Four-year terms get mixed reviews

As municipal candidates hit the campaign trail, the jury is still out on whether moving to four-year terms from three has been a blessing or a curse.

Some, like Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, say the four-year term, introduced by the province prior to the last election, has allowed councils the time to complete complicated projects.

But others, saddled with bickering and divisive councils, say they have had to wait too long to throw the current bums out.

Many worry that the longer election cycle deters good people from running for office — particularly in smaller municipalities where councillors put in long hours for low pay.

North Saanich Mayor Alice Finall suspects the significant time commitment was one of the reasons that only six people stepped forward to fill the district’s six council seats this year.

“In North Saanich, it’s unheard of to have a whole council acclaimed and to have that few people interested,” she said. “This is really unusual.”

Finall, who is stepping down after three consecutive terms as mayor, said she served two-year, three-year and four-year terms during a lengthy career in civic politics, and three years is the optimum.

“You can really accomplish a lot in a three-year term.

“Even for brand-new councillors, if you’re at all familiar with the process, you’re usually up to speed in four to six months.

“But four years — I just think it is too long. I think it probably discourages some people who might otherwise be interested in running, because it is such a big piece of their lives.”

Metchosin Mayor John Ranns agrees, arguing that the four-year term is a tremendous impediment to attracting candidates for office in smaller communities.

“That has stopped a number of good people from putting their names up,” he said. “It’s way too long.”

Ranns acknowledges the need for continuity on councils, but said that continuity is better achieved through people serving two three-year-terms.

“I’ve found that a second-term councillor is far more valuable than a first-term councillor [because] there’s a long learning curve and you’re far better off having councillors who are willing to run for a second term.”

A second term after three years is viable because it’s only a total of six years, he said. “It’s a lot harder to get a second term out of people who have already done it for four, particularly with the social media [criticism], the pressures and everything else.”

For voters stuck with a dysfunctional councillor or council, he said, four years can be a long time to wait for an opportunity to make a change.

But Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay, whose council has been plagued by discord for much of the past four years, doesn’t believe earlier elections are the answer.

“That’s not a replacement for good governance,” he said.

“We have to remember what happened in Nanaimo was that in 2014, clearly two thirds of the registered voters chose to stay home that day and not participate. So one-third of the registered voters were able to elect a council.”

McKay believes four-year terms allow councillors more time to learn the job and get a handle on complex issues.

“I’ve been in the game for seven years now and I have to say that I’m just grasping some of the bigger concept stuff,” he said. “I’m talking about the long-range, big-picture stuff.”

Helps said she’s a fan of the four-year term, too.

“In smaller communities, the four-year term can be more difficult, although I think we’re in a transition period because every other local government in Canada has a four-year term, so I don’t know why we would be any different in British Columbia,” she said.

The first four-year term now winding down gave Victoria council time to complete the process to replace Fire Station No. 1.

“If we had had a three-year term, I don’t know that the firehall project would have got through completion, because we started right after the last election and it took until early this year to get that project all sewn up,” Helps said.

The Union of B.C. Municipalities passed a resolution in 2013 supporting the shift to four-year terms.

UBCM president Arjun Singh said there’s a strong argument to be made that a four-year term supports good governance.

“I think, generally speaking, I feel that way, but more importantly, UBCM membership has supported that as the policy that we have right now.”