up inappropriate expenditures. Good on her.
Additionally, at Uteck’s initiative council has cleaned up how it meets secretly, and now requires that a lawyer be in the room.
But those big pluses are counterbalanced by Uteck’s continuing attempt to insert “tax reform” into city policies, most recently by trying to re-jig transit taxes. Big minus.
How to improve: Give it up on “tax reform” already.
This article appears in May 12-18, 2011.
Tim: your ratings are as old as my picture!!! It is not what a councillor accomplishes, it is whether Bosquet agrees with your opinion and whether we suck up to your or not. I commend you for covering council, I know it can be like watching paint dry but here it goes…..
Uteck’s rating of Bosquet F- failure to be professional and failure to be objective.
Councillor Sue, you and your fellow councillors are fair game for review by, not only journalist but each and every taxpaying citizen. You are a public official, voted into office by the people you serve. I am sure I speak for more than myself when I say that the combined actions of council leave very much to be desired, including your so called leader, the mayor. HRM citizens are fed up with the circus called HRM council. We deserve better, we demand better. We all know that Tim may or may not approve of some council members. Having said that, if it wasn’t for his coverage and his expressing of his views, however subjective/objective they may or may not be, however professional/unprofessional he may or may not be, we’d be totally kept in the dark about you and your fellow councillors. Where would we be, left feeling like a bunch of mushrooms. Remember, by running for public office you have opened yourself up for public scrutiny.
Tim, Tax Reform has to happen. You simply cannot have taxes increase 400% in 10 years when peoples incomes go up 0% – 3% a year. To punish homeowners is unfair. Everyone lives here and has to make a $$ contribution to the cost of services. If everyone actually paid a municipal tax we’d see a huge increase in voter turnout as people would demand value for their tax dollar. Why should Sue’s constituents pay 5 times more tax than Gloria McCluskeys? Your sense of fairness is warped.
She is scary and sneaky and secretive….and has been party to very serious hidden issues