I have the highest respect for those who place their names as candidates for public service, otherwise our democracy would not work. But to help cool the rhetoric, here is an action plan based on my experience in the city council economic development committee of the largest municipality in North America, Wood Buffalo.
1. Guiding principles must always be fiscal responsibility and transparency to taxpayers, two ingredients that are sorely lacking in this retiring council. It is abundantly clear from comments at the candidate forum and dozens of letters to the editor that incumbents don’t have that important ethic in mind. Flagrant misuse of taxpayers’ dollars (Servus Place), in consultants (council salary range), impulse buying of art at the 11th hour (statues), and lack of intelligent decision-making (Akinsdale), lack of democratic debate and a tendency to maintain secrecy are all unacceptable.
2. Council must be run like a business not a charity. Taxpayers are your clients, not special interests.
3. Develop a business plan based on zero-based expenditures. Admittedly that involves very hard work. Essentially for the uninitiated, it means that all expenditures be examined from scratch for value and necessity to the taxpayers of St. Albert. The new council has an obligation to examine commitments that could be rescinded and that are discretionary.
4. Freeze new hiring immediately. Develop categories that list essential services to non-essential. Business does this routinely. This does not mean that people in essential services who retire or resign will not get replaced, but it means that a second review needs to be done. Any additional staff must clearly be cancelled.
5. Minimize or eliminate all consultants. In my experience consultants mostly tell you what you already know but add a glossy package to it for big bucks. Ask for professional help within the community. When Fort McMurray/Wood Buffalo required an update on a new scale for councillor salaries, it asked a retired bank manager to conduct the survey with several other accountants in the city. The cost? $25 for coffee. That report stands today. City volunteers were very happy to conduct a survey of other cities and it only took two weeks.
7. Long-range planning for St. Albert should be accomplished by the assistance of two key committees from the public with one council rep on each. One committee made up of key business leaders in industry, commerce and banking, and a second committee from residential citizens from all corners of St. Albert. While it does take time to get set up with the necessary terms of reference and dedicated members, it eventually provides a road map for future growth and avoid the Akinsdale situation that echoed across Canada. After initial input and council ‘massage,’ there is a need to take it to the MLA level and advisors and provincial colleagues. The second committee must have in its mandate a recreation master plan that must indicate what we can and cannot afford. The city also needs a business development master plan (committee one) and a residential master plan (committee two). Business plans would include a solid marketing plan to encourage major business to St Albert. There are many ways to do this at minimum cost.
8. As a former member of Alberta Historic Sites Service, I realize more than most the importance of arts and culture, which is the heart of most communities. Some B.C. communities have applied a percentage of tax revenues to their own community heritage work; that may be one way to go. But arts and heritage are simply non-essential services and any expenditures and commitments must be in proportion to what the taxpayers can afford. $250,000 for art in my view should have applied to installing park benches in all St Albert parks. Tourists who stroll around the park areas notice that while Edmonton has many park benches in strategic locations, St. Albert has very few. Park benches have an additional fundraising possibility; that is for family memorials for loss of loved ones.
Lastly, while many of us admire the hard work and long hours that our current mayor dedicates to his job, working smart is preferable to working hard. As chair of council, he has a solemn responsibility to lead the charge for fiscal controls, openness and commitment to taxpayers. That begins by making unpopular choices at times. To hide audited reports is unacceptable. Citizens, including our persistent and admirable taxpayers’ association (and taxpayers at large) have the right to examine by line item all city expenditures. Anything less is unacceptable and will in future be challenged, I assure you.
Good luck to all candidates. Everybody get out to vote on voting day. Bad councils get elected by good people who don’t vote.
Bert MacKay, St. Albert
