Fourth Day

SYSRC Governance series: Council’s establishment of a vision and a model for conduct:

Dear Residents of SYSRC:

SYSRC is a rural community comprised of a mix of housing subdivisions and farmland. People live here for peace and tranquility, space, lower property taxes and less government intrusion in their lives.

Choosing a rural lifestyle does not necessarily mean that residents are opposed to progress in the community. But it does mean that council decisions about that progress should be guided by a strategic plan that reflects SYSRC’s rurality, along with the desires and needs of the residents. It also means that residents need to be asked what those wants and needs are as part of the work to build the plan. Indeed, there may be diverse opinions on what services are expected from the municipal government and what constitutes progress or lack thereof.

The council needs to be able to bridge diverging opinions and be responsive to the entire population.  In doing so, council should ask themselves what they want to be about, how they want to be seen:

• By their citizens,
• By businesses in their community,
• By other communities,
• By the provincial government,
• By potential developers,
• By visitors and tourists, and
• By their staff.

Without making it too complicated, council could talk about what would be an imaginative and exciting vision for SYSRC that would respect the residents’ wishes, one that is reasonable, not be too grandiose but at the same time not so restrictive that every request from the residents receives an automatic no. In determining where the right intersection between progress and maintaining rurality with less intrusion, council could ask itself:

• What are the strengths of the community and what opportunities do these strengths create?
• What do they, as a council want to accomplish in this current year?
• Where do they want the community to be in five years, in ten years?
• What can keep it from getting there?
• Can we have some progress or strategic investments without introducing too much government and costs?
• What does that look like?

They also should talk about how they are going to deal with each other, with staff and with the residents and strive to model a positive behaviour. That includes:

• Council to population,
• Mayor to councillors and vice versa,
• Council members to each other,
• Council to staff and vice versa,
• Council to provincial government,
• Council to private sector.

What kind of leadership to they want to project to the residents? Ideally, leadership should be humble, respectful, transparent, accountable, optimistic, open minded, responsive, focussed on solving problems, future oriented and positive. Residents expect leadership that is respectful of how hard the residents have worked for the property taxes they pay, a leadership that recognizes the benefit of reasonable, non-extravagant strategic investment, e.g. into a recreation center or a small park or skating rink where kids live (BTW, 100% grants for expenses like this are available).

This need not be an overly complicated process, but the needs of the residents will have to be woven into their decision making. What does good leadership look like to you? Share your point of view in the comments or by email.

In the next statement will talk about the guiding principles council could establish for their own conduct and that of their staff in addition to the mandatory code of conduct by-law.

Don Ferguson
Supervisor SYSRC