Issues

Summerland is facing unprecedented challenges that will define the well-being and character of the community for generations to come. With the impacts of the Bald Range wildfire coupled with global economic uncertainty and societal divisions, our mayor needs to be an experienced problem-solver who brings forward good ideas, a sound vision and a desire to co-operate. Someone who can grasp complex concepts, handle difficult situations, and communicate effectively. Someone who builds relationships while at the same time stands up for Summerland. Someone who has the whole community’s interests at heart rather than who has an axe to grind. Someone who brings the community together rather than sow divisions. The mayor needs to be the one person on council who seeks to build consensus, rather than run meetings in a domineering way and undermines other council members. The community benefits when the mayor respects the other members of Council and the other members of Council respect the mayor. The alternative is dysfunction with decisions made based on dogma and temperament rather than wholesome discussion and debate. The old top-down, conquer-and-divide, us-versus-them style of governance doesn’t work anymore. Summerland needs to embrace an era of leadership where the mayor seeks to engage, empower and unite people to build a thriving community.

Every resident of Summerland and surrounding area experienced loss from the Bald Range Wildfire. Healing will take time and each our recoveries will be unique. The mayor needs to recognize this and ensure that we face social and economic recovery together, the same way we faced the evacuation together. A recovery plan for the most impacted residents and public infrastructure needs to be developed, overseen by a recovery manager, a position paid for by the Province. While everyone will have their own ideas of what recovery should look like, and there may be challenges in addressing needs versus wants, the goal is to return life to normal as quickly as possible. This is new territory for us all. But we will find strength from within our community and draw on support from people near and far, and we travel the road to recovery together.

The most important goal for local government should be to improve the day-to-day lives of its residents. That means putting people first. Historically, putting people first meant providing local residents with clean drinking water, sewage systems, garbage disposal, and public parks and community spaces. None of these functions were originally considered areas of municipal responsibility but local governments took them on because they were too important to ignore. It was recognized that it’s the local level where policies and actions can most directly affect the health and well-being of citizens. Today, more so than ever, people are reflecting on what matters most to them and increasingly this extends to include quality of life issues such as access to housing, healthcare, childcare, public safety, local food, the natural environment, recreation and cultural opportunities, and other social connections. Communities thrive when their residents are socially and physically healthy and active, when they attend events and volunteer their time for local causes, when they shop locally and even start their own businesses. To this end, there is a strong correlation between quality of life and economic development. Retirees, young families, entrepreneurs, skilled knowledge workers, and creative people of all sorts want to reside in a safe, clean and vibrant community with a range of amenities. To ensure Summerland remains a great place to live, work and play, the mayor and council need to invest in residents’ well-being and put quality of life at the forefront of its decision-making.

Council’s most important task is to provide the infrastructure needed for the community to function and thrive. With this in mind, Summerland Council has prioritized upgrades to the town’s aging roads, water pipes, dams and reservoirs, electrical system, and municipal buildings. Our ‘infrastructure deficit’ was mainly because replacement costs traditionally were not factored into financial planning. Now, we have a long-term financial plan that considers the cost of infrastructure over its entire life, from construction to replacement, and we establish timeframes for their upgrade or replacement. We look at infrastructure as a whole, in order to prioritize the upgrades and avoid situations where we repave a road one year only to go dig it up the next to replace a broken water main. And no longer do we simply replace like for like; we look to adapt our infrastructure to the new realities of climate change.

When we talk about growth and development, we usually think in terms of making room for more people and more housing. But growth also means more business, more agriculture, more green space, more recreation and amenities, and more infrastructure. Change in the community is inevitable, especially in highly desirable locations like Summerland. The concern is that allowing growth to happen in a haphazard way with obtrusive buildings plonked everywhere and anywhere will erode Summerland’s character and destroy everything we love about our community. But rather than resist change, we need to ensure we shape growth in a way that improves our quality of life and charts a course towards becoming a more sustainable and resilient community. This requires planning in a fiscally, socially and environmentally responsible manner in accordance to a community vision. An Official Community Plan, or OCP, is the most common tool used by local government to express a community’s vision for change. Last year, Council updated Summerland’s OCP to better reflect changing community values and recognize the connection between growth and quality of life. We also began implementing the Downtown Neighbourhood Plan that establishes new policies and zoning for higher residential density in Summerland’s core. More people living downtown will create a more dynamic and sustainable community that will benefit everyone.

In recent years, more housing has been built in Summerland than ever before. In fact, the number of new homes has exceeded the number of new people coming here to live. Yet many residents still struggle to get on the housing ladder, or move up it, or even down it to a more appropriate size as they age. Summerland has a disproportionate amount of high-end, low-density housing so we need to continue to zone more multi-unit housing that’s attractive to both seniors and young families. We need to continue to encourage more rentals, infill, densification and redevelopment by removing administrative burdens and streamlining the planning approvals process to save developers time and money. And for people in core housing need, we need to continue to collaborate with the provincial and federal governments and non-profit sector to address the myriad of challenges. Local government’s primary role is to ensure adequate zoning is in place and to facilitate partnerships between BC Housing, developers, and housing providers. We will also always be under pressure to support housing for low-income households by providing land or waiving development fees and property taxes. We should consider each request on its own merit while keeping in mind that Summerland doesn’t have the same fiscal capacity as larger urban centres.

As the Bald Range wildfire demonstrated, we need to build infrastructure to not only withstand such disasters but to enable us to bounce back afterwards and emerge as a stronger and more cohesive community. We need to twin our water mains so we’re not using scarce and more expensive treated water for agricultural irrigation. We need to invest in infrastructure for alternative means of transportation like walking, biking and public transit. We need to electrify the local economy, starting with making long overdue investments in our municipally-owned electricity utility. We need to do our part to mitigate green-house gas emissions, starting with ensuring all new buildings are net zero.

Trust and integrity are about saying what you mean and meaning what you say. The mayor always needs to act ethically and communicate honestly, and they need to understand they represent all of council not just themselves. The mayor is the spokesperson for council and as such they must speak in support of council decisions, even those they do not personally endorse. To offer their own perspective rather than council’s, or to misrepresent a council decision or not speak to an issue at all, is contemptuous and serves to undermine public trust in council. People also need to trust the mayor will be competent in the job. They need to have confidence the mayor can grasp complex concepts, handle difficult situations and manage unforeseen or emerging issues. The mayor should have proven experience and a full understanding and knowledge of issues across the breadth of the community, not just in one or two areas of speciality. People need to trust the mayor to speak intelligibly and represent the community effectively and faithfully at meetings and forums with regional, provincial and federal officials. They need to know the mayor will make the right decision on behalf of the community.