Transparency
I'd like to see Council take advantage of online tools to enable greater transparency. Citizens need to request far too much information that isn't confidential and has no rationale for not being publicly accessible, other than Council failing to plan for how to share the information. This could reduce unnecessary administrative time searching for answers, leaving more time for staff and Council to focus on their core duties while building trust with citizens. It could also enable staff, Council, and community groups to work more efficiently towards their goals by having the information they need for funding applications readily available. CBRM briefly used Open Data to track applications to Provincial and Federal grant programs but doesn't make full use of the tool. As a citizen, trying to find out what Accessibility Grants CBRM has applied for has been an unnecessarily arduous process for both me and the staff needing to ask all different departments for a response.
Accountability
We don't track any information specific to Councillors and what work they do. I would like to see something implemented similar to Open Parliament. It should be easy for constituents to check up on how their Councillor is representing CBRM and the District, particularly when emails often go unanswered (despite CBRM's email policy suggesting 8 working hours for a response). The email policy needs to be amended to a realistic response time frame for modern email volume. Citizens deserve detailed and timely information about Councillor expenses. My current Councillor tacked in at slightly above the Council average ($10,300) at $12,474.76 .See CBC's August 15, 2024 report: 'CBRM councillor calls for more transparent expense reporting system' for more details. While I understand some travel is required for Council duties, I question how much of that could be done just as well virtually without charging the taxpayers. It's challenging for citizens to judge the benefit of these committee meetings when Committee Reports are not submitted regularly.
There are few ways to hold Council accountable, particularly when policy guidelines are far off from reality. We don't need to completely reinvent the wheel to do this either, we can look to others doing this work such as The Federation of Municipalities of PEI's Open Government Toolkit.
Community Engagement
CBRM's current Public Participation and Engagement Programs policy is outdated. Notice in the local newspaper alone is still considered notice, despite the fact that many households do not subscribe to the newspaper. If elected, I would motion to amend this policy based on community input.
I would propose an amendment to outline how Council Members are responsible for Community Engagement in their Districts. Over the last Council term, CBRM has had several high-paid consultants doing community engagement work with no evidence that certain districts are even promoting these community engagement call-outs to their constituents as some have zero responses.
Understanding the Job
An essential part of accountability and community engagement is that both Council members and the public need to better understand the roles and responsibilities of Council members. It's pretty evident by our Council's voting choices and often discontinued/ interrupted committee work, many members of our Municipal Council do not understand the full scope of role or responsibilities. We pay to have 311 operators available 24/7. Council's job is not to ensure Public Works fills the pothole on your road. It's to approve adequate funding so the pothole gets filled before it destroys your undercarriage. It's to improve the Province's trust in Council's competency, unlike that time Council gave an excessive tax break to Loblaws, Walmart, The Province & Feds instead of a planned 1.5% across the board cut while expanding the Low Income Tax Credit and using 1 mil for roads and 3 mil towards the library, breaking the provinces trust that CBRM would use any increased Provincial funding wisely. This is why we had a 5% cut followed by a 3.5% increase. The net decrease in taxes is the 1.5% that was budgeted for originally except now the Province via Minister of Municipalities John Lohr has more or less laughed at the possibility of future 15 mil top-ups. If given the chance, I will work hard to rebuild that trust in competency.
A Councillors role is to take the public's needs and complaints and advocate to Provincial and Federal governments for supports to address the public's concerns while enacting local change, such as advocating for increased funding for roads, compiling data from constituents to help create reports to more effectively advocate between levels of government, assisting community groups to navigate government funding processes, proposing policy changes, etc. Council's primary responsibility is Municipal Governance. Good Governance is needed to reduce our overreliance on the tax payers and generate our own revenue so we can lower taxes for the long term and improve our services.
In my view, we could have a functional Council if we cut down Council membership but also offered Constituency assistant roles to take on and properly direct inquiries outside of Councillor responsibilities, leaving more time for actual Governance and sustainable changes.
Related reading: (note: CBC is the main source because they do not have a paywall like CB Post)
'CBRM councillors vote for status quo when it comes to council size' December 15, 2022
'How big should a municipal council be' December 21, 2022
"[T]his is predicated on them continuing to believe that their job is, as the Post so memorably put it, “running around worrying about minor problems best left to city staff.” To be fair, it is also predicated on residents continuing to see their jobs that way, which it seems many of us still do."
CBRM's 2013 Strategic Task Force Report
" In essence, the role of Council is to establish policy"
"An emphasis on the CBRM being a "Community of Communities" has for the most part continued to separate the municipality rather than unite it."
"There is an opportunity for the CBRM to look at demographics and make this a senior friendly, senior welcoming municipality with attention to downtown housing, recreation and transportation. The Mayor has noted the need to create a healthy, vibrant urban core in Sydney which anchors young professionals, provides tourists a reason to stay and spend and celebrates our strengths in culture and entertainment. While this concentration of services makes it attractive for young professionals, the provision of these services also makes the goal of a senior friendly city healthier as both groups access the same services"
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