Implications for municipalities across the region – Incisive city governance review makes thirty recommendations
EDITOR’S NOTE: Council received the Governance Report about two weeks prior to council on July 27, 2022, according to MNP. At the July 27 meeting, City of Victoria council voted to accept the Governance Report and defer it seven weeks to the committee of the whole meeting Sept. 7 . A further delay puts it at Committee of the Whole meeting on Sept. 29. Council has now punted the report to July 26, 2023.
MEDIA COVERAGE:
Council code of conduct among suggestions in consultant’s report for City of Victoria, Times Colonist, July 20, 2022.
Victoria’s governance report released, CFAX Interview with Chair John Treleaven, July 19, 2022.
A review of the city governance structures and processes by Meyers Norris Penny has made 30 recommendations on how the City of Victoria can become more efficient, effective and inclusive.
The blunt 111-page independent report by MNP (Item F1) – one of the largest full-service chartered professional accountancy and business advisory firms in Canada – is wide-ranging and considered highly credible.
“During the last seven years Grumpy Taxpayer$ has been highly critical of City of Victoria’s failed governance practices. So, this highly credible, independent report confirms our countless concerns,” says John Treleaven, chair of Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria.
“The findings of the report demand that the current city council begin fundamental changes to how the city is governed. But it remains to be seen if mayor and council will take this high-level analysis to heart and act on the concerns of residents.”
Recommendations include adopting a code of conduct and an integrity commissioner be appointed, developing a policy on council’s role in matters beyond core responsibilities, maintaining existing remuneration until January 2023, being more transparent about the City Family, and a greater focus on the strategic plan.
In our view many of the recommendations could easily apply to the other 12 boutique municipalities across the South Island, adds Treleaven.
The public engagement summary by MNP found that 81 per cent of respondents were either very dissatisfied or dissatisfied with the governance of the city. More than 80 per cent also disagreed that council focused on the right things and that they addressed citizen priorities.
The scope of the review included the role of mayor and council, council meetings and decision-making processes, remuneration, advisory committees and task forces, public access and input into decision-making, transparency and accountability.
READ MORE
Comment: Governance, climate and potholes, Times Colonist, Jan. 28, 2020.
Comment: In search of ‘good governance’, Times Colonist, June 26, 2020.
Comment: Local governance improving, but there’s still work to do, Times Colonist, Oct. 18, 2019.
Island Voices: Partisan ‘civic political parties’ bad for taxpayers, Times Colonist, July 28, 2019.
Comment: Ping pong and poets, or potholes and police?, Times Colonist, Apr. 18, 2020.
Capital Integrated Services and Governance Initiative, Government of BC, March 2017.