Reporters don’t usually help people with their shopping.
If somebody is looking for a particular item — like, say, a desk suitable for conducting weighty municipal business – generally we suggest they buy an ad.
But this is a special case and one that initially prompted some concern in our newsroom. After all, when the mayor of Oak Bay announces on Facebook that he’s looking for an old desk to put in his office, you have to wonder about the district’s finances.
Kevin Murdoch, however, insists that he has the money to buy a new desk. He’s just hoping to find something with a bit more history and gravitas than his current model, which he described in his Facebook post — a bit harshly perhaps — as a “1980s vintage fake-wood laminate government special.”
That sucker, he says, is headed out the door along with the “dusty rose” textured wallpaper, once renovations at Oak Bay’s municipal hall get underway.
Murdoch wants to replace it with “something substantial, perhaps with some local history attached, something that could stay with the office and be used by mayors for many decades to come.”
He doesn’t go into any more detail than that, but he’s likely looking for a fairly large desk, one that would accommodate the standard sign — “The Buck Stops Here” — as well as a map plotting deer movements around the municipality.
Also, something with a wood grain — hello, oak! — would be nice, given Murdoch’s obvious distaste for his current bureau. But, hey, it’s up to you. You know what’s in your attic or basement and if you think you’ve got something befitting the mayor of Oak Bay, you should send him an email at [email protected].
Again, money doesn’t seem to be the issue here.
“A donation would of course be welcome (yay Taxpayers!),” Murdoch says in his post, “but there is money set aside for a new desk, so a reasonable purchase would also be considered.”
So go ahead, drop him a line and, as he says, lend a hand “putting the bureau in bureaucracy.”
