Mayor's Message
DISTRICT OF SOOKE Mayor Wendal Milne Inaugural Address
Wendal Milne 12/5/2011 Initiatives for 2011 – 2014
Welcome everyone.
I would like to start out by thanking Mayor Janet Evans for her 12 years of service 6 as a Councillor and 6 as Mayor. That is a huge commitment to the community and Janet deserves our thanks. I would like to thank Councillors Dave Bennett, Ron Dumont and Sheila Beech for their contributions over the last three years on council and also for their continuing commitment to the community by running in our recent election.
I congratulate our new council members, Kevin Pearson, Kerrie Reay, Maja Tate, Herb Haldane, Bev Berger and Rick Kasper. I look forward to working with all of you and I believe that together we will accomplish a lot over the next three years.
Sooke is a great place, a place that is full of opportunities. It needs to be sustainable both in terms of the economy and the environment. We should be proud of what we have, but always work to make it better.
Our vision for the future is clearly set out in the official community plan. That plan along with the many studies already done, will serve us well as we move towards implementation of our vision.
If we are to achieve the vision of the Official Community Plan by opening up the area towards the harbour, Council will have to address the issue of property purchases for road right away. Decisions on costs to acquire the necessary property will have to be balanced with all the current needs of the community and our commitment to stop spiralling tax increases.
We have a huge job ahead of us with the world, the country, the province and the District facing uncertain economic times. We have a community with enormous untapped potential which I feel will help us find ways to meet these challenges.
We need to ensure sustainability for the taxpayers while ensuring that we support the many organizations that make Sooke the volunteer capital of Canada. We need to make sure that our decisions are balanced in order to support seniors, the youth, arts and culture and the everyday worker.
We heard loud and clear in the election process that the public wants to see more accountability and careful spending by council, coupled with improvements to basic amenities such as sidewalks and the downtown.
TO MEET THESE EXPECTATIONS COUNCIL AND STAFF NEED A NEW WAY OF DOING BUSINESS!!!!!
I believe that we have a very dedicated District Staff which we will need to support and work with, to achieve our goals. This includes the Fire Department with the large volunteer force, the RCMP and the staff at the District who will help us face the many challenges over the next three years. It has to be a team effort in order to succeed.
IMMEDIATELY YOU WILL SEE A MORE HANDS ON COUNCIL.
Our goal is to Control spending to stop the spiralling tax increases while still providing the basic services and moving Sooke forward. Following are some of the steps we will take to achieve this.
Immediately, we will instruct staff to prepare an amendment to the Council Remuneration and Benefits by-law, to reflect no increases in remuneration for council members over the term of this council;
We will be Instructing staff to match 2012 spending to 2011 expenses or less and to find ways to have no increase in annual spending in 2012 over 2011.
Council will Instruct staff to begin looking at the 2012 budget year to find creative ways to try to reduce the tax increase to 0%; For example, this could include things like:
- a hiring freeze, a freeze or a reduction on expenditures for capital equipment and projects;
- examination of all capital projects planned and in progress; and
- Examination of the necessity of the level of expenses for things like travel and conferences.
Council will examine all of our existing contracts in order to determine if there are ways in which we can work with our contracting partners and our employees to achieve savings for the taxpayer.
We will examine the delegation of spending authority by-law and our purchasing policy in order to determine how changes to, or the rescinding of that by law and policy would assist in our goal of reduced spending. We are going to ensure accountable, transparent decision making in all spending.
Council will examine our current staff levels and organizational structure to ensure that it meets the needs of the community in providing a timely professional response to the public.
I believe that transparency and accountability through public input and participation are absolutely necessary for us to succeed in gaining the support of the community. In order to achieve this we will be establishing Standing Committees in the areas of Finance and Administration, as well as Land Use issues. Each of these committees will have a mix of councillors and members of the public.
Council will re establish the Finance and Administration Committee with new expanded terms of reference.
We will ensure that the Finance and Administration Committee meets on a regular basis in public, in place of the Committee of the Whole to ensure the budget and spending processes are transparent and open to public input and question.
Council will create a new Land Use committee to deal with land use issues, including; sub-division, zoning and other development related matters. This committee will meet on a regular basis in public, in place of the Committee of the Whole, to ensure the decisions around land use are transparent and open to public input and question at all stages.
We will be examining ways that we can open up council meetings to encourage more dialogue between the council, staff and the public on all issues.
We will instruct staff to look at the cost and feasibility of web casting council and committee meetings in order to make decisions more transparent and accessible.
We will ask staff to explore the possibility of having council materials ready in a timelier manner, so as to allow councillors and the public sufficient time to review the issues before being required to make decisions.
Council will bring back the Zoning by-law to re examine it in relation to secondary suites and the current prohibition of including them in all zones. Building standards and issues of parking will be important to that re-examination. At the same time we will look at other initiatives to support smart growth and the infill of the core area.
I am pleased to announce that I was involved last week in a mediation involving a significant lawsuit against the District. A tentative resolution was reached subject to council approval. I will be taking the matter before council on December 12 asking that they approve the resolution of this matter.
Council is going through an orientation process on rules responsibilities and procedures between now and the end of January 2012.
Council will be participating in a special meeting this Saturday. This session will focus on personnel issues, legal issues and some strategic planning around these subjects in order to move towards our objectives of careful spending and open transparent decision making. The topics coming from that planning session that can be reported will be reported as soon as possible.
Council will hold a second special meeting around Strategic Planning in the later part of January 2012 to identify current priorities and priorities for the first year of our term. Further planning sessions will be required to look at priorities for the full three years of our term in relation to our five year budget plan, as well as the steps needed to achieve these goals.
Council reserves the right to subscribe to the basic principles of in-camera meetings and that in-camera meetings have a legitimate use, however:
- they should only be used as a last resort;
- This council commits to only using the process were absolutely necessary and limiting these meetings to those issues that are prescribed by law to be in camera or that if discussed in an open meeting would be injurious to the District; and
- Where appropriate, release of information from these meetings will be released as soon as possible.
We will work with staff immediately to look at how we can start to achieve improvements in accessibility and beautification to the core area.
We need to continue working with the community through our Economic Development Committee, focusing on new ideas as well as the continued development of tourism and other cultural initiatives that make Sooke a great place to live and to visit.
And Finally, over the next weeks and into 2012 we will be advertising for volunteers to participate in our Committees. Some examples of these committees are those new committees in Finance and Land Use I spoke of tonight, as well as others such as our Protective Services Committee. Please watch for those advertisements and take the opportunity to participate with us as we go forward.
Remember we are all in this together. As we move through the next 3 years it is crucial that you continue to provide your input and constructive criticism so that we continue to reflect the wishes and the values of Sooke.
Thank You on behalf of the Council, Staff and myself for your support and the best of the season to everyone.