New mayors promise to make their city halls more inclusive

GREATER VANCOUVER Many of the new Lower Mainland mayors being sworn into office today say they will be more accessible and inclusive than the mayors they’re replacing.

City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto plans to set aside time during the week when residents can come to his office, without appointment, and vent their concerns.

Mussatto also wants to make council meetings less intimidating for residents who appear before council. “I may not agree with them. But I don’t want to be disagreeable.”

To reinforce his push for more public access, Mussatto plans to remove at least one set of the wooden doors that currently separate the mayor’s office from the public lobby at city hall.

“ I want residents to understand that I understand what their situation is — which is going to make it difficult for me because there are some things you can’t help people with.”

Mussatto said his focus will be more local than the one adopted by Barbara Sharp, the incumbent he defeated in the recent civic election.

“ I think the previous mayor was involved in a great number of things — to her credit — in the regional, provincial and national arenas. But I intend to focus my energy more on local issues.”

Richard Walton, the new mayor of the District of North Vancouver, similarly wants to make city hall more accessible. His plan is to reduce the number of regular weekly council meetings

each month to three.

The idea is to free up one night in the month when council could meet with the public in a less formal setting, such as a community centre or school.

“ We want more contact with citizens in a less formal way,” said Walton.

The new mayor said the district has to involve residents more in local affairs, adding he was disappointed the voter turnout in the civic election was only 30 per cent.

Coquitlam’s new mayor Maxine Wilson said her leadership style will be less topdown than previous mayor Jon Kingsbury’s.

“I am just one of nine equal votes on council and my job is to facilitate the process and not to control it,” said Wilson.

“I want to bring everybody to the table. I don’t want to create a polarized situation based on partisan lines.”

Wilson also wants to shift the power to make appointments to various boards away from the mayor to council.

“I think our former mayor [ Kingsbury] was of the old school where the mayor had special powers.”

Wilson plans to change the committee structure in Coquitlam so all councillors — n o t j u s t a s e l e c t few appointed by the mayor — can sit on committees.

“ It’s an attempt to bring council together as recommendations are shaped in committee so that everybody has equal access to information and equal input.”

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watt s said her mayoral approach will be different than the one taken by departing mayor Doug McCallum.

“ I like to bring people together and make sure that members of the council are included in the process.”

Watts said the previous council was “ very divisive and I don’t want to duplicate that in any way, shape or form.”

The new Surrey mayor said too many residents believe they can’t be involved in the decision-making process.

“Often people have felt that land- use decisions have already been made prior to hearing the public. We need processes in place so the residents feel they are being heard.”

Sam Sullivan, Vancouver’s new mayor, said he wants to establish a clear governance framework where council, staff and citizens know their role in local government.

“I would really like to clarify the roles of engagement early in the term,” said Sullivan.

“I have often thought that a lot of the problems of local government come from councillors trying to manage and staff trying to govern, and citizens don’t have an effective way of having their voices heard.”

Sullivan said that under former mayor Larry Campbell, “you would get councillors clearly doing the job of staff and councillors giving serious political decisions to the staff.”

Sullivan said he would try to be more inclusive than his predecessor Campbell, who didn’t appoint any opposition members to regional boards. The new Non-Partisan Association mayor noted he has appointed Tim Stevenson of Vision Vancouver to the Greater Vancouver Regional District.

“ In the last three years opposition councillors were shut out completely from any

role. I’m hoping to signal a

more conciliatory and

inclusive council.”

Gordon Robson, the new

mayor of Maple Ridge, said

his No. 1 priority is attacking crystal methamphetamine addiction.

“We’re going to bring the

community together to

continue the fight that

Maple Ridge has already

started against crystal

meth.”

Robson’s other major

goal is to secure improved

transit for Maple Ridge.

“Our bus system doesn’t

work. Right now it takes

two hours by bus to get to

Coquitlam — two hours to

go shopping,” said Robson.

“ I intend to work with the GVRD and TransLink

immediately to find a solution.” dward@png.canwest.com