"Perception" is a troubling word and a troubling concept in times of political turmoil.
I was reminded of that again this week when the local media had its first chance to chat with the new CAO for the Resort Municipality of Whistler.
There has been, said Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed at the briefing, an ongoing and somewhat pervasive "perception" that staff has been calling the shots when it comes to running the town for many years.
Not so, said our Mayor - and now with the new CAO Mike Furey in place the perception will be laid to rest once and for all.
"This is something that we really want to try and address ... this perception that staff have been running the Hall. To coin a phrase - bullshit," said Melamed in a brook-no-argument tone.
"I am actually quite bothered by councillors who infer at council meetings that staff did this or that or the other thing. Council has to take responsibility for every decision that's made because they're the ones that vote, they're the ones that give direction to staff and they're the ones that approve the recommendations or not. And yet somehow, and it's unfortunate, this community somehow believes that staff have been running the show."
And so change is coming? Furey explained that as a long-time federal and provincial government employee the fabric of his role is to take guidance from elected officials - not tell them what to do.
"I've worked in government, as I said, for a long time," said Furey - his crisp shirt and jacket an extension of his quiet, confident manner.
"As a public servant we take direction from the elected officials. So when I was with the province, cabinet and the premier gave direction on what areas they wanted the ministry and staff to work on and I see the same concept here.
"They set the agenda."
All reassuring words though I kept waiting for the inevitable "but" - and here it is - the way to help achieve this new "perception" is to take even tighter control of information coming out of the Hall.
Even as our mayor extols the importance of transparency while attending the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Vancouver over the last few days the reality is information sharing continues on the Hall's terms - behind closed door meetings, in camera sessions and controlled interviews for the media.
"Everyone is making greater and greater efforts to improve accountability and transparency and yet at the same time we have to have these closed meetings," said Melamed Tuesday.
I can't help but compare this to reporting in Whistler several years ago where we could call up the mayor directly for interviews - staff too - and communications officers were quotable for stories.
What's changed? Both Furey and Melamed hinted at it at the briefing when they spoke about Whistler's global brand - Whistler may still be a small town at heart but what happens here is read around the world.
Furey explains, and it is quite accurate, that at provincial and federal levels of government "staff" don't give media interviews - this is done at the ministerial levels.
And so from now on staff, while available for background briefings, can no longer be named or quoted unless addressing council at the regular council meetings.
Comment will come from the mayor's chair.
Is it circling the wagons? There can be no doubt that municipal workers everywhere are under fire as people struggle to make ends meet while "perceiving" that government employees are laughing all the way to the bank.
"It's become very personal here," said Melamed.
"Rightly or wrongly with the current fiscal situation and some of the voices that are out, not just in Whistler but across the province, municipal governments have become targets.
"It's a bit of a reaction to the current atmosphere. And to not respond to it suggests that we're interested in seeing the situation deteriorate.
"We think we should make an attempt to do something to create that separation of accountability. It's council that's accountable."
We know it's true, just think back to the incident in June when the mayor's tires and the tires of then RMOW CAO Bill Barratt were slashed. That action shocked the community.
And in a June article in Pique the RMOW's Bob MacPherson described himself as the "villain" in the ongoing controversy over the asphalt plant in the Cheakamus neighbourhood.
But here is the thing - controlling information even more tightly will not improve the situation. It will only feed the "perception" that staff and council is a unit and the rest of us are another. Whistler residents are the employers of staff and council.
The best way to handle tough times and tough questions is to be as open as possible, to share all the background information you can. Just ask Whistler Blackcomb. When part of the Wizard chair collapsed in December 2008 company spokespeople were on the scene immediately, gave open and frequent briefings to the media for days and the result was that they looked responsible and trustworthy.
Now the community is shaking its head as former CAO Bill Barratt sues the municipality for wrongful dismissal. With so much of the information needed to make sense of this latest legal challenge and cost to the taxpayers buried in closed-door meetings, it really is impossible to know where the truth lies.
But ask yourself this - why would some of our elected officials even take the risk that a lawsuit would be launched, wasting our money, when all they had to do was wait a few more weeks or months at most until Furey was installed and Barratt was free to go?
The search for accountability needs to continue as many residents struggle with not just the issues raised here, but also the still unanswered questions around the asphalt plant lawsuit, the lawsuit over the Rainbow park lands and even the ongoing pay-parking debacle.
