While Thompson city council already passed the first reading of a new composition of councillors bylaw during their Feb. 26 regular meeting, this action was subject to a March 12 public hearing at City Hall.
In total, eight people stepped up to the microphone on Monday to tell council what they thought about this new bylaw that, if second and third readings are approved, would lower their numbers from the mayor and eight councillors to the mayor and six councillors.
Seven of these eight speakers were opposed to this bylaw, believing that the reduction in numbers would put an unnecessary strain on the remaining councillors, especially with more cutbacks at Vale coming into effect later this year.
“There’s going to be many issues with the public, a lot of questions, a lot of concerns, a lot of committees that need to be formed to work with people,” said Les Ellsworth, president of United Steelworkers Local 6166. “I watched you in council for the last few years and you have a hard enough time getting the work done that you’ve already got in front of you, and now is the opportunity to really come together with a new council and keep the number of members that you have going into the future.”
Other speakers said there are better ways for the city to save money with tough financial times on the horizon, with resident Martin Grier suggesting that they cut the community safety officer program instead.
Vale employee, former councillor and 2014 mayoral candidate Luke Robinson was the only member of the public who showed support for the bylaw during this hearing, saying that fewer numbers would discourage “cliquey”behaviour going forward.
“I’m going to be infavour of this, because it showed that in the past council has decided to shun councillors from participating in committees,” he said. “Therefore, fewer number of councilors will either have a heavier workload or will be more inclined to share that workload with every different-thinking person in that room.”
Coun. Kathy Valentino, who chaired the hearing in the absence of Mayor Dennis Fenske, said the public’s comments will be taken back to the table when they finalize the city’s 2018–19 budget.
The second and third reading of this bylaw will likely take place in the next couple city council meetings, since they have to pass it 180 days before the next election, which is slated for Oct. 24.
The last time that Thompson city council had six members (plus the mayor) it was at the beginning of the city’s history, 1966 to 1969. Since then that number went up to seven from 1969 to 1972 and eight from 1972 to 2002.
For the next eight years the number of councillors was reduced to seven until that position was restored in 2010.
Resolution to rescind
Debate surrounding the merits of this new bylaw did bleed into the regular meeting of council.
Here, Coun. Duncan Wong brought forward a motion to rescind a resolution that was passed on Feb. 12, which aims to amend the Thompson Charter Act to delete any references to a specific council size.
Echoing his comments from that past meeting, Wong said he is not against the idea of opening up the charter, but said that such a change should have warranted some sort of special meeting, which was never called.
Coun. Penny Byer responded by saying that the prospect of amending the Thompson charter came up several times during the city’s ongoing budget deliberations, and nobody mentioned anything about calling a special meeting.
“So if that is something that we want to do, I’m not against doing it. I just think that that should have come up when were discussing our budget, as opposed to bringing it up now.”
Wong also mentioned that if they’re going to open up the charter, they should make it “worthwhile” and make sure they have a better bargaining position when it comes to negotiating with companies like Vale.
Ultimately, this resolution to rescind was defeated by a vote of 5–3, with councillors Wong, Ron Matechuk and Judy Kolada being in favour.
The next Thompson council meeting is taking place March 26 at 7 p.m.
