District of Squamish council members held a heated debate over transparency and what individual members are entitled to express during the Tuesday (July 13) Committee of the Whole meeting.
A document presented during the meeting outlined a new correspondence policy stating "correspondence addressed to mayor and council will be handled in a consistent manner."
Of contention was the protocol stating emails sent to up to three councillors may be responded to by councillors, or can be forwarded to chief administrative officer (CAO) Kevin Ramsay for possible referral to staff or a future council meeting.
Coun. Paul Lalli opted for a uniform message over individual responses, and suggested sending everything to the mayor, comparing emails from a council to using district letterhead.
"I think us responding individually, and maybe differently, just really opens a can of worms," said Lalli.
Coun. Patricia Heintzman expressed serious dismay to Lalli's proposal.
"We're all seven individuals with seven individual minds," she said.
Heintzman said monitoring responses from council, who were elected by the people writing in to ask these questions, was bordering on censorship.
"It's almost like sanitization and censorship from council to the community," said Heintzman. "We're all individuals, we're not all one mind. We can't over regulate individual behaviour."
She added, "It's to the point where" before being interrupted by Mayor Greg Gardner.
"What we're trying to do here is regulate the response when it's a question to council as a whole," said Gardner.
Coun. Rob Kirkham agreed with Heintzman over individual correspondence, and equated emailing a council member to approaching one on the street.
"We're not going to say nothing and have the mayor get back to them," said Kirkham.
Coun. Doug Race reiterated the council "rules" to make the point that individuals can express opinions.
"I think we all know the rules - we don't speak for the District of Squamish, the mayor does," said Race. "We don't say something about staff, or staff operations we don't really know. I think we can give our own personal opinions while keeping those perimeters in mind. We don't speak on behalf of the district, or of council."
Mayor Greg Gardner said the policy is meant to outline how council responds to emails directed at the council as a whole, and it should be understood that council members can reply individually to any email they receive.
He clarified that if an email is sent to three or fewer members, they have the discretion to send it forward to the CAO or not.
Council agreed to change the wording to state councillors who receives emails addressed to three or fewer members "may or may not choose to forward" the correspondence to the rest of council and the CAO.
The motion was moved by Coun. Bryan Raiser, seconded by Race and carried unanimously. Coun. Corrine Lonsdale was absent.
Zoning bylaw review on schedule
Halcrow and Young Anderson, who are responsible for the zoning bylaw review's technical portion, outlined a summary of their progress up to this point.
They focused on seven specific areas - flood protection, grad and height, gross floor area, parking, small lot zoning and sustainability.
They elaborated on the inconsistencies between the new Official Community Plan and the old zoning bylaws.
"We need to bring the zoning bylaw in line with the work done by the planning department and the OCP," said Brent Elliot from Halcrow Consulting.
He and Young Anderson's William Buholzer said their goal is clarity and consistency and making the zoning bylaw more user friendly with fewer grey areas.
They have had two thorough sessions with staff and are focusing on the areas that have the most impact.
They plan to continue the review and report back to staff in August, and aim to present a draft to council and the community in September 2010.
