City of Powell River councillors voted to not fund meet the mayor sessions with the public from mayor Ron Woznow’s travel budget.
At the July 30 special city council meeting, Woznow made a motion that the mayor be authorized to fund the meet the mayor event using the mayor’s travel budget, such that the combined travel and public engagement expenditures do not exceed the total budgeted amount.
Woznow said he brought the matter forward because in past, consultants had spoken about the importance of meet the mayor-type consultations.
“There will be no net impact on the city budget or the budgets that any other councillors have for travel,” said Woznow.
Councillor Cindy Elliott asked if Woznow’s intention was to use the budget used for travel to events such as Union of British Columbia Municipalities or the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities meetings to fund the meet the mayor events. She asked if all that could be combined to not exceed the existing travel budget.
Woznow said he was quite confident there will be negligible requirements to use his travel budget, because of the significant support that has come forward from ratepayers associations and other associations to provide meeting spaces at no cost.
Councillor Jim Palm said the mayor had hosted two such events already, which were well attended. He said community members were able to ask the questions on their minds.
Regarding the most recent meeting at Cranberry Seniors Centre, Palm said he was proud to be in attendance, and noted that no other councillors showed up.
“The public needs to hear from the mayor,” said Palm. “This is an excellent use of those travel funds to engage the public.”
Councillor Rob Southcott said he mostly agreed with Palm, and enjoyed the first meet the mayor event Woznow conducted at Evergreen Theatre. He said he wasn’t able to get to the second one.
Southcott said it states in the Community Charter that the mayor speaks for council, and he would love to feel that was true.
“There is a gap in my experience,” said Southcott. “By the communication that goes back and forth between us, before an event like meet the mayor would happen, I would love to feel the mayor was representing me. I would like to suggest that we do a bit of a workshop session to figure out how to achieve that.
“Greater confidence by the public would be achieved if it wasn’t just the mayor speaking – if there was more of a feeling that the mayor was speaking for all seven of us.”
Councillor Trina Isakson said she supported mayor and council engaging with the public. She said she and Palm were working on something with the former director of properties, development and communications, but he took a new job, so it fell off the agenda and wasn’t part of council’s strategic plan.
“I appreciate the mayor’s intent to not add to the budget, but ultimately, these are taxpayer funds, and for taxpayer funds to support one member of council, it becomes more about political purposes,” said Isakson. “I share some of councillor Southcott’s concerns. There is sometimes a gap between how the mayor speaks in public and the will of council.
“It’s very important that as a council, we have trust that the mayor can speak to the will of council, and some of the times where the mayor has spoken publicly, some of the statements don’t align with the will of council. Sometimes they are inflammatory.”
Isakson said she would support a motion to workshop for council and mayor to better engage with the public outside of council meetings.
“I don’t support the use of taxpayer funds for one member of council,” said Isakson.
Woznow said there seems to be confusion about what meet the mayor is. He said the meeting is not for the mayor to put forward positions that council has taken or may take.
“Meet the mayor is an opportunity for all residents of Powell River to raise questions,” said Woznow. “Those questions are subsequently provided to staff or brought back to council. To correct councillor Isakson, there is no intent that the mayor would speak on behalf of council at these meetings. The information is coming from the other direction and any member of council is welcome to come to these meetings and hear what the public has an interest in.”
Councillor George Doubt said he agreed with having communication opportunities between council and the mayor and the public.
“One of the duties of the mayor is to be a spokesperson for council,” said Doubt. “I’ve heard about speak to the mayor events. The most recent one, I heard of because I got an invitation from the Wildwood Ratepayers Association. I didn’t get an invitation from the mayor or anyone on staff.
“There is a council of seven people, not just the mayor, and everyone should be involved in an appropriate way.”
Council voted on Woznow’s motion, with Woznow, Palm and councillor Earl Almeida in favour. The remaining four councillors voted against, so the motion was defeated.
Southcott then made a motion that council hold a workshop session to discuss mayor and council engagement with the community. The motion carried unanimously.
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