SARAH WILLIAMS

STAFF WRITER

 

On March 14, Prince Edward County Council passed a resolution to explore council’s governance structure. Braney’s resolution requires the CAO and clerk to prepare a report for council regarding the guiding principles, scope, timing and cost of a possible third-party review of council’s governance structure.

Inherent to the proposed examination of the current ratio of County wards-of which there are currently nine-to elected representatives. While Braney is adamant he encountered many residents on the campaign trail who expressed concern about the current size of council, his resolution garnered skepticism from several members of the public who made deputations to council.

One such resident was Gary Mooney. Mooney urged council to exclude any reference of council size and structure when conducting a governance review. Of note, Mooney previously supported downsizing council, but has since changed his mind.

Mooney noted he had been involved in initiatives to reduce council size from 2008-2017.

“I have now seen the error of my ways and teamed up with former Councillors Monica Alyea and John Thompson, both of whom are decades long contributors to county life and who led the opposition against downsizing the last time around,” said Mooney.

At the crux of Mooney’s argument is the value of the unique structure of County government and the influence this has on the character of this place.

“The County is unique, particularly because it is a community of communities and has been so throughout its settler history. Ten communities until recently, now nine. We need to preserve these,” argued Mooney. “If you ask 100 people on the street about council size, as many as 80 per cent may say it’s too large and should reduce. But that is an instant reaction and is perhaps not well thought-out. This is why we elect representatives-people to consider evidence and think deeply.”

Among the reasons not to entertain the idea of downsizing council, Mooney added, is that efficiency should not come at the cost of effectiveness-a cost/benefit analysis he believes needs to be considered as part of a review.

“Downsizing is a solution in search of a problem. There is no demonstrated need for a smaller council and no demand from residents. The previous council was most productive since amalgamation. Residents were satisfied,” Mooney added.

Throughout his deputation, Mooney was adamant the size of council and ward structure is not a governance issue, but an issue of electoral representation.

Alyea spoke of past efforts to downsize council and the threat of amalgamation with Hastings County. She also decried the expense required to conduct such a review.

“I am frustrated to see this brought forward again with an expenditure of staff time and residents’ dollars. Aren’t our staff busy enough?” Alyea inquired. “The current structure came to us in 1998 with foresight and considerable pain to protect the historical entity known as Prince Edward County. There was strong evidence that the province was prepared to roll the County in with Hastings County at the time.”

Speaking to his resolution, Braney noted it has been “some time” since a governance review was conducted. He pointed to the recent election as having inspired a review of council governance size and structure.

“I brought this motion forward following overwhelming interest during last election. County residents expressed views and instilled faith that we as a new council would undertake our review of the governance structure with a fresh approach,” said Braney. “Throughout my political career I’ve been involved with a number of governance reviews and have learned that good governance does not always guarantee success, but its absence almost certainly guarantees failure.”

Councillor Phil St-Jean was first to throw his support behind Braney’s resolution.

“Sadly, everyone is getting hung up on the size of council, that is not the intent and I believe Councillor Braney fully explained his intent. I fully support a governance review,” commented St-Jean. “I think we need to plan forward, not think about the battles of the past, digging our heels in or sticking our heads in the sand. In order to improve you have to constantly look forward.”

Councillor Brad Nieman expressed support of a review of the governance model but stopped short of expressing support for a review of ward boundaries and size of council.

“I can support a review of the governance model, but as far as looking at ward boundaries and size of council-which it (the resolution) states you’re looking at-we went through that and we know that people are happy with what we have,” said Nieman. “I can say with quite certainty I knocked on 95 per cent of doors in Bloomfield/Hallowell and I bet you I had 100 people talk about the size of council, whereas the rest were happy with what we’re doing.”

Nieman added that he believes size of council/ward structure should be addressed at a future date.

Councillor Janice Maynard argued there are more pressing issues to deal with and supported Mooney’s view that governance  and electoral representation are separate considerations.

“Governance is how we conduct our business not how we are structured, which is different than electoral representation. In the last half of last term and continuing we’ve had quite a robust review of our governance and how we do business through all our bylaw review and committee reviews,” stated Maynard.

Maynard also noted the process could be divisive and expressed concern about budgetary implications.

“This process will be expensive and have budgetary impacts. It is likely to be divisive and take a lot of staff time and to what end? A smaller council that works full time, dissolution of our wards, less representation for people we serve,” commented Maynard. “Are there ways we could improve-perhaps. As far as how we elect and at what proportion and our wards, I don’t see the benefit compared to the great cost.”

Defending his decision to include a review of council size and structure in the resolution, Braney argued this was only as a means for gathering information to inform future discussions about this issue.

“This is a governance review to enable us to get the information we would require to look at future planning. I don’t even want to think of models or sizes of council. It’s to get information and, to have a fulsome discussion, we need the information,” said Braney.

Ultimately, Braney’s resolution was carried eight to five in a recorded vote.