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HomeMy WebLinkAboutADM-006-02 .' ? C/Ni!]glDn REPORT ADMINISTRATION Meeting: GENERAL PURPOSE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE Report #: ADM 06-02 File#:UJ..-- 6fll-3D '/-OJ- By-law #: Date: June 17, 2002 Subject: Election of Regional Chair RECOMMENDATIONS: It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the following: 1. THAT Report ADM 06-02 be received. 2. THAT as soon as is reasonably practicable after the Municipal Act, 2001 ("New Act") comes into force on January 1, 2003, Regional Council pass a resolution under subsection 218(7) requesting that the Lieutenant Govemor-in-Council pass a regulation under subsection 218(6) authorizing the Region of Durham to exercise power under index section 218 of the New Act by by-law to: (a) change the composition of the Regional Council by requiring that the Regional Chair as head be appointed by the members of the Regional Council from the members who either are elected Regional Councillors or elected as the mayors of the lower-tier municipalities within the Region of Durham; (b) require that the Regional Chair on his or her appointment as such is no longer entitled to hold office either on the Council of a lower-tier municipality or on the Regional Council; and (e) require the appointment of the Regional Chair to be by secret ballot of the members of the Regional Council with the votes with the votes weighted either by the assessment in or by the population of each of the lower-tier municipalities; and forward the resolution of Regional Council to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON 40 TEMPERANCE STREET, BOW MANVILLE, ONTARIO L 1C 3A6 T 905-623-3379 F 905-623-5717 140 I REPORT NO.: ADM 06-02 PAGE 2 3. THAT forthwith after the regulation referred to in Recommendation 1 is passed, Regional Council pass the necessary by-law to give effect to the changes referred to in the regulation. 4. Regional Council recommend to its successor whose members will take office on December1, 2003, that at their first meeting they appoint as Regional chair for the term of the successor Regional Council, one of their number who is elected as a Regional Councillor or as a Mayor of a lower-tier municipality in the Region of Durham. 5. THAT a by-law be passed by Regional Council pursuant to subsection 233(f) of the Municipal Act, 2001 to provide for the appointment of the Regional Chair by secret ballot. u ~~cu-u Submitted by: Franklin Wu, Chief Administrative Officer 1402 REPORT NO.: ADM 06-02 PAGE 3 REPORT 1. Backaround 1.1 At its meeting held on May 27,2002, Council referred Correspondence 0-7 to the Chief Administrative Officer for a report pertaining to the issue of election of the Regional Chair. 1.2 Specifically, the Region Ad Hoc Committee requested the Municipality of Clarington to review Options 1 to 3 and procedural option i) to iv) as contained in the report from the Ad Hoc Committee and to comment back to the Region by June 18, 2002. 2. ProDosed ODtions The options arrived at by the Ad Hoc Committee are as follows: 2.1 Option 1 The appointment of the Regional Chair by the members of Regional Council with the position open to all electors of the Region of Durham (should the Chair selected by a member of a lower tier Municipality, he/she would resign). 2.2 Option 2 The appointment of the Regional Chair by members of Regional Council with the position open only to the members of the Regional Committee (the member would retain their elected position as well as that of Regional Chair). 2.3 Option 3 The Regional Chair be elected by the voters of the Region of Durham. 3. Comment on the 3 ODtions 3.1 There are obvious pros and cons for each and every option or any sub-sets in the selection of the Regional Chair. Many of these have been highlighted by the Ad Hoc Committee and therefore will not be repeated here. Suffice it to say, every option has its own merits and can be justified depending on one's point of view. The point here is that in the absence of any well defined criteria or having what one likes to see and expects from a Regional Chair, this could be an endless debate and at the end, no one is satisfied with the outcome. 1403 REPORT NO.: ADM 06-02 PAGE 4 3.2 The selection of the Regional Chair should follow the approach used by the private sector in their selection of a CEO where they are generally guided by the principle of selecting the best that meets their needs. As a result, they tailor their recruitment method and process to enable the selection of the best candidate. The principle of selecting the best and the process that follows are very much inter-related that dealing with the process without the benefit of understanding what constitutes the best could have a negative effect to the outcome. 3.3 The first step of the process should be an understanding of the major role and responsibility of the Regional Chair as it establishes the expectation of this position. In this regard, one must understand that the position of Regional Chair is a paradox because it brings with it virtually no additional formal powers and yet it enjoys a more elevated status than other members of Council. The Chair presides Council meetings and has the opportunity to shape and direct the debate and the resolution of issues. As the head of Council, the Chair is ex officio to all standing committees and therefore has a broader overview of all government activities not readily available to other members. Aside from acting as social and ceremonial leader, the Chair is the key conduit to senior levels of government for support, assistance and lobbying efforts on behalf of all Durham residents. Based on the above responsibilities and expectations, the successful candidate for the Regional Chair position should have the following key qualifications: o experience as an elected official, preferably a high profile individual with community recognition; o proven leadership; o ability to communicate effectively and to resolve conflicts: o ability to champion regional interest, both locally and at senior level governments. 