Promising What Can’t be Done

There’s a wrap up in the Connection this weekend with candidates’ comments on “accountability” I want to address. One deputy-mayoral candidate, Brian Saunderson, wrote, he would,

“Strengthen the current council code of conduct to include dealing with siblings as a defined conflict and impose consequences for council members who breach the code.”

Council cannot make a law that supersedes provincial law, nor can council impose any penalty outside those specified in the Municipal Act and Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. In fact, alleged breaches of those acts can only be dealt with through provincial authorities. The province does not give municipalities the authority to write their own laws that are above and beyond what the province decrees. And we can’t enforce penalties for arbitrary offences.

You’d think a lawyer would know this.

The candidate also called on council to

Create a lobbyist registry to ensure anyone lobbying council on behalf of any third party interest is registered and accountable for any and all lobbying activities.

I already dealt with this canard in my previous post on a lobbyist registry (already rejected by staff in 2008 as unnecessary and impractical). It’s simply a chest-beating exercise. Sound and fury, signifying nothing.

He also promised to:

Change the purchasing policy to ensure there can be no sole sourcing of any contract for goods or services over $25,000, no exceptions.

The procurement bylaw grants an exception only where staff determine the service or product is unique – i.e. there are no other suppliers of an equivalent product or service. Council doesn’t make this decision: staff do. This is an attack against the integrity of staff.

The candidate’s promise would force the town to waste time, money and effort trying to source something that staff had already identified as unique and therefore has no competition. Your tax dollars wasted – like a cat chasing its own tail, nothing will come out of enforcing  a search for non-existent suppliers.

This deputy-mayoral candidate also promised to:

Improve communications to ensure the residents of Collingwood are informed of all council initiatives and engage the residents regularly to get community feedback.

Excuse my cynicism, but wasn’t council criticized by this candidate’s supporters for doing just that?

When this council sent out brochures about our accomplishments, plans and goals this term, this candidate’s supporters complained about it being “propaganda.” Trying to inform residents about our activities and progress was criticized. Yet all we were doing was following the recommendation in the Vision 2020 report.

Do I smell a little hypocrisy here? Council is being damned for doing what this candidate demands we do. This council has had a policy of open communication all term. In fact, we even hired a communications officer to ensure information goes out to media and on social media in a timely manner.

Some candidates didn’t like it. So they promise to create a policy to do what we already have done.

More promises:

Open public deputations to eliminate any prior approvals or vetting and allow people to address council on a first-come basis at the commencement of each council meeting

Perhaps had the candidate actually attended a public meeting (had he ever attended a council meeting, let alone made the journey to attend a county meeting!) he would have seen that public meetings are held and governed by both the Municipal Act and the Planning Act. This process is already done and has been done for years. To suggest otherwise is to criticize staff who maintain these laws and meetings.

And more:

Ensure all major decisions seek out community input, and ensure there is rigorous staff research and due diligence before any decision is made.

Already done, and been done for many years.

Again, actually attending council and paying attention to the process would help the candidate understand what the process is. All councils have many public meetings and engagements. An experienced candidate would know this.

And finally:

Ensure the division of labour between council members and staff is respected and eliminate micromanagement.

Been done for years. Council does not micromanage staff, except in the imagination of the candidate. Again, experience and attendance at town hall would have informed the candidate this was not an issue in real life.

It’s easy to criticize what you don’t understand. Maybe if Mr. Saunderson had attended any budget meetings, attended any council meetings or attended a single county council meeting, he would be more aware of the processes and procedures and not make empty promises.