Wednesday evening's GlobalTV broadcast on "Vancouver's Embattled Mayor"

Is there or isn’t there a Vision Vancouver media hit list? That’s the question everyone has been asking at Vancouver City Hall this week as various media types are trying to track down whether a list of non-Vision friendly media exists or not. Blogger Alex G. Tsakumis first revealed the “media hit list” which is a compilation of about 15 media types who are apparently unfriendly to the current Vision administration. In other words, they don't just take the Mayor's news releases and report them verbatim. Can you believe this group actually has the temerity to question the material they've been given by the Mayor's office?

Although I can’t personally verify the validity of the "Top 15" hit list, I can tell you I laughed so hard when I first read about it that I almost keeled over. As was reported by Bob Mackin in 24 Hours newspaper on Wednesday morning, yours truly made it to the number three position (I'm told that I didn't rank higher on the list because I've written negative stories about the NPA, a political party I used to belong to). I eked out a bronze medal performance by coming just slightly ahead of crack GlobalTV reporter Marisa Thomas. My colleague and 24 Hours columnist Mike Klassen was ranked number one with radio talk show host Christy Clark in the #6 spot and the Vancouver Sun's Jeff Lee pegged at #9.

Am I proud of the fact that I apparently made it on the Top 15 list of vocal critics of the current Vision Vancouver administration? You bet I am. Over the last two years our columnists have written critical comments and analysis about hundreds of councillors, mayors and cities regarding a myriad of silly or short-sided policy decisions. Dozens of our stories were eventually picked up and reported on by our colleagues in the mainstream media.

Since 2008, it’s been our unique and focused coverage of civic governments which has resulted in a respectible 3.68 million page views so far this year. CityCaucus.com has clearly hit home with tens of thousands of people interested in city politics and urban issues. What else could explain why we have almost 2000 Twitter followers and over 1300 on Facebook. Did I mention our little blog has just over 1000 people who receive our daily email newsletter then forward it on to thousands of their family and friends?

While Vision may not like our take on the machinations at City Hall, clearly we have attracted a loyal and significant group of readers who want us keep moving forward with the blog. That's why our team can assure you that whether a hit list exists or not, it will have no effect on the frequency and tone of the coverage on CityCaucus.com. No matter what type of smear and intimidation tactics are thrown our way, we intend on forging ahead with a product that has clearly caught the public's imagination.

We're number one...eeeeeyaaaaaaaaaah!

A quick update to our faithful readers, and a big thanks for some of the most amazing traffic we've seen since the Olympics and the great comments. The stories we've reported over recent days such as the Oglov contract for the Mayor's office, the iPad purchase plan, and the VACMPS memo revealing City Hall morale going down a mineshaft (which became the front page story in today's Vancouver Sun) were a little complex in terms of their details, but not surprisingly our CityCaucus.com readers understood the issues implicitly.

While Mayor Gregor avoids local media (again) to answer questions about his change of position on the West End STIR plan (asking Geoff Meggs to respond instead), I thought it might be fun to draw your attention to a fun story that's gone somewhat viral among Vancouver's media crowd.

Fellow blogger Alex G. Tsakumis has a recent post that reveals a reputed "media hit list" developed by the Vision backroom gang of their Top 15 most reviled civic affairs reporters in Vancouver. Apparently a few of us have got into Gregor & Magee's bad books. It's with a measure of pride and humility that I can tell you that I am Number One!

It still chokes me up that because of all of you – our coveted readers – I have been awarded with the top spot on Vision's list.

Now, the Mayor's office are scrambling to deny the story, as evidenced from this tweet from Kevin Quinlan. Is the hit list for real? Well, despite my respect for Alex I wasn't so sure until late this afternoon when my editor at 24 Hours – who was one of many media to get a haranguing phone call from Mike Magee today – told me he is now convinced enough of the credibility of Vision's list that he will be running my column about it in tomorrow's paper.

An internal memo shared with CityCaucus.com reveals deep unhappiness among exempt staff

CityCaucus.com received a copy of a memo and survey that indicates a growing dissatisfaction among over 700 non-union staff working for the City of Vancouver. The memo dated June 15, 2010 is to the City's corporate management team and is signed by President Bill Boons and Vice-President Christine Warren on behalf of the members of the Vancouver Association of Civic Managerial and Professional Staff (VACMPS).

The memo begins with a respectful tone describing a Citywide culture of respect, fairness and a workplace that "drew a clear and important line between administration and politics."

However, the second paragraph goes on to say, "It is truly unfortunate that the environment noted above has changed." It says that "staff in all parts of the organization felt negatively affected by the new style of management." As a results VACMPS was asked "to stand up and present a strong and unified voice to senior management regarding both their concerns and their desire to work toward improvements."

So low key is VACMPS that they barely appear in a Google search. A pair of memos going back to 2000, then the rest is coverage from CityCaucus.com last year. But recent grievances among exempt (non-union) staff forced VACMPS to reactivate its relationship with Vancouver's top brass: "Based on the wishes of our members and on our constitution, we believe that a more formal relationship with the employer is now necessary."

