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Council report card shows strengths and weaknesses

Summer’s finally here and it’s time to post another council report card.

Although there were a few unhappy campers, the recent town hall meeting was a friendly, non-confrontational affair. This is shaping up to be a productive session, to the credit of Mayor Gardner and his colleagues.

Tax increases have been kept to a minimum. A downtown social housing project has been authorized and so has the rezoning of the Waterfront Landing development, including affordable housing and a public park. Some of the pain from previous VANOC snubs has been eased with the arrival of an Olympic sized $750,000 cheque.

But all is not sweetness and light. Were the Second Avenue Seven a couple of Tim Bits shy of a full box when they gave the bum’s rush to the Squamish Sustainability Corporation board and then got caught up in the firefighter budget cut sweepstakes? And following the cougar attack in Brackendale, a community meeting attracted more than 60 concerned residents.

At a moment when their input could have eased the rising levels of fear and anxiety, our mayor and council made themselves scarcer than ham sandwiches at a vegan picnic.

When it comes to attendance at the welter of meetings associated with their job description, this council has posted a decidedly uneven track record.

While Greg Gardner and Corinne Lonsdale have only missed a couple of meetings each, Bryan Raiser has missed six, Rob Kirkham bailed out of seven altogether, including four committee-of-the-whole meetings. Doug Race has missed three. Paul Lalli has been out of the loop for four. Patricia Heintzman has skipped a whopping eight meetings of one kind or another.

Then again, simply showing up is only part of the deal. Although Kirkham and Raiser both have a solid understanding of local issues, they have looked more like observers than full participants at regular council meetings and during the recent town hall gathering at the Eagle Eye Theatre.

Lonsdale’s years in public office continue to serve her well. Her insight can save hours of wrangling and shorten council’s flirtation with unworkable ideas.

Despite the attendance anomalies, Heintzman has blossomed into a leading political performer. She is articulate and can cut to the quick on major questions facing this community.

Race has the ability to decipher the nitty-gritty of an issue, as is demonstrated by this adroit observation related to council’s veto of a recent higher density rezoning proposal: “You can’t make zoning decisions based on construction jobs.”

Lalli continues to ask probing questions and provides perceptive analysis. But Lalli, like most of his colleagues, is over enrolled in committees, many without clear terms of reference. Besides chairing the Accessibility Advisory and the Economic Development Standing Committee, he is also on the Finance and the Operations Standing Committee.

This is a prescription for a bad case of burnout.

So when everything is said and done this council gets mixed reviews. Let’s see what happens to change that assessment in the next six months.

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