Pitt Meadows council changed its bylaws to allow electronic attendance by council members, despite opposition from members of the public.
Linda Halo, 46-year resident of the city, spoke to council Tuesday to object to councillors attending meetings electronically.
She noted with the new bylaw amendment, a council member can be away physically and participate electronically four times per year. The reason could be due to illness, conferences, workshops or vacation outside the local area, or other reasons as approved by the mayor.
“So who is keeping track of absences and the reasons for your electronic connection?” she asked. “Can these four passes be used consecutively? What is a good reason for an electronic connection?”
The bylaw amendments took out wording that said councillors could only attend electronically in emergency situations.
“I didn’t see this issue on any one of your election platforms,” she said. “When you ran for council the taxpayers voted for you understanding you would be regularly attending council meetings on their behalf.
“Now that you are here, one of the first agenda items has been to change your job expectations to include four meeting passes.”
She said taxpayers don’t want less dedicated council members, and asked councillors to vote against the amendments, and prove they take their job on council seriously.
Kathie Ward said she spent nine years on school board and attended meetings electronically, and there were limitations, including calls being dropped.
She said there is a risk of the new bylaw being abused by future council members, who could be away for months at a time, or even move away from Pitt Meadows, but still try to manage city affairs.
“Are they then representing our community, if they are not living here, if they are not here on a regular basis?” she asked.
“When you opt to put yourself out there in public life, you ought to have known that many of the things you did in your private life you are no longer able to do,” said Ward. “Or you have to adjust so that you are able to manage your new role as a public representative.”
She asked the city to include annual reviews of the number of meetings attended electronically, and by which members of council.
Coun. Tracy Miyashita agreed meetings are more effective when councillors attend in person. She noted this is not a new bylaw, and that electronic participation was always an option on previous councils, although it was seldom used in her previous 10 years on council.
“For me, this is about restoring the bylaw that we’ve always had in place. It’s brought to light now because there was a change last term,” she said. “We are hearing loud and clear from the public about accountability. You are our bosses and you want us here participating, and absolutely we want to be here.”
In her professional life, Miyashita has electronic meetings on regular basis, and said: “The tools we are using are really crystal clear.”
Coun. Bob Meachen noted he is new on council and intends to be at every meeting, but he did already miss one due to a surgical procedure on the day of council, and would have attended electronically if the option was available to him.
Coun. Gwen O’Connell said she was on council for 17 years and electronic participation, via a telephone connection, was used. She said it was not abused.
“We’re all adults here, and we can speak out and bring somebody to task if they decide to abuse it,” she said.
Mayor Bill Dingwall said the community charter provides for electronic participation in all of B.C., and said most local governments have it.
Last term, he said, it was used for a city lawyer to call in and other staff to be involved in meetings.
“Around the world, this is the norm,” said Dingwall. “This is not new.”
“Most important for me, it’s around work-life balance,” he added.
He said councillors are public servants, but that doesn’t mean they work full-time, although he said the mayor’s position is in a different category.
Dingwall said a councillor’s pay and time commitment should not be considered a full-time job. He said attracting people from all demographics – not just retirees – is important, so council has to be flexible.
“Do I sound passionate, yes I do. I was particularly hit last term over this,” said Dingwall. “I think this will bring us back to the norm, bring us back to where the priority is around public service and work-life balance for council.”
In October 2016, Dingwall accused council colleagues of deliberately rescheduling him to be acting mayor in March, when they knew he would take holiday time.
He noted that before he ran for council, he inquired about electronic attendance, and was told other councillors had done so, and it is allowed by the community charter.
Dingwall attempted to attend a meeting electronically last term, but he could not be heard in council chambers.
No more than three members of council can attend electronically, except by emergency. The chair will be passed to a council member not attending electronically.
The amendments passed unanimously.
At the end of the meeting, resident William Wild said councillors seemed surprised at their workload, and said: “It’s going to get heavier.
“You make it sound as if you are trying to avoid doing some of your work, with some of your complaints,” he said, and added electronic attendance should not be used for vacation time, given councillors already have all of August and part of December off.
He said people who attend council meetings want to see councillors in person, and not listen to “a speaker on the wall.”