The documents presented to CityCaucus.com are in two parts. A three-page letter, with a 15-slide PowerPoint presentation featuring survey results taken from over 70% of exempt staff, or 502 employees. The letter at times has a tone of despair:

"It is also important that senior management is fully aware that the 700+ exempt staff are at risk of becoming disengaged."

The memo states that "after 21 meetings with 225 exempt staff, VACMPS can identify some strong and consistent themes".

These are:

• A loss of respect and trust throughout the organization;
• Managers have lost their ability to manage – decision-making has been centralized and many staff have resported being unable to provide good service;
• Inefficient and expensive processes have replaced methods which were cheaper and more efficient (emphasis ours);
• Staff retention is becoming an issue; we are beginning to lose corporate knowledge on a significant scale;
• The City seems to be moving away from its core values...many younger staff report that they are reconsidering their decision to build a career at the City (emphasis ours);
• Staff are fearful of reprisals which is leading to a "heads down/don't rock the boat" attitude. Creativity and excellence are not being stimulated.

The fifteen pages of survey results follow. At the top of the list of items cited by survey respondents is "Lack of trust, respect and acknowledgement of skills/abilities/decision-making", with 52.7% agreed. The next slides outline the additional major concerns by management.

PC vs Machead: Gregor and his key staff will turn in Canada's RIM for Apple

It was a story so silly that it even left us scratching our heads. But what the heck, here goes.

Mayor Gregor Robertson decreed that he and council, plus his staff need Apple iPads and state-of-the-art iPhone 4 handsets, and 15 of each of the units are to be ordered through Vancouver's IT department.

In case you've not noticed already, Canada's Blackberry devices produced by Ontario's Research in Motion company, are the device du jour for cities and other levels of government across the continent. However, there is that "hipness factor" which apparently is drawing Hizonner into the Apple fold.

Yes, it seems that in order to be seen as a "progressive" government, it makes more sense for Robertson & co., and the City Manager to be carrying around iPads and iPhone 4s.

Now, of course this produces massive headaches for IT departments, who by nature have one set of support and security protocols across the board. But we're told that the City Manager effectively told staff – if that's what the Mayor wants, that's what he gets.

The interesting case of Linda Oglov – see contracts & invoices

City hall watchers familiar with some of Dr. Penny Ballem's more famous quotes will recall her defense of a private staff party that cost taxpayers $34,000, calling it a mere "drop in the bucket". The City Manager is not shy about charging taxpayers top dollar for her services, and her $3000 per day bills to eHealth Ontario are evidence of that. It helps to explain her contradictory decision to hire a contractor to work for the Mayor's office at $1000 per day at a time when council was severely tightening its belt.

In one of her very first acts as Vancouver's then new City Manager, Ballem requested approval from council to maximize the upper limit of her allowable spending on contracts. Before Ballem, sole-sourced (and non-tendered) contracts above $30,000 needed to be approved by city council. As of early last year, that amount jumped to over $300,000.

This background information will help our readers to understand how a contractor named Linda Oglov has quietly billed the City $187,983.60 on a no-bid contract during the months leading up to and during the 2010 Games. As controversy has swirled all week around the expansion of Mayor Roberton's office, and His Nibs' denials that it has anything to do with the hiring of more political aides, the work of Oglov (a business coach working for the Mayor since March 2009) is proof that Gregor Robertson is not telling taxpayers the full story.

On page two of the contract received after a freedom of information request by fellow blogger Alex G. Tsakumis (both Tsakumis and CityCaucus.com made similar information requests this summer), it states that Oglov's deliverables included:

Advice to the Mayor and City Manager's offices – continuing consultation and advice to the Mayor and City Manager's offices with respect to the 2010 Games. This includes taking a leadership role, as requested, on particular initiatives such as Vancouver House, the Vancouver Green Capital brand and others.

Deliverables: advice and recommedations related to the approval of the "story" and content of exhibits at Vancouver House. Liaison with the various agencies involved in executing the Vancouver Green Capital brand. Attendance at numerous planning sessions for these initiatives and others.

With these directives Oglov put her fingerprints on virtually every aspect of Mayor's office policy moving forward in the following year. She even developed the schedule for the Mayor's activities during the 2010 Games. Oglov also was responsible for Robertson's Board of Trade speech where he introduced Vancouver Green Capital; she set up meetings for him in London, UK; involved herself with Robertson's Carbon War Room project and his activities during the Copehagen climate change summit.

It would appear that Oglov also advised the City on the new direction for the lacklustre Vancouver House project which failed to represent the Host City in any substantive way, while also involving herself in all aspects of the Metro Vancouver Commerce initiative carried out in cooperation with the Vancouver Economic Development Commission. Part of Oglov's deliverables include a final report to be delivered to the City Manager, and we have requested a copy of this report through freedom of information.

Like contractors FD Elements – who attracted headlines by getting a $50,000 no-bid contract and turning up on the exclusive guest list for Vancouver House – Oglov represents a significant expansion of the amount of outsourced political support that is not budgeted by Robertson's office.