3.4 Assuming there is a general consensus on the qualifications of the Regional Chair, the next step is to determine who should be making the selection, be it the citizens or the politicians. Elections at large mayor may not produce the candidate that meets the qualifications. Too much is at stake to leave it to chance because voters' choice of candidate could be based on popularity which do not necessarily reflect the qualification of the individual being sought. On the other hand, if the Regional Chair is selected among the members of Regional Councillors, the successful candidate would have proven to his/her peers the ability and qualification to assume the position. Democracy is not necessarily compromised because the Chair would come from a current member of Regional Council who is elected by the voters, although from a smaller geographical area than opposed to the whole Region. This approach is not dissimilar to the provincial and federal govemment selecting their leaders 1404 REPORT NO.: ADM 06-02 PAGE 5 3.5 Based on the foregoing observations and comments, it appears Option 2 - "appointment by Regional Council with the position open only to Regional Council members" has advantages over the other two options as it allows for the selection of an elected official with known quality and experience. It should be noted that this option also specifies that the member will retain their elected position as well as that of Regional Chair. This is problematic because the Regional Chair should devote his/her time to this full-time job in order to be effective. Retaining the Regional Councillor position would not be advisable. 4. Comments on the Four Procedural ODtions 4.1 The Region Ad Hoc Committee identified the following procedural options: a) Appointment of the Regional Chair by the members of Regional Council at the end of the term of Council Comments This option is contrary to the recommended option of selecting the Regional Chair among the members of Regional Council. b) Voting shall be weighted to reflect assessment Comments Assuming the Regional Chair is selected among number of Regional Councillors and by Regional Councillors, one could argue that weighted voting based on assessment may not be necessary because to a certain extent, the number of Regional Council per municipality are supposedly reflected by the size of the local municipalities. However, rapid growth in recent years along the shoreline municipalities has occurred to such a degree that councillors from the south are now representing a significantly larger assessment and population base several times that of the north em municipalities. If the Regional Chair is intended to represent all Durham residents, a weighted voting system based on population or assessment would be a reasonable and equitable way to select the Chair. The now defunct GTSB had a weighted voting system in place and it can be easily adopted for this purpose. c) Appointment of the Regional Chair be conducted by secret ballot \405 REPORT NO.: ADM 06-02 PAGE 6 Comments This method allows Regional Councillors to cast their votes without fear of alienation or rejection by their peers. They can vote according to their true belief in picking the right person for the job without having to declare their choice publicly. d) Local municipalities be requested to include a question on the ballots for the 2003 Municipal Election regarding the direct election of the Regional Chair Comments This option does not appear to serve much useful purpose unless delaying the issue for another 3 years is the underlying objective. On the contrary, it gives the impression of indecisiveness on the part of the elected officials. This option should be rejected outright if the Regional Council truly wishes to deal with this issue with a sense of urgency and haste. 5.. The leaislation The Municipal Solicitor advises as follows: Most of the sections of the Municipal Act, 2001 will come into force on January 1, 2003. Effective January 1, 2003 both the Regional Municipality of Durham Act and the Regional Municipalities Act which now govem the Region of Durham will be repealed and replaced with provisions of the New Act. Subsection 455(1) of the New Act provides that every city, town, township and village that existed and formed part, among others, of a regional municipality for municipal purposes on December 31, 1002, is continued with the same name on January 1, 2003 and thereafter and has the status of a lower-tier municipality which stands in the place of the city, town, township or village for all purposes. Subsection 455(3) is a similar provision applicable to regional municipalities. Therefore, despite the repeal of the Regional Municipality of Durham Act and the Regional Municipalities Act, on January 1, 2003, both the Region of Durham and the lower-tier municipalities