Who should choose?

Council says it will make the choices about what stays and what goes

Amajority of council, it seems, knows best. Urged to consult with County residents—about what the municipality does and what it can continue to afford to do—the majority of council rejected the suggestion, opting instead to make the choices on their own.

The County’s manager Merlin Dewing is disappointed with the decision.

“My experience is that the more information you can get from the most amount of people on an issue like this, the more likely you will avoid a mess at the end,” said Dewing.

Dewing set as his first task, upon accepting the chief administrative officer (CAO) position last fall, the job of defining appropriate services and service levels for this community— or rather, guiding the community through this process of deciding what the County is and what it should be.

In past assignments Dewing has undertaken similar reviews and was impressed about how much those councils learned about the priorities of residents—what they deemed untouchable and which services could be scaled back.

But in Prince Edward County, residents won’t be be given this opportunity—rather, a majority of council will choose for them.

“They felt they know what the community wants,” said Dewing. “I am not sufficiently in tune yet with this community to know if this is true or isn’t. Hopefully we get an engaged council and make some prudent choices.”

Mayor Peter Mertens also wishes council would have chosen to seek broad public input.

“I talk to lot of people on a daily basis,” said Mertens, “but even with all of the of calls I receive and conversations I have, I don’t pretend to know what is in the mind of County residents. We are talking about a long list of services. I haven’t had the opportunity to discuss the future of these services with anyone in the County.”

Mertens worries too that councillors’ personal opinions could muddy the waters in a job that he believes must be done openly, transparently and for all to see.

“Even when intentions are honourable there is an inclination to inject personal views over the views of constituents. Pet concerns tend to sway decisions.”

But will council even make the tough decisions Dewing says are necessary? The track record isn’t good. Since amalgamation council has largely avoided making tough choices— instead opting to pass along massive tax increases to ratepayers, plunder reserve accounts and plunge the municipality deeper into debt.

“The issue is stark and has been obvious for a few years,” said Dewing. “We have to start working our way out of the quagmire. The case has been made clear for years.”

Dewing says council must face some hard truths.

“I have great confidence that we will be able to show council next week that something has to give,” said Dewing. “It isn’t enough to continue to raise taxes—we have to get to appropriate spending levels.”

Council had been scheduled to spend the day on Thursday considering the future of County services. That meeting, however, has since been postponed until February 1.

In previous budget meetings council has tended to begin its deliberations in earnest; but as the day wears on, it invariably looks to its senior staff and proposes a target, challenging them to make the choices to meet that target. That won’t happen in this exercise, said Dewing.

“I am not prepared to accept that I, or my staff, will propose service level cuts,” said Dewing. “It would be totally inappropriate for our role. It is their [council’s] decision.”