Comment
Fresh start
Our new council has an opportunity. It has a chance to radically change the culture of local government in Prince Edward County. For the better. It is much needed.
For far too long, County council saw its role as reactionary—responding to files that landed on the council table rather than initiating policy debate or setting a direction for the municipality. Instead, it mostly left the business of direction-setting to others. (As with all generalizations, this is too broad and unfairly insinuates folks who have gone against the grain to make significant and important achievements. Sadly, these folks have been to few.)
For far too long, a majority of council members saw their role as a version of Judge Judy—that is, that they came to meetings as blank slates, waiting to be persuaded of the merits of the matter put in front of them. Then they would vote. And go home. Not all, but enough. It was, in my view, a fundamental misunderstanding of the job.
That is why this newspaper is hopeful about the next term of council. New faces outnumber returning council members nine to five. Each of the new councillors comes with energy and, we expect, the ambition to make a difference. They come with a list of things they want to do, ideas about how to make their community better and plans to make Shire Hall work for you.
The sheer weight of the legacy of previous terms of council will act to constrain ambitions. “It’s just not the way we do things,” they will be told. Or, “This is the way we’ve always done it.”
That wall of resistance will be supplemented by a long list of rules, municipal procedures, provincial legislation and budget limitations that will be dragged out every time an eager council member sets out his or her plan.
Rules are important. And managing risk is a vital responsibility of management in any organization. But a business guided only by fear of liability exposure will never build anything. It will, in time, only become smaller and less relevant to the community it serves.
An organization must have a vision—an idea about what it wants to be, and how it plans to get there. Sometimes that means taking a chance. Making an investment in an uncertain outcome. This is the primary role of council. And it is desperately needed.
Council members need to get up every day with a direction and a plan. They must work toward that at every sitting. Ask questions. Demand answers in a timely fashion. Defer less to staff. Take chances.
One example.
We need to build homes in Prince Edward County. The supply and demand balance is broken and the damaging effects can be felt in the rising costs of water, libraries, roads and emergency services. A shrinking population threatens schools and healthcare services. The pain of this imbalance is most acutely felt by those living on the margins, for whom the cost of housing is pushing them out of this community.
A group of developers, council members and municipal staff met over several months in 2015 and 2106 and produced 34 concrete recommendations. Some have been adopted, most have not.
This file needs direction and a push. Some of these recommendations will require investment by this council. It will mean taking risks. Some initiatives will mean investing more in people in development and planning. But this kind of spending must be distinguished from expanding the bureaucracy. There is a return on investment that can be calculated by such an expense, that can be estimated and measured. And then it must be communicated clearly to residents and taxpayers.
These are the kinds of entrepreneurial steps this new council will be asked to consider over the next few months and years. Councillors must not shrink away in fear or be cowed by the threat of a massive tax increase. These things need to separated out, so that financial impact of each kind of spending is assessed correctly.
Allow me to be specific: the new council is encouraged to shelve all but emergency or essential capital projects for a year (unless a clear and compelling return on investment can be shown). Do this in order to give yourselves time to better understand the County’s infrastructure, plants and equipment. Only then, will you be equipped to determine what falls into the category of nice-to-have and must-have.
Remember that the municipal plant operator has no incentive to operate efficiently—only that it works and complies with governing legislation and regulations. That outlook defines everything from replacement parts to staffing. In this gap there is an opportunity to do things much more cost-effectively.
A new council has the opportunity to build something. You need not be timid and fearful. Those instincts have only served to make Shire Hall smaller, less relevant and prone to doing the wrong thing.
Together the new council has a chance to chart a fresh course forward. Join us in wishing them well.
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