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Mobility is the argument against the existence of several regional detachments. Preparing a weekly synopsis on regional deâ€" cisions (or indecisions) wouldn‘t hurt. And if Wagner can‘t answer a question publically withâ€" out having the time to dig up an answer then it‘s time he vacated his political seat. SCrFlOUuUus While the obvious trend in policing throughout North America is to create a highly personalized contingent able to communicate with the public our regional force seems to be moving in the other direction . f Our regional force has become far too imâ€" personalized for the majority of our residents. No longer are you able to phone your local staâ€" tion direct. You now have to place your call through the Kitchener detachment. And if the chief has his way you‘ll soon have to travel to Kitchener to drop into a police station. You decide The downtown Waterloo detachment may not appear to be servicing the community, (and no doubt the regional board will produce statistics to prove this point ) but it does. People cannot relate to a police cruiser but they certainly can to a cop behind a desk. (Continued on page 6) It is no secret that police chief Wilf Henrich would rather see his men out in a cruiser than behind a desk but closing a detachment is not the answer. And the board has asked the citizens of Waâ€" terloo to voice their opinions on the proposed closing of this vital detachment. In effect, what the regional police force is doing is alienating itself from the public. There is a certain security in knowing there is a police detachment nearby and resfdents and merchants of the downtown area will undoubtably attest to the validity of this point. Is the Waterloo police detachment on Albert St. functional? This question will be considered by the regional police board tonight at its regular meeting. If you don‘t think this subject is worth conâ€" sidering think again. Mr. Cruise had to be appeased. And certainly s fâ€"By;uB;r e We no one would consciously wish any embarrass Trustee, Waterioo County Board of Education ment on alderman Wagner. What does a trustee do? That is probably the question With regional representatives the likes of these g‘::‘b;rfi‘lf“n‘;yam?m"f;n st"';‘t' ."eg':l'i:. m"t:: g‘;s‘ ‘L* + . s 1 in w Tâ€" it‘s no wonder there is a lack of communication ates, In later reports 1 shall describe the kinds of activities between the two governments. . and decisions in which trustees typically find themselves inâ€" Preparing a weekly synopsis on regional deâ€" volved. Mrs. Mewhinney‘s suggestion is a good one but it lost its teeth long before it received counâ€" cil‘s stamp of approval. a The first reaction by alderman Robert Cruise was one of dismay. He was a little upset that he might have to prepare a weekly report on the regional scene. Relief came when he was advisâ€" ed this needn‘t be the case. And alderman Harold Wagner insisted he couldn‘t be expected to answer any questions unless he would be assured sufficient time to prepare himself. He said he didn‘t want to look foolish at a public meeting if he didn‘t have the answer to a specific inquiry. Mrs. Mewhinney made the request in good faith but her serious gesture to promote communication between the two tiers of governâ€" ment met with anything but a sober response. A long overdue recommendation to have Waâ€" terloo‘s regional council members report back to city council met with a light hearted reaction from our elected representatives Monday night. The request, submitted for approval by alderâ€" man Mary Jane Mewhinney, calls for more communication between our regional and municipal Councils. 4 _ Waterloo Chronicle â€" Wednesday, April 3, 1974 L g There is hope. . ... . . . . .the election‘s this fall! Viewpoint Published every Wednesday by Fairway Press, a division of Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Record Ltd. 225 Fairway Rd.. Kitâ€" chener. Ontario. Address correspondence to Waterloo Square. Waterloo, Ont. Telephone 744â€"6364. However, the real power of administrative officials in their dealings with trustees comes from their role as exâ€" perts. Officials are experts, first, in the sense that they are usually mature, experienced people who have risen through the ranks from teacher to high official. There are few practiâ€" cal problems they have not encountered, few solutions they have not heard. By contrast, trustees, as laymen, often seem to want to reinvent the wheel. The role played by trustees is further limited by the power of administrative officials. Nominally, administrative offiâ€" cials are the agents of the board. In practice, they are career officials who see trustees come and go while they remain. From the level of principal up, moreover, officials