1 Year Ago...

It was a year ago tonight that local government elections were held to fill seats for municipal councils, regional districts and school boards

I thought, in our area, I would do a little review around how I feel our local elected officials are doing so far and what the challenges that lie ahead for 2010

City of Quesnel:

The entire Council has done a "yeoman's" job so far. This is a example of how a Council & Staff should be working together for the betterment of a community. Mayor Sjostrom has done an excellent job at serving her community. She is constantly communicating with the public on what Council is doing and I know when she receives complaints, she ensures that they are dealt with in a timely fashion and ensures the complainant is happy with the result or with the course of action requested

Challenges include - containing police costs, keep property taxes at acceptable levels, funding of capital needs and the Multi-Center proposal.

District of 100 Mile House:

The entire Council is working really well together and the voters' of 100 Mile should be proud of their Council's performance so far. I know there was a complaint earlier this year about the round-up of ferral cats but sometimes it is hard for Council to please everyone on a touchy subject like this, so the best a Council can do on these items is listen to both sides, take Staff input into consideration along with each Council member's feelings/thoughts on the matter, make a decision and defend it the best way one can and move on.

Challenges include - looking into an aquatic center for the South Cariboo, controlling costs as much as possible so the property tax bill can be affordable for 100 Mile residents

Cariboo Regional District:

The majority of the Board Directors', along with CRD Staff, have done an excellent job representing their constituents so far and should be proud of the person they elected.

Challenges for the CRD include - 2010 Budget development and keep tax increases to a bare mininum, water and sewer projects, and smaller projects in individual Electoral Areas and capacity of CRD Staff to take on new projects as well as the Budget Development Process for 2011.

However, the Area 'F' Director, Duncan Barnett, continues from last term, to verbally lash out whenever an Board Agenda is not formatted to the way he likes or when a Board discussion is not going the way he wants or the Agenda making process is not the way he likes. If he were to try to the indirect approach whenever he finds he has a complaint before he gets to the Board meeting, either with the Board Chair (presently Area 'G' Director Al Richmond) or the Board CAO, Janis Bell, I believe he would be much further ahead

The Regional District has also started to publish its' Joint Committee Agendas. So far, the North Cariboo Joint Committee Agenda is now published online for the public, however this is not yet done in Central Cariboo or South Cariboo and I remain hopeful that this can be accomplished in 2010. As well, I'm hopeful that the CRD Board will ensure that the written publication of when the Board needs to going In-Camera (Closed Meeting) so the public knows beforehand. Such notice could be published, by way of written notice being published, right at the CRD Office.

City of Williams Lake:

City Staff are going a good job so far and have no complaints. I find that Brian Carruthers is very approachable, as the City's CAO, and I encourage you to approach him with any complaints. He will try to understand your problem and he'll work to ensure that it is resolved in a timely manner, if possible, and if not, he'll tell you what he can or he can't do with your issue and suggest a course of action that may result in a resolution to your issue

Challenge for WL Council in 2010 include - Arts and Culture Function, Capital needs for 2010, RCMP Costs, keeping property taxes stable, renewal process of the City's OCP, finish the Spirit Square off

As for Council, I'll now individually review each Council member performance as some have performed better that others.

Councillors Tom Barr - he has done a excellent job so far and look forward to watching perform his job as Councillor for the upcoming year (2010). Councillor Tom Barr was missing in action in the fall this year, due to his wife, Kathy, being struck with cancer and then passing away so he had some family duties to perform, but he is now back and I'm looking forward to Councillor Barr chairing the budget process to lead towards the City's 2010 Budget

Councillor Surinder Rathor - as Council's senior most member, he has done an excellent job as well representing his constituents. I have approached him a couple of times on issues and he makes sure that they get resolved, no matter what. I look forward to his performance in 2010

Councillor Natalie Montoya - as one of Council's 2 youngest most members, she has done an excellent job representing her constituents. I have approached her a couple of times on issues and she makes sure that they get resolved. She asks appropriate questions and does her homework. I look forward to her performance in 2010

Councillor Geoff Bourdon - Overall, a good job in 1 year. Really approachable and find, when asked, he'll drive to resolve complaints in a timely fashion. Mistakes include not defended passionately the BIA's $3,000 for the annual "Street Party" during Grant in Aid 2010 Discussions. Councillors' Bourdon and Barr are Council's reps to the WL BIA. As noted earlier, Councillor Barr was away, due to personal issues, so Councillor Bourdon should have passionately defending the BIA's request for $3,000 for the annual Street Party before the Grant in Aid discussion went to the Joint Committee. I look forward to Councillor Bourdon's performance during 2010.

Councillor Sue Zacharias - Very quiet Councillor - like Jon Wolbers, doesn't feel a real need to step in unless it is her Portfolio or it is something she feels passionately about. Sometimes doesn't have all the facts straight. But overall, she is fairly competent at being a Councillor. Her experience as a former CRD Area 'D' Director helps her to do her job as a City of WL Councillor. My only complaint about her is that Councillor Zacharias has not returned any of my emails and doesn't even take the time to say - "I got your email/phone call and I'll discuss with you later or I'm working on the substance of the email/phone call you sent my way". Otherwise, I'm looking forward to her performance in 2010

Councillor Laurie Walters - Overall, has been fairly competent as a Councillor but she has made her share of mistakes. Those mistakes include:

* Attending the WL Community Arts Council AGM - as my readers' know, the Community Arts Council is under RCMP investigation for financial irregularities. Until that investigation is complete, Councillor Walters should have, for ethical reasons, steered clear of this group until that RCMP investigation is completed.

