There are those that advocate for a reform of Prince Edward County council. One suggestion is to increase the salary to $40,000 per year with a view to attracting better candidates.

I agree that we need reform in our municipal leadership. However, I do not know of a situation where more money per se has produced better job performance. The current election process has obvious faults regarding the choice between popularity and competence.

Therefore assuming the selection or vetting of future councillors cannot be improved in the short term: I will define one of our problems as “herding cats”.

Target: There are not too many renaissance persons available so we should consider a decision-making process where an individual’s experience can be leveraged and combined with other yet different life experiences. I believe there are many models which could be considered and adapted to local concerns. Most effective models employ a living document/ worksheet at least until everyone’s participation is additive (and not contrarian).

Improvement: A county- specific worksheet when followed should coerce each councillor to consider factors such as: problem definition, underlying assumptions, alignment to goals, timeline, budget, headcount, workload, necessity, five whys, anomalies, et cetera. This type pf worksheet would focus thoughts before a meeting, serve as a checklist during group discussion, and produce a “big picture” vote.

Policy statement: To continually improve Prince Edward County decision making using known management techniques and best practices.

Ray Hobson
Picton