Photo by Whitehorse Star
Potential four-year terms move forward
City council will advance its desire to extend the term of municipal office from three years to four.
City council will advance its desire to extend the term of municipal office from three years to four.
At its meeting Monday, council voted in favour to send the resolution to next month’s annual general meeting of the Association of Yukon Communities (AYC) for consideration by municipal representatives from across the territory.
Council also passed a motion to advance a second resolution calling for direct consultation between the individual municipalities and the Yukon government on financial relief to offset costs and lost revenue due to COVID-19.
The motion to send the resolutions to the AYC annual general meeting received unanimous support.
The administrative report provided to council at its meeting last week says extending the term of office to four years is in recognition of the mounting demand on municipal councils.
“We are an incredibly busy government,” Coun. Kirk Cameron said at Monday night’s meeting.
“The City of Whitehorse has an incredible amount of work on its plate.”
Cameron said he believes a four-year term would give municipal governments a bit more room to tackle the business in front of them.
Municipal councils are not only required to make decisions up front, but also need to ensure those decisions are acted upon, he pointed out.
Cameron said he believes Yukon municipalities would be interested in four-year terms.
“It just makes sense for our governments here in the Yukon at the municipal level,” he said.
Many municipalities across Canada the size of Whitehorse have four-year terms, Cameron noted.
Terms expanded from two years to three years with the 1985 municipal election.
Every year, the executive of the association and representatives of the municipalities vote at the annual general meetings on resolutions forwarded by the municipalities.
Mayor Laura Cabott suggested by working with the Yukon government on financial relief, individual municipalities can speak directly to the financial impact the pandemic has had on them specifically.
Municipalities, she said, have responded to the challenges of lost revenue because of the pandemic.
“There have been territorial and federal relief mostly for business, but municipalities have suffered too,” said the mayor.
The administrative report provided to council noted Yukon municipalities received COVID relief funding of $4.5 million under the Federal-Territorial Restart Funding program.
Whitehorse was granted $1.9 million under the program, but nothing since.
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Comments (18)
Up 2 Down 0
CJ2 on Apr 5, 2022 at 4:51 pm
@Anie, Do you mean save some money by cutting down on elections? Nothing is more disturbing than this claim that elections are too expensive. People really need to rethink that, especially in these times. Use it or lose it. The last thing we need is to promote is that there's something "wasteful" about the opportunity to vote. It's a very insidious attitude.
Sometimes I think Canada would be easy pickings for authoritarianism, if they promised it would cost less than what we've got now.
Up 1 Down 2
Anie on Apr 5, 2022 at 2:40 pm
Two things:
- someone worried about "pensionable time". Municipal councillors don't get pensions
- the current terms would not be extended. It would apply to future councils.
I think 4 year terms are a good idea. We could save some money.
Up 13 Down 11
Liberal Blues - Take the money and run… on Apr 2, 2022 at 5:46 pm
Look - Evidence that morons are calling the shots - Morons on Apr 1, 2022 at 10:26 pm:
The enlightened person is one that is an elder, a leader or one that knows the land. Maybe?
Hopefully they at least have a master’s in some some higher education as well and they have kept current with the changing scientific literature and are able to use that knowledge in context.
I get so tired of listening to uneducated, undereducated, or improperly educated individuals making policy, acting contrary to policy, contrary to the laws, and then bully and bluster their way through stuff they have absolutely no understanding of and are limited in their scope of foresight by their “education” (sic) to the degree that their Seemingly Unimportant Decisions are so monumentally flawed that they almost always have significantly undesirable, and unintended consequences.
Mostyn’s racist procurement policy!
McPhee’s handling of the elementary school sex scandal.
Social Services handling of the group home fiasco.
The removal of Hope from the Shelter and the low-barrier carnival of crime overseen by a leader who deliberately provided misleading statements in Court.
FFS! At minimum these are significant lapses in ethical behaviour. But, they all represent chargeable behaviours of negligence… But it’s government so good luck!
This here's a story about Sandy Silver and Kate White
Two politicians with nothin' better to do
Than conspire in the leg, dream sky-high, and offer the public lube,
Here’s what happened when they decided to legislate you’s,
They locked in their pensions and when asked to leave they refuse,
Go on take the money and run… Being a Liberal propped up by the NDP is so much funnnn…
Up 17 Down 1
Nathan Living on Apr 2, 2022 at 5:29 pm
Posting for a friend who does not have internet.
She is concerned that if taxpayers do not make this decision that council will revisit this issue in less than 2 years and provide justification for a 5 year term.
I think she may be overreacting but some councillors fall into a low profile role very quickly and seem to just occupy their council seat that provides a supplemental income.
Up 11 Down 4
Big Fish, Small Pond Politics - Liberals are being koi… on Apr 2, 2022 at 10:08 am
Absolutely - Change is GOOD! on Apr 1, 2022 at 1:40 pm:
It’s funny how people misrepresent the acronym WCB to mean Workers Compensation Board when it is actually a Workers Condemnation Board - same letters, entirely different meaning.
I wonder which of the interpretations the Boards actions are more congruent with… Hmmm… That’s where Mostyn came from eh? Yes, curious, Richard What’s it Costyn Mostyn shutting down government services, creating racialized procurement ‘strategies’, and serving as the whip for Silvers pleasures, sorry, I meant at Silvers pleasure.
Ya, he’s on your side for sure… LOL!
What great big bundle of hypocrisy this territory has become… Implementing big-L policies in a microcosm. The Liberal bull in a China shop… A small China Shop wherein the proprietor is a hoarder…
Up 5 Down 3
Morons on Apr 1, 2022 at 10:26 pm
Pensionable time or just 4 years of mediocrity?