within it including the Municipality of Clarington will continue under the same names with the powers of an upper-tier municipality and lower-tier municipalities, respectively, under the New Act. It should be noted that section 458 of the New Act provides that on January 1, 2003, the composition of the council of a municipality, the method of electing or appointing its members, the number of votes given to each member and the titles of its members shall be the same as they were on December 31,2002, that is on the day before the New Act comes into force. Under the current legislation, each member of the Regional Council including the Regional Chair has one vote on any question which must be cast by open vote. Also, under the current legislation, the Regional Council either must appoint as Chair a member of the Regional Council who has been elected as a Regional Councillor or who has been elected as a Mayor of a local municipality within the Region of Durham, or who is a person while not \406 REPORT NO.: ADM 06-02 PAGE 7 an elected member of Regional Council, is otherwise qualified to be elected as a member of council. Currently, the Chair's term of office is required by statute to be the same as the term of office of the elected members of the Regional Council who appointed him. Sections 218 and 219 of the new Municipal Act, 2001, provide authority for the Region of Durham to make certain changes in the composition of the Regional Council including the election of the Regional Chair by election or appointment, subject to constraints and conditions set out in the sections. The power to make the changes authorized by section 218 of the New Act must be exercised by by-law passed by the Regional Council after a regulation is passed by the Lieutenant Governor-in-Council authorizing the Regional Municipality to exercise the power in question. Subsection 218(7) conditions the passing of the regulation by the Lieutenant Governor-in-Council on the prior passing of a resolution by the Regional Council addressed to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing which requests the regulation in question. Since the New Act will not come into force until January 1, 2003, neither the resolution nor the regulation to implement the recommendations of this Report can be passed until a date subsequent to January 1, 2003. Also, the changes in the composition of the Regional Council which are recommended in this report cannot be implemented by by-law passed by the Regional Council until the resolution and regulation referred to above are passed. Further, subsection 219(1) of the New Act provides that before passing a by-law under section 218 providing for the changes recommended in this report, the Regional Council must give notice of its intention to pass the by-law and hold at least one public meeting to consider the matter. The recommendations contained in this Report respecting the weighting of votes of members of Regional Council for the appointment of the Regional Chair by assessment or population will involve changes to the number of votes given to members of the Regional Council in respect of the appointment of the Regional Chair. As a result, to be valid, the by- law implementing the regulation regarding the weighting of votes must satisfy the following requirements of subsection 219(2) of the New Act: (a) a majority of all votes on the upper-tier council must be cast in its favour; (b) a majority of the councils of all lower-tier municipalities forming part of the upper-tier municipality must have passed resolutions consenting to the by-law; and (c) the total number of electors in the lower-tier municipalities that have passed resolutions referred to in clause (b) must form a majority of all the electors in the upper-tier municipality.. Section 219 of the New Act also addresses the question of the in-force date of a by- law passed under section 218 changing the composition of the Regional Council. Since 2003 is a regular election year subsection 219(3) will apply. In effect, it provides that if the by-law is passed under section 218 before voting day in 2003 it 1407 . . , REPORT NO.: ADM 06..()2 PAGE 8 will not come into force until the second regular election following the passing of the by-law (i.e. the regular election in 2006). Under subsection 233(5) of the New Act, the Regional Council may pass a by-law providing for the Regional Chair to be appointed by secret ballot. The exercise of this power is not conditioned on the provisions of sections 218 and 219 being complied with. Therefore, Regional Council could provide for appointment of the Regional Chair by secret ballot without what amounts to the prior approval of the Cabinet under section 218 of the New Act. It should be noted that under the New Act, the term of office of the Regional Chair will be the same as the term of office of the elected members of the Regional Council, that is three (3) years. If the resolution, regulation and by-law passed under section 218 of the New Act provide for a change in this respect, the term of office of the Regional Chair could be reduced to one (1) year. 6. Summary Conclusion The CAO is of the opinion the Regional Chair position is of such high profile and importance that it is best left to the Regional Councillors who know the quality of the individual they desire to be their leader. The method of selection should be based on a weighted voting system either by population or assessment and by secret ballot. 1408