Just How Transparent is Oak Bay Council? Well….
Some examples:
Excessive Administration Costs
fiscal year. However there has been no public disclosure of why so much funding
was used for one CAO position in a single year (2018).
It is known a Chief Administrative Officer left the District over-night just after
January 2019. Later it was explained her contract had expired. On April 27, 2019
the Oak Bay News headline announced, “Oak Bay loses its lead administrator”.
“Koning came to the district in 2013 and is leaving to pursue other opportunities”.
It is not clear why this news was 3 months late. Ms Koning left the District and the
replacement CAO assumed the lead administrator duties in early February 2018.
Records show however, Ms. Koning remained on full salary in 2018 to the tune
of $183,000. It is not known whether her healthy benefit package was in addition to
the substantial financial salary arrangement.
Advanced Notice and Access to Information
Citizen’s of Oak Bay’s September 4, 2019 newsletter and last Thursday’s (Oct 24, 2019)
resident letter to Council. The letter reads in part:
“I wrote to Mr Warren Jones (Director of Corporate Services) asking when public input would
be sought as I was particularly interested in a review of existing Conflict of Interest guidelines
for /Committee/ Commission members. His response was that he assumed the consultant
would recommend knowledge of Roberts Rules of Order and the importance of Conflict of
Interest guidelines. No answer on public input I wrote to Ms Varela on Sept 12, 2019 asking
the same question, but received no acknowledgement or reply” (See full letter Appendix #1).
The Planning Department has withheld reports and development information has often been
hard to obtain. If a small District like North Cowichen can afford a website online tool called
"Building North Cowichan" that provides Zoning Amendment Applications and Development
Variance Permit Applications Why can’t Oak Bay?
The District of Oak Bay has announced it now provides much more advanced notice for
Council meetings and while this is somewhat true the same cannot be said for the late-
provided Council complex documents listed in Oak Bay Watch’s October 22, 2019 Flash Bulletin.
Even with the last Council regime’s proven, poor transparency record a provisional
annual budget was provided in the December before the next budget year. However this year's
extensive 2019 provisional annual budget, was not provided to residents until March 28, 2019 at
the Council meeting called for the public to discuss it.
The Financial information late March 2019 open-house meeting lasted just 35 minute and was held
just before the early 2019 April Council budget estimates committee meetings. In contract (and there
are many such examples) North Cowichen currently has a webpage dedicated to their 2020 budget,
it lists 3 public input budget October 2019 resident meetings, and has a 2020 budget information
and an online survey etc, http://www.northcowichan/EN/main/departments /finance/budget/budget-
2020.html.
Secondary Suites April 24, 2019 Open House May Initial Findings.
now being analyzed and summarized. A complete engagement summary report will be available
in June (which June is not identified). Preliminary findings from the questionnaire and open house
are presented below. There were a significant number of comments received for both the survey
and open house and these have not yet been fully analyzed”.
Therefore: the fairly comprehensive May 2019 Secondary Suites Study Open House