Local Government Term to Be Extended to 4 Years

Wednesday, July 07, 2010 05:52 PM

Prince George, B.C.- The next municipal election will see voters selecting a Mayor and Council that will serve a four year term instead of the current three years.

That is one of the recommendations that will be part of new legislation expected to be introduced next spring, in time for the November 2011 municipal vote.

The change was one of 31 recommendations from the Local Government Elections Task Force report to the Provincial Government. The Province has announced it will implement all 31 recommendations. Cabinet is planning to implement.

Other key recommendations include:

Establish expense limits for all campaign participants (e.g. electors, elector organizations and third party advertisers)
Regulate third party advertisers, requiring them to register and disclose expenses and contributions
Ban anonymous contributions
Require sponsorship information on all election advertising
Shorten the time for filing campaign finance disclosure statements to 90 days post election
Establish a central role for Elections BC in enforcement of campaign finance rules and in making campaign finance disclosure statements electronically accessible
Establish a separate Act for campaign finance rules in local elections

The Task Force recommended a four year term of office to provide local governments more time to plan and implement their vision, and to reduce the potential for voter fatigue over time.

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Posted on Wednesday, July 07, 2010 05:52 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Dragonmaster on July 7 2010 8:19 PM

"The Task Force recommended a four year term of office to provide local governments more time to plan and implement their vision, and to reduce the potential for voter fatigue over time"

Voter fatigue? I'd say its more a case of the politicians getting another year to ram their garbage down the taxpayers throats and to collect further taxpayer dollars in their pensions before they get turfed out on their butts. After all isn't it politicians that are wanting this change?

Posted by: gus on July 7 2010 10:31 PM

"The Task Force recommended a four year term of office to provide local governments more time to plan and implement their vision"

Why do they need more time?

I think shorter periods means that there will be less radical shifts from a relatively steady course. The longer the terms, the more likely there will be radical shifts.

For example, the OCP is an important document that sets out the vision of a community at least from a land use perspective. It runs a 10 year period, not three, four, seven or two. If done properly, which of course this City has a tough time doing, it should have a minor review at the 5 year period. Also not in synch with either a 3 or 4 year Councillor term of office.

THAT is the plan. It should transcend changes in faces on a Council. Cities need to be steered on steady courses with a map that shows a destination and that Council steers towards no matter which new crew has command of the bridge.

Steady as she goes and we will get there with some minor tweaking here and there to the sails to better catch the current winds.