hold a dual appointment. Before they can be hired or fired the minâ€" istry must give its approval, and they are sworn to uphold ministry regulations. Officials can be dismissed only for considerable incompetence. â€" We Officials are also experts in the sense that they provide much of the specific information on which trustees make decisions. Thus. when an issue comes before the board, offiâ€" cials will have researched it. structured the information, In practice, this means that any idea a trustee would like to translate into policy has to be supported by a majority of the trustees. It also means that decisions are made by trustees from all parts of the county. The trustees from the City of Waterloo, for example, have no special authority over education in the City of Waterloo. Although school legislation seems to give trustees all of the decisionâ€"making power in their jurisdictions, that power is severely limited in practice. On the one side, it is confined by the Ministry of Education and its financial ceilings and obligatory regulations. On the other. there are the teachers® federations and nonâ€"academic staff associations. Most of the budget consists of fixed obligations. Less than 10 per cent is left to the discretion of the trustees, and even that margin is rapidly disappearing. In this area, the Board of Education consists of sixteen public school trustees and four separate school trustees whose function is to represent the interests of Roman Cathoâ€" lic students in public secondary schools. The individual trustee possesses no authority. Trustees possess authority only in formal sessions. ~ SUN SNOAIE In Canada : one year $8; in United States and Foreign countries: one year $10 The role of the trustee SUBSCRIPTION RATES ESTABLISHED 1854 Editor: Don McCurdy Strange our land lord must provide parking space and black topped; the city can leave mud on (so callâ€" ed) streets. Harvard after rain or thaw is mud covered. This is particularly true of Harvard and Bluevale isn t even paved or finished Here is another of your $3 (fines) for parking in the Waterloo City‘s mud over pavement on Harvard St. An open letter to the city of Waterloo Dear Sirs: Letter to the Edifor evidence. The board of education is often likened to the board However, the analogy does confine the role of trustees. Unâ€" like business, in education there are no balance sheets to measure the effectiveness of the system as a whole or of ke figures in it. One finds it hard to decide whether the rigr' people are in the right places. The business analogy tends to encourage the idea that, even so, trustees ought not to be involved directly in, say, the appointment of principals. _ It is precisely because the measurement of performance is so difficult and the opportunity for second guessing so minimal that trustees should be more directly involved in such personnel decisions than they are. j The opinions expressed in the above column are those of Mr. Baker and they do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of this paper. Again, there is nothing necessarily nefarious about this situation. The officials are being paid good salaries to keep the system rolling and to propose, or cause to be proposed, improvements in its operations and curriculum. I mention the power of the administrative officials in this context beâ€" cause in practice much of the trustee‘s time and energy is devoted to considering reports and proposals coming to him via the administrative route. © Finally, there is one thing a trustee notes immediately upon entering the board. It is that among trustees and adâ€" ministrative officials there is a kind of business analogy in In general, the analogy probably does little harm. It keeps trustees from absorbing themselves entirely in the adminâ€" istrative end at the expense of board policy matters. It proâ€" vides officials and others with a ready way to understand the role of trustees. of directors of a corporation. It establishes policy guidelines but leaves implementation and a range of options to adminâ€" istrative officials. It rarely intervenes in actual dayâ€"toâ€"day operations. Only at the very top level does it claim the right to involvement in personnel decisions. worked out some policy alternatives, and will have definif@ ideas about what is acceptable or unacceptable from their point of view. On at least some issues, trustees only know what their officials tell them. This‘ while the _ "all wise planners‘" keep buildâ€" ing and creating high denâ€" sity on small acreage in Glenridge, _ Harvard _ and Bluevale district. Here citizens can wade the mud and water of the streets to get to pavement. on the boulevards for over two years. P.S. Shouldn‘t have enough fin rect things? Thank you Mrs. V.C. Scriver fines to corâ€"