Three-year council terms urged in Nanaimo

A member of Nanaimo’s sometimes tumultuous city council is pushing for a return to three-year terms from today’s four to encourage experienced people to run again for municipal office.

Coun. Diane Brennan said that as a school trustee and then a council member, she has served terms of two, three and four years.

She likened the matter to Goldilocks, saying a three-year term is “just right.”

Brennan’s motion asking the province to roll back terms to three years goes to Nanaimo council on Sept. 11. If passed, the aim would be added as a late resolution to the Union of B.C. Municipalities’ convention Sept. 25-29 in Vancouver.

Three-year terms were standard until 2014, when four-year terms were imposed provincewide.

Sitting on council is generally seen as a part-time commitment, and that is reflected in the pay, Brennan said.

Her motion said that the fouryear term “will deter many councillors from running for a second term, thereby reducing the number of experienced councillors on councils throughout the province.”

Back-to-back four-year terms mean a total commitment of eight years.

But not all Vancouver Island council members want to see a one-year cut.

Rates for Nanaimo councillors ran from $36,221 to $37,940, depending on whether they served on the regional district board, according to the 2016 financial statements.

It is not yet known how many current councillors will choose to run again in 2018 elections and how that might compare with what happened when there were three-year terms.

B.C. has 160 mayors and 872 councillors. Electoral-area directors and school-board members all serve for four years.

Nanaimo Coun. Bill Bestwick said Thursday: “I’m very comfortable remaining at four.”

“My opinion is that three years doesn’t give you enough time to accomplish a lot. If you are in for three, you can be in for four.”

Fellow Nanaimo Coun. Jerry Hong agreed, saying four years is more attractive when it comes to making a commitment.

The first-time council member said the role requires balancing his work as an owner of nightclubs and bars, spending time with his nine-year-old son, and being flexible for city meetings and events.

A four-year term can be a long time, especially if a council doesn’t get along, which seems to be the case in Nanaimo, noted both Victoria Coun. Chris Coleman and Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins.

Desjardins said there are pros and cons to both, but she likes the extra time the four-year term affords to move through an agenda.

“In terms of getting things done and the continuity of moving things forward, four years has been absolutely wonderful to have. You have two working years where in the past the first year is a learning curve for anyone new, the last year is silly season [with electioneering], and you only have one year to get things done.”

Under the former system, many incumbent council members would already be gearing up for a November election. As it stands, the next local election won’t be until October 2018.

“I think the sad reality is we are already into an election cycle, and we have another year to go through it,” Coleman said.

Part of the thinking behind the change was to reduce costs, Coleman said.

But one of the consequences of four-year terms is more byelections, which are not as expensive as general elections, but can be costly in their own right, noted Victoria Coun. Geoff Young, adding he wasn’t a supporter of moving to a four-year term in the first place.

“The fact is that city councillors, because it’s a part-time job for the most part or in most municipalities, are likely to find family circumstances, such as moving to a job in another community, are taking them away and requiring them to resign from [public] office,” Young said.

Coleman doubts a last-minute resolution from Nanaimo would qualify as an emergency resolution, necessary to make it to the floor for debate this year.