* Attempted to get the Central Cariboo Joint Committee to endorse "in-principle" the "Service Delivery Plan" for this Function before going out to the public with this document - I had a meeting with her a number of weeks ago and I strongly encouraged her, that while it is OK to be passionate about a subject or subjects, you can not just toss aside the public interest to get what you want. I hope that this is something she thinks about and does practice in 2010.

I look forward to her performance in 2010

Mayor Kerry Cook - On balance, she is a fairly competent Mayor, and she has done well with her "Coffee with the Mayor" sessions but she has made her shares of mistakes including:

* Public Hearing (StarCom Developments by Tera Ridge) - after the Public Hearing was adjourned, Council members including the Mayor met with the developer in Council Chambers with the public watching. In the eyes of the law, a major no-no. After a Public Hearing on a OCP or Zoning Amendment application, members of WL Council are prohibited by provincial law to discuss with members of the public & applicants on planning applications after a Public Hearing is held on the planning application in question

* Spirit Square - this is the person who campaigned on doing things differently on financial matters at City Hall. She encouraged Council to take $40,000 out of the City's "Rainy-Day" account and used it to finance a "routine" capital expenditure. The "Rainy-Day" account was designed to be used for "extraordinary" expenses like sinkholes in City streets.

* Conversion of the present Fire Hall for the Arts Community - again, a worthy project but the City is not into the "Developer" business. As this benefits one small group, the Community Arts Council should be made to put some of its' own money into this project and not have taxpayers' alone fund it. I've raised this with Mayor Cook but she seems not to be too interested in this point

* Hiring of the City's new CAO - again, I'm on public record, this is a job that should have been posted externally and not hire within. The CAO jobs for the District of Lake Country, Queen Charlotte Island, and many other local governments have done this for their CAO job and we should have done the same here.

* Meeting with Community Members - again, I'm told that she is an excellent listener, but unfortunately and I know some feel the same way here - Mayor Cook has failed to ensure follow-up. This is necessary, in my view, to ensure that the public feels that their issue(s) are being dealt with in a manner that is timely and to their satisfaction.

* Deputy Mayor - just after the 2008 Election and at the swearing in ceremony for the Williams Lake Council, Mayor Cook had Council appoint Councillor Surinderpal Rathor as the City's first Deputy Mayor. Unfortunately, there have been numerous times when she has failed to respect his appointment as Deputy Mayor. I've had numerous discussions with her on this subject and she has continuously failed to satisfy my concerns on this subject. If she truly wished to respect Council's appoint of Councillor Rathor as Deputy Mayor, she would pass a "Policy Statement" at a Council meeting which would state the "Presiding Officers List at Council or Committee of the Whole Meeting" would be as follows:

- Mayor (if available)
- Deputy Mayor (if Mayor isn't present and is available)
- Acting Mayor (if both Mayor and Deputy Mayor aren't available and the monthly Acting Mayor is present)

* In-Camera Meetings - Mayor Cook, as head of the City has consistently failed to ensure the public is notified of "In-Camera" or Closed Council Meetings before they occur. I should point out that if Council was discussing something in public but referred to In-Camera, then Council need not notify the public as it would be a "snap" In-Camera. These "snap" In-Camera very rarely occur. I've personally only seen one "snap In-Camera" called and that was last term (2005-2008) of WL Council

* Goals of 2008-2011 Council - Council has failed substantively to move of any of their goals and they need to demonstrate that they have and this must come from Mayor Cook, as head of the Council. One of the goals that they have is:

Create and implement an Arts and Culture Plan

Well, hard to have a comprehensive Arts and Culture Plan if you have a Plan for the City but local funding is sub-regional in nature. However, if you had an Arts and Culture Plan and Function working "hand-in-fist" together, then you would see an vibrant Arts and Culture community, given the Arts and Culture file is not limited to Williams Lake only

* Budget Process - Council agreed earlier this year to consult the public after the Corporate Business Plan for the upcoming year is approved. This is a mistake on Council's part and Council should be talking with the public, in a formal way, before Council indicates to Staff when the budgetary goals for the upcoming budget year are. I've let Mayor Cook know my feelings on this but has yet to do anything with it

* MOU between the City and the CRD - Council earlier this year agreed to ratify the MOU between the Regional District and the City, however 6 days later at a Joint Town Hall meeting between the CRD/City, the Regional District informed the public that they were in discussions with the City on the following, with regard to the MOU:

i) City of WL joining the CRD Planning Function (I believe that this is in the City's longer term interests for various reasons including environmental sustainability and can also benefit us if we need to have Staff positions backfilled for holidays, etc)

ii) City of WL joining forces with the CRD on Recycling - Again, I've blogged on this already but the City must be more proactive with the CRD to get Central Cariboo residents' to become more Recycle-friendly by making it more convenient for rural fringe residents to recycle their household waste.

iii) Invasive Plant Function - City of Quesnel now has a contractual arrangement into this Function and the CRD would like to offer the same to City of WL but only in the context of a full MOU.

The City would have been better off not signing the MOU until the above issues were resolved and then sign off on the MOU

If Mayor Cook wishes to remain Mayor for 2011-2014, she will have resolve the above plus demonstrate her willingness to ensure complainants are being addressed in a timely and adequate way otherwise her term as Mayor will be limited to one term

I wish all Councils in the Cariboo-Chilcotin and the CRD Board the very best in 2010.