81 per cent

A disappointingly small number of folks filed into town halls across the County over the past couple of weeks. Few, it seems, are interested in how many councillors, or how few, sit around the council table at Shire Hall. Neither are they terribly keen to come out and discuss the shape and size of the electoral districts from which we choose our representatives.

Some see the empty chairs as a signal that most people like things just as they are. People are happy. Or perhaps worried about other things. Taxes. Services. Jobs. Wind turbines. Roads.

Dismantling the current system and replacing it with a smaller version won’t fix any of these problems. Worse, there are little savings to be gained by cutting a few councillors. This is simply because we don’t pay our council members enough to make a significant dent in a $50 million budget.

Besides, the benefits seem abstract and a long way from my wallet. Representation by population? Equal number of council representatives? More efficient, more responsive, and perhaps faster decision-making? Hardly the stuff to stir folks from their busy lives.

So why bother with it?

I was among those who believed it wasn’t an issue. No one had ever shared with me their irritation that Ameliasburgh elects three representatives to Shire Hall while Hillier sends just one. No one had ever stopped me to complain that Bloomfield with just 500 electors has the same number of representatives as Wellington with 1,700. Nor had anyone suggested that fewer councillors would make local government work better.

Yet, when County residents were asked their opinion, a resounding number said they wanted a review of council. Eighty-one per cent answered yes. It was clear and unmistakable direction by the people of the County to its leaders. It turns out these abstract issues did matter to folks.

At that moment it mattered not what I thought or believed to be true. The evidence was stark and plain. The people had given council a clear mandate to fix the issue. There was no other rational conclusion to be drawn. Yet council dithered. Rather than set to work immediately in 2011, some wilfully chose to ignore the result. Some said they weren’t legally bound to act because fewer than 50 per cent of eligible voters answered the question on the ballot. In their view, they were off the hook.

Occasionally someone would try and raise the issue—but it wasn’t until this past spring, with time running out, did a majority of council relent and put the issue back on the table. Now, with the final grains of sands ready to drop in the hourglass, some of these same councillors complain they are being rushed into a making a decision.

A Citizens’ Assembly of County residents gathered over three Saturdays this past summer to consider and deliberate the issue. They recommended the number of councillors be reduced from 15 to 10. Oddly enough 81 per cent of the randomly selected citizens voted in favour of the consensus.

Yet a handful of current and former councillors, as well as some residents, remain steadfastly against any change. They believe they are smarter than you. They know better than you.

They have been on the inside of Shire Hall and they understand the requirements of the job better than you. They know what is best.

They will make earnest presentations at Shire Hall tonight urging council to overlook the will of the people in favour of their unique insight, intellect and understanding.

This sense of superiority is the only way they, or anyone, can justify ignoring such clear direction from the population.

Eighty-one per cent said they wanted change. It requires an astonishing amount of arrogance to escape this result. Two out of every three votes that weren’t cast in the last election would have to had vote no in order for the ‘no’ side to exceed those who sought change. Does anyone really believe that is the case?

So, why so many empty chairs? It may be that most folks have simply lost faith that their council is still listening to them.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca