Second Day
SYSRC Governance series: The power you hold over your next council
Dear Residents of SYSRC:
As you are aware, there is an important municipal election coming on May 11th, 2026. As residents and voters in SYSRC, you now hold complete control and power over the next Council and Mayor. That is because you collectively will be deciding who will be on that council. You currently hold all the cards.
However, at 8:01p.m., the evening of May 11, 2026, (i.e. when the polls close) you will cede that total power and control to the mayor and council and they will then have a four-year mandate to govern and represent all residents of SYSRC. When a council is functioning as it should, it provides direction to staff and makes all the financial and policy decisions on behalf of the community. Not even the mayor can make a solo decision. All decisions must be made by council as a whole. Individual councillors cannot make decisions on behalf of the community nor provide direction to staff.
Turnout for municipal elections is typically lower than for provincial and federal elections. But once your local government is functioning the way it should, it’s the level of government that will affect your day-to-day lives the most. Council makes decisions about your property tax rate. It provides important services like fire protection and garbage removal. It handles community strategic planning, funds recreation services and deals with citizen issues like nuisances relating to noise and unsightly premises.
This means that you need to think clearly and deeply about how you want to be led over the next four years, study each candidate’s platform to see what you agree or disagree with AND you need to go out and vote.
In fact, some of you may be tempted to run for council or for mayor and I would encourage it. I think that democracy is better served if you have competitive elections for every council seat and mayor. In that regard, I am putting a package of information that might be helpful to a would-be candidate. I will put out a statement when it is ready and anyone considering running for office can then reach out to me at the community’s email or mine, Supervisor@sysrc.ca. I will be happy to provide it to you and answer any questions you might have.
I want to propose a new way of thinking on the part of the population, would-be candidates and future council members. Over the coming days I am going to share my thoughts over what you should demand from your next council in terms of governance and what questions you should ask of the candidates.
The general flow of the next few days will include my thoughts on what makes an effective council, what principles should be adopted by council members, how duties should be shared and how citizens and staff should be treated.
I am interested to know your thoughts on why voter turn out is low in municipal elections and what you think can be done to improve that. Submit your ideas in the comments or send an email. As I mentioned before, I read every one and will answer and/or comment in April.
My next statement will touch on the importance of good governance and good leadership.
Don Ferguson
Supervisor SYSRC