Email from Rick Baker, Re: Proposal to Increase Size of View Royal Town Council

From: Rick Baker Sent: December 11, 2021 1:11 PM To: Info Address info@viewroyal.ca Cc: David Screech MayorScreech@viewroyal.ca Subject: Proposal to Increase Size of View Royal Town Council

Hello Sarah:

I am aware that the Town of View Royal is considering an increase to Council size from five to seven members. I am also aware that the Town is looking for the public's input on this initiative.

And in case I'm not able to attend or properly express my views at either the meeting of Council or the Public Open House in January 2022, I wanted to make sure I contributed to the process. And I apologize for the email but I couldn't readily track down the public form. I'm writing to advise that I fully support the proposed increase for the following reasons.

I should declare at the outset that I am currently a volunteer member of the Town's Community Development Advisory Committee. In that role I've attended virtual Committee meetings where this topic has been discussed and at those meetings I have voted in favour of increasing the size of the Town Council.

To me supporting increasing the size of Town Council to seven members is based on creating enhanced community awareness, creating enhanced community engagement and creating enhanced community understanding of the role and function of Council. So my comments are guided by those, what I would call, principles.

In the 2018 civic election, there were 8,865 eligible voters and 2,244 votes were cast in View Royal. So roughly 25 percent of all eligible voters participated in the last election. I find this participation rate to be extremely low. It tells me there is a relatively low level of awareness, engagement and understanding of how important it is to cast a vote in a civic election. I don't know and I don't care how this number compares with the voting experience in other jurisdictions. Those kinds of comparisons are like a red herring to me, nice to know but not really relevant to what is happening in our community. Strengthening the level of voter participation would be/should be/is a goal of the Town council.

Town staff and Councillors will likely know this more precisely but the number of people who actively engage with the Town or provide input on various issues is probably fairly low. People likely only come forward if an issue directly affects them and the area in which they live. My direct volunteer experience with the Town has shown me it is difficult to find people who want to volunteer for anything from Canada Day celebrations to Committee work. I don't think this means people don't care, I think they just don't know and if they don't know they don't understand the rewards and benefits or importance of the contributions they could make. Reaching out to the community by expanding the number of councillors is one important way to do that.

As pointed out in the background documents prepared by the Town, the population in View Royal has grown substantially over the last few years. I have no doubt that in that time the diversity and demographics have changed in ways that reflect the world around us and those changes are significant. If we're wanting to enhance awareness, engagement and understanding in a larger and more diverse population, that tells me that the same old, same old ways of communicating and community outreach won't work. We need to look to developing a more effective mix of ways to reach out to and engage the community. Expanding the number of councillors is an important part of that new mix. Having a council that reflects the diversity and demographics of our Town is important. Creating the opportunity to bring new and divergent views to the table is important. It lends itself to better decision making, a more inclusive decision making process and decisions that are based on and supported by a broad cross-section of our residents.

Not to sound critical, but I'll bet that if you conducted a survey and asked people to name a View Royal councillor, the ability of most voters to name a councillor would probably be pretty low. Or if you asked people how do you think a councillor can be of help to them, people would struggle to answer. If you asked people what does a Town of View Royal councillor do, a lot of people would have no idea. Expanding the number of councillors can become an important way of enhancing community contact and community outreach. Hopefully deeper awareness and deeper understanding results in higher voter turnout come election time.

I am not swayed in any way by comments that say expanding the number of councillors is going to cost too much money. People need to realize that running a Town is like running a business. Every day councillors are asked to review and make decisions on complex issues such as transportation, housing, land use, taxation, climate change etc. etc. There is a cost to doing business and that cost is not insignificant. And the issues and challenges that will come to council are coming more quickly, they are becoming more complex and they are becoming things we've never dealt with before, if COVID may be used as one example here. It seems to me that saying this is going to cost more money is something you say when you don't have much else to offer. And the same thing goes for comparisons with other jurisdictions. How many councillors another town or city may have reflects their thinking and their needs. It has zero to do with our situation here in View Royal. No two communities on the Island are identical. Every community is different with its own challenges and opportunities. View Royal is simply seeking to do what's best for us here in View Royal. Our community has changed, is changing and will continue to change. How or why should we maintain the status quo? A slightly larger team of councillors bringing a diversity of views, backgrounds and perspectives to the decision making table is a "must do" if council is going to continue to effectively manage our affairs.

When I hear groups like the Grumpy Taxpayers talk about the ratio of councillors to population, I feel that too is a red herring. If developing awareness, engagement and understanding is to be achieved we should learn from what the education system does when it establishes class sizes for students. There the obvious goal is to create a ratio of teachers to students that optimizes the learning environment. And in education having an appropriate teacher to student ratio is what works. Smaller class sizes work. In smaller classes the teacher can work more effectively with students and students have more ready access to the teacher. So why, when View Royal is working to do all of the things it would like to do to enhance our community, wouldn't a better ratio of councillors to residents be a good thing? My answer is, of course it would be.

So I'll do my best to attend the January meetings and listen in to the concerns and questions of other residents. I really hope that increasing the number of councillors on View Royal Town Council is something that the public supports. It is a responsible way to keep up with the changing needs of our community and to manage future growth. I commend the staff for all of the hard work put into preparing background documents and the information boards for the Open Houses.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my comments with you on this important issue.

Rick Baker 204, 1 Buddy Road Victoria, B.C. V9B1V6