Over the years, the need for increased accountability up and down the chain of command at the District of Squamish has been a frequent discussion topic, and it certainly was front and centre during last fall’s civic election campaign. One noteworthy element in the accountability equation is our municipal council’s attendance history.
Granted, rattling off numbers associated with councillors’ appearances at meetings hardly quickens the pulse in a community where painting trees blue triggered more frenzied online activity than a flock of hummingbirds on caffeine. All the same, an attendance review can shed light on some interesting behaviour patterns.
According to the B.C. Community Charter, elected municipal representatives are obligated to be present at regular council, special council and committee of the whole meetings, as well as any committees to which they have been appointed. In other words, these are not casual drop-in opportunities.
The minutes of those forums are readily available on the district’s website and they reveal that the council member with the best attendance record was Patricia Heintzman. She missed one meeting and was late twice. Karen Elliott missed three meetings and was late for three. Peter Kent missed five and was late for one. Doug Race was absent from nine and late for one.
Ted Prior failed to attend 13 meetings and was late for four. Susan Chapelle failed to attend 18 meetings and was late four times.
The AWOL jackpot goes to Jason Blackman-Wulff, who failed to appear a staggering 22 times and has been late for 13 meetings. In his campaign blurb, he said: “Working for municipal government and provincial government, I have seen and learned firsthand how important it is for elected officials to be a key link between the public service and citizens.”
A year later, there appears to be a disconnect between those noble sentiments and Blackman-Wulff’s patchy attendance record.
It should be noted that serving on council is not an unpaid, volunteer activity; this municipality provides our elected agents with more than adequate remuneration for their services. In fact, over the past five years, they have received two substantial salary top-ups.
That being said, a case could be made for fewer and shorter meetings. Besides, there is a lot more to being an effective councillor than just showing up and being counted. And for various reasons non-attendance may at times be unavoidable, so we need to cut this group a bit of slack.
Nevertheless, some councillors have stretched that latitude to the extreme. Frankly, any district employee with a similar pattern of tardiness and absenteeism would likely be shown the door in short order.
