AMALGAMATION QUESTION ON BALLOTS IN CAPITAL REGIONAL DISTRICT MUNICIPALITIES

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the March 13, 2014 report prepared by the Director of Corporate Administration titled “Amalgamation Question on Ballots in Capital Regional District Municipalities” be received.

CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER’S COMMENTS:

I concur with the recommendation.

PURPOSE OF REPORT:

To present information collected from Capital Regional District (CRD) municipalities regarding the inclusion of an amalgamation question on ballots in the fall general local government elections.

BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION:

At the March 11, 2014 Committee of the Whole meeting the following motion was made:

THAT the Committee recommend to Council that staff investigate which municipalities are putting a question of amalgamation on the 2014 local government election ballot and what that question will be. (COW 38-14)

In response to this request, staff contacted the Clerk’s Office for CRD member municipalities and asked:

Has your municipality discussed and decided to explore the amalgamation “yes” matter yet?
If yes, have your elected officials agreed to put the question on the ballot in conjunction with this fall’s election?
If yes, what do you expect the question will read as?

The following is a brief overview of the information received by staff:

Municipality	Considered	Response	Question
CRD	Notice of motion by City of Victoria at CRD meeting to ask member municipalities to put on ballot	Motions defeated; no further action taken	n/a
Central Saanich	Presentation by “Amalgamation Yes”	Motions defeated; no further action taken	n/a
Colwood	Yes	Considering options for community engagement and opinion collection to achieve high response rate (as opposed to combining with elections)	Not yet confirmed; staff anticipate that a question will speak to exploration of amalgamation and/or service integration with other municipalities.
Esquimalt	Presentation recently by “Amalgamation Yes”	To be discussed at April 2014 CoW meeting.	n/a
Highlands	Mentioned in regular reporting by Mayor	No further action taken	n/a
Langford	Discussed in advance of CRD meeting; and will be discussed at committee mtg. in April 2014	No further action taken	n/a
Metchosin	Correspondence rec’d by Council	No further action taken	n/a
North Saanich	Correspondence rec’d by Council	No further action taken	n/a
Oak Bay	Correspondence rec’d by Council; “Amalgamation Yes” spoke at later meeting during public participation.	No further action taken	n/a
Saanich	Correspondence rec’d from “Amalgamation Yes”	No further action taken	n/a
Sidney	Correspondence rec’d by Council	No further action taken	n/a
Sooke	Correspondence rec’d by Council	No further action taken	n/a
Victoria	“Amalgamation Yes” spoke in late 2013	Will put question on ballot	“Are you in favour of reducing the number of municipalities in Greater Victoria through amalgamation?”

BUDGET IMPLICATIONS:

If View Royal Council determines to undertake a non-binding community opinion poll in conjunction with the upcoming local government elections there will be added costs for ballots, ballot counting machines and related equipment, and advertising. These costs will be in the range of $7,500 to $9,500.

Other costs for information collection and dissemination around amalgamation-related issues would be over and above the estimate provided here.

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the March 13, 2014 report prepared by the Director of Corporate Administration titled “Amalgamation Question on Ballots in Capital Regional District Municipalities” be received.

SUBMITTED BY: Sarah Jones, Director of Corporate Administration

REVIEWED BY: Kim Anema, Chief Administrative Officer

AMALGAMATION QUESTION ON BALLOTS IN CAPITAL REGIONAL DISTRICT MUNICIPALITIES

TOWN OF VIEW ROYAL

Council Report