Longer terms for civic politicians in B.C. could have a direct impact on at least one local council in the 2011 civic election. West Kelowna Mayor Doug Findlater said Friday he is opposed to lengthening the terms of mayors and councillors to four years from the current three. If the province proceeds with the change, he says it will influence his decision about whether to run again for mayor. Findlater said three years is already a long commitment for many who seek public office at the municipal level.His counterpart in Kelowna, Sharon Shepherd, said she sees both benefits and disadvantages to longer terms, but shares, in part, Findlater’s concern about attracting good candidates.While less frequent elections will save municipalities money—it costs Kelowna about $60,000 to hold an election every three years—and will help councils implement plans they make before councillors head back to the polls, longer terms could dissuade some from running.
The proposed change to the length of council terms is one of 31 changes the government says it will make after accepting a report that looked at municipal council election reform. Several of the report’s recommendations had to do with campaign financing and Victoria says it plans to introduce campaign spending limits. But the amount has yet to be decided. Both mayors welcomed the move, though Findlater pointed out it is not likely to be much of an issue in his municipality. In the last election, Findlater said he spend between $7,000 and $8,000 in total, $3,000 of that his own money. He also set a self-imposed cap of $500 per contributor. Shepherd, who spend much more than that, said when she ran in the last election, she refused to take contributions from developers and pointed out that under the current rules, any amount over $99 has to be made public. Currently, contributions up to $50 can be made anonymously. That is also expected to be scrapped under the new rules, which will likely go to the Union of B.C. Municipalities for comment prior to their introduction in time for the next municipal election in November 2011.While it was not addressed in the report, Shepherd said she still wants municipal elections held earlier in the year, possibly October, to help get more people out to the polls.
2 comments:
The article is interesting, but the spelling is horrible. "Spend should likely be Spent".
Can you imagine or even contemplate having to watch incompentence for four years rather than the current three years.
If the Government is stupid enough to pass a four year term for city councillors and regional districts, then "Recall" should be mandatory!
A typical stupid idea agreed to by this out of touch Gordo-I wish they would take him back to the islands and lock him up for drunk thinking.Who would like to be stuck with a council like Vernon City Council for 4 years! We would be bankrupt at the end of it. We must have the right to recall if this change is made.
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