Directors reject 2-year proposal for chairperson of CRD

Capital Regional District directors rejected a proposal Wednesday to try to allow the term of CRD chairperson to be two years instead of one.

Saanich Coun. Colin Plant suggested that the CRD ask the province to extend the term through a resolution to the Association of Vancouver Island Coastal Communities.

Given that councillors’ terms have been extended to four years from three, a two-year term for the board chairperson would provide more stability, Plant said.

“We appoint people to committees that represent bodies under the CRD for two years with the understanding that we trust them for two years and we always have the opportunity to potentially pull them back if there is an issue,” he said.

Plant said a two-year term would allow the chairperson time to establish herself or himself in the role and better equip them to lead. But several directors said they aren’t happy with the new four-year term for councillors and that the annual election of a board chairperson serves as a performance review.

“I, personally, think it’s a really bad idea,” said Victoria Coun. Ben Isitt. “Director Plant has a lot of good ideas. I don’t think this is one of them.”

Isitt said the move to four-year terms for municipal councillors was a mistake that’s “made elected officials more distant from the public. It’s also made it more challenging for members of the public to decide to stand for municipal office.”

He said creating more distance between the board chairperson and directors is not the right way to go.

The current one-year term for chairperson “means that the board chair and, by extension, the administration has to be responsive to local needs,” Isitt said. “We keep their feet to the fire and I think that’s a good thing when you’re in a very chaotic, sort of asymmetrical arrangement.”

Langford Coun. Denise Blackwell said it would make more sense for the province to review the structure of regional governance as a whole.

Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell wondered what problem Plant was trying to solve. He called the annual election of the chairperson a performance review. “If you’ve done really well, I think you will get the vote and you will get another term and perhaps another term after that.”

Agreeing that the one-year term “is a weak mandate,” Victoria Coun. Geoff Young, said he would prefer a review of both the length of the overall municipal term and the manner in which the board is elected.

Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins, who was chairperson for two years before losing the position, said the job is both a huge commitment and a huge learning curve.

“The value of two years is you get your legs under you and you can actually do a lot more of that advocacy,” she said.

“You can move the board forward much more, really embracing the role that a chair is to be.”