Can you hear me?

No one’s listening.” “We are not being heard.” “Where is the accountability?”

A loud sigh of exasperation was the clearest sound emanating from Hillier Hall on Friday night. County residents are feeling apart from their elected representatives. Estranged and disillusioned. More so than in any of the half-dozen election cycles I have covered. Folks—at least the 60 or so— who came out to listen to Hillier’s mayoral and local council candidates feel decisionmakers have become captive to Shire Hall. They want them to get out to the towns and villages and listen. To hear their concerns. To hear their issues. The election—and public meetings—came not a moment too soon.

The issues are familiar—housing affordability, water rates, rising taxes, size of council, the environment. But the thread running between them on Friday was that too many big decisions are being made without residents’ input. They don’t feel Shire Hall cares what they think or what they want. No one is asking.

Folks see the prospect of large tracts of new housing, big new water infrastructure in Wellington, STA regulations all happening around them—but not with them. Or for them. Residents feel as though they are bystanders in their community.

Covid is a part of it. We are all feeling apart from each other. We’re still getting used to gathering again. Some more tentatively than others. But the aggravation of not being heard or being part of the conversation is overtaking the concern of the virus.

Prevented from physically taking part in council meetings is creating a palpable divide. So, too, is the absence of town hall meetings, public forums, and information sessions. It is challenging Shire Hall’s legitimacy.

The County’s outreach tools aren’t working. Few of the dozens of folks in Hillier or elsewhere have filled in an online survey or questionnaire. Few have used the ‘Have your say’ forum. These may be effective tools in large urban areas with a younger online demographic, but they are not reaching folks in Prince Edward County, particularly the rural bits.

Worse, they are making residents feel outside the conversation, divorced from the decision- making. It is fuelling frustration and anger—rather than the goal of giving voice to residents.

But it’s more than just Covid isolation, and it’s more than the lack of effective comms tools. Part of it is the pace of change. Big issues. More of them. At a faster pace. Things are happening fast. Relentlessly. Residents are feeling disoriented. As though they can’t keep up.

It likely explains why so many former council members, five altogether, are coming out of retirement to run again. Voters are telling them they want the County government to slow down—to go back to the way things used to be. It is more nostalgia than a practical alternative, but the anxiety is real.

The challenge is made worse as Council resembles a private club. From the outside looking in, it appears as an assembly of folks who fit a narrow demographic who are rapidly remaking government and regulations. Too often, Council appears to be working for Shire Hall rather than voters. When every decision is made in Picton—it isn’t surprising that every solution seems Picton-centric.

There also appears to be little conflict. Little disagreement. Just 14 folks enjoying each other’s company and making big decisions. Elected to shape local government, instead, Shire Hall appears to be shaping council members.

Shire Hall has trained elected folks to keep disagreements inside the walls—not to air them outside. Only a handful of council members and Mayor Ferguson engage with this newspaper or others in the form of letters or update reports. Most choose not to engage at all—staying above the fray. Safer. The silence, however, amplifies the alienation many are feeling toward their local government.

Debate and argument are central to a functioning democratic government. But Shire Hall has walled off local government. For the sake of efficiency. For the appearance of order and decorum. But in all the messy bits of participative democracy are the roots of legitimacy.

This election cycle has gotten off to a bit of a sleepy start. Only a handful of all-candidate meetings have been announced. More are coming. It would be a serious mistake, however, for candidates to assume all is well in the shires—that voters are content. If Hillier is an example—and I suspect it is a very good one—there is much to be talked about. If a public candidates meeting hasn’t been arranged yet, get one organized.

Residents have something to say.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca