Council rejects proposal to add two councillors

Osoyoos Town Council voted down a proposal Monday that would have expanded the size of council by two members.

A second proposal – to move meetings to the evening – remains unresolved.

When it came to a vote, only Coun. Mike Campol supported the expansion.

Campol has said he will not be running in next October’s municipal elections, but he wants to make council accessible to younger people who are employed or run a business.

Campol is the only member of the present council who is not a senior.

Although the motion on the floor dealt only with the size of council, some council members used the discussion to argue against evening meetings instead, conflating the two issues.

Coun. Carol Youngberg argued that moving meetings to evenings would cause problems with availability of town directors and staff, who are available when the present Monday daytime meetings are scheduled.

She also suggested that people working in nine-to-five jobs would “be restricting [their] services to the community.”

“I am feeling bad for the people who do have full-time jobs, because their involvement I think would be beneficial to the community,” she said. “However, they do have opportunities to sit on various committees that are appointed by council.”

Campol took issue with Youngberg’s argument against evening meetings.

“That’s an interesting argument against a motion that we’re not discussing, which is evening meetings,” he responded.

Mayor Sue McKortoff also argued that people with a “strict nine-to-five job” would not be able to participate in meetings that council members attend with other bodies such as the Union of B.C. Municipalities, the library board, the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, Destination Osoyoos, School District 53 and the Southern Interior Local Government Association.

“Just moving meetings to the evening does not solve all the problems,” McKortoff said.

Campol rejected these arguments.

“Councillor Youngberg and Mayor McKortoff, what I’m hearing is almost discouraging people to be involved in municipal councils,” Campol said. “I would rather be taking the position of the advantage and the benefits of being involved and having a voice in the community rather than discouraging it. To say that anybody with a full-time job can’t be on council, I don’t think is true.”

Both Youngberg and McKortoff argued that the present council is representative.

“I think we do a great job,” said Youngberg, noting that councillors try to satisfy the needs of people in the community who express concerns to them.

“I think we are extremely well represented by the five people that we do have on council right now,” said McKortoff. “They have different backgrounds, different ideas and they are happy to speak about it as is evidenced today.”

But the argument against expansion that most councillors raised was the cost of two additional councillors, which is estimated at $50,000 in remuneration and benefits.

Campol argued that the cost is minimal when spread across all households in town.

“I don’t see it as an extraordinary amount of money for representation and diversity on council,” he said.

But Coun. C.J. Rhodes, participating in the meeting by phone from Arizona, said the $50,000 cost shouldn’t be minimized.

Noting that a one-per-cent tax increase brings in between $26,000 and $27,000, he said, “simple math will tell us that will be a 1.5 to 2 per cent increase in taxation to cover the costs of increasing council.”

Coun. Jim King asked about an online “poll” on the town’s website that asks people if the town should add $50,000 to its annual budget for two additional council members.

That survey currently shows 72 per cent of the 344 respondents opposed.

Chief Executive Officer Barry Romanko pointed out that the “poll” is unscientific and that some people have criticized the wording that only focuses on the costs.

As for the evening meetings, Romanko suggested it would be more appropriate for the new council to determine this when they review the procedural bylaw.

Campol disagreed, pointing out that his intention is for the present council to make the change so that people with daytime jobs are encouraged to seek election.

In the end, council unanimously supported a motion by Campol to direct town staff to prepare a report on costs, pros and cons of moving to evening meetings.

RICHARD McGUIRE

Osoyoos Times