I find interesting that sooo many city folks have no idea what it’s like to live in the real world or even pick up a book regarding municipal governance
Years ago, I recall someone said…”Welcome To the Frontier Town” I had no idea what that meant. But the evidence is clear…..
Hire outside, but get into a meeting and your met with….”Why do you hate us?
Do an RFP and watch it triple in cost..Explain how Ev’s work and your met with quotes from every newspaper in the world.
Try and have a discussion with an municipal official that didn’t work at Westmark… and your left with an array of hems and haws.
Between ex politicians that hid in the bushes and those that want to protect every tree, one wonders how basement dwellers make policy.
The enlightened person is one that is an elder, a leader or one that knows the land.
Up 14 Down 2
Change is GOOD! on Apr 1, 2022 at 1:40 pm
And here I thought they would have had too much on their plates right now, having been elected so recently, to be looking at changing stuff like this already. Drunk with their power and fighting already not to let it go. True colours of those aspiring career politicians showing through not even six months into their term.
In line with the "In a sound democracy, our rulers ought to be changed routinely, like diapers for the same reason", we should also demand that people who sit on government boards and committees are changed out regularly especially when those people sit as the Chair or Vice-Chair of said committee.
Some YG committees (yes, I know this is a story about CoW, but this thought applies equally to all government boards and committees) have been sitting on the same board for fifteen years! Check out the WCB Board. The Chair and Vice-Chair have been collecting those HUGE honoraria for almost fifteen years! TIME FOR CHANGE! Fresh blood needed, new ideas, respect for workers would be nice for a change!!!
Up 18 Down 1
yukongirl on Apr 1, 2022 at 9:27 am
I can understand the reasoning but if your ideas are good, they will continue through to the following council. Elections are the opportunity for voters to approve or disapprove of the work being done on their behalf. It may have the right intention but this is a matter that should be approached with the greatest of caution and healthy debate.
Up 12 Down 2
YukonMax on Apr 1, 2022 at 7:16 am
I live in a community where some council members were outside the Territory most of their mandate. Should the taxpayers keep them one more year? Really?
Whitehorse is a member of AYC, the fee of their membership along keeps them afloat. Also, I wish AYC would proof the applications from the communities that provides nomination for "Employee of the Year Awards" and insure that the criteria for the nomination were followed. It would avoid a lot of frustrations during the award ceremonies.
Up 25 Down 12
Mitch Holder on Mar 31, 2022 at 7:47 am
Sounds just like what the Liberals and NDP decided to do last week, which is to not operate under our democratic system. And if we are no longer democratic (as in, no one voted for this government) then really, who are we to say anything anymore?
Up 32 Down 0
CJ2 on Mar 31, 2022 at 12:24 am
If they want to propose this, I think citizens deserve a little more than back-of-the-envelope rationales. There's nothing unique about politicians being frustrated that their term runs out before their ideas get implemented. How does this serve the public interest? They need to explain that, for starters.
Up 18 Down 12
Bad Liberal on Mar 31, 2022 at 12:19 am
Why don’t we all get together somewhere and express our opinions on the matter… Something like… Uhhhh… a ballot maybe!
On the ballot you can indicate the number of years you want your person to be in office. Because human judgment and decision-making is so heavily weighted towards error you will be allowed to use the ballot twice.
Say for example, you were drunk, stoned or both on Election Day and you voted Liberal only to realize a year later that they’ve interfered with your rights and you’re in a state of wonderment as to how it happened… You will own nothing and be happy as you watch things disappear from your life. Things like your rights and freedoms. A little here, and a little there.
All for the party, all for the party, all for the party!
Up 38 Down 3
Juniper Jackson on Mar 30, 2022 at 6:01 pm
Why is it as soon as we vote in perfectly nice people who seem to be genuine in their presentation, they turn into people that are much less than what we voted for, and much more interested in promoting.. their idea, their interest, themselves.
So, 4 years?? If you are doing your job, an election in the 4th is a shoe in.. if you've NOT done your job, the taxpayer doesn't have to put up with you for one more year. Is the ever popular 'give us a raise' on the table yet? How about taxpayers pay our income taxes? That's been on the table before.. Just waiting to see what this new council is going to squeeze out of the taxpay for their own lifestyle improvement program.
Up 29 Down 8
bonanzajoe on Mar 30, 2022 at 4:56 pm
John. Like my pappy used to say, "if it ain't broke, the liberals will fix it till it is".
Up 32 Down 1
Nathan Living on Mar 30, 2022 at 4:22 pm
Mayor and council work for us and we should vote on this issue.
My experience is that city administration is not controlled effectively by council and council members have agendas related to furthering political careers or just getting a wage for part time work.
My preference is a 3 year term but again, we should decide.
Up 27 Down 4
North_of_60 on Mar 30, 2022 at 4:09 pm
" In a sound democracy, our rulers ought to be changed routinely, like diapers for the same reason. "
Dick Nolan in “The San Francisco Examiner” of California in 1966.
In fact 2 year terms might be even better, plus a mechanism for recall.
If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.
Up 60 Down 7
John on Mar 30, 2022 at 3:40 pm
Sorry COW, nor the AYC should be deciding on terms of office. That jurisdiction belongs to the citizens. We get to decide, not you. Whoever heard of the employee getting to decide their terms of employment. Politicians should be no different. Put it to a plebiscite.
Me - if it ain't broken, it does not need meddling with. It has been working fine for a very long time now. Sounds more like a gravy train issue then anything...
Up 53 Down 6
Dave on Mar 30, 2022 at 2:59 pm
Does city council actually think one more year will help anything?
Really?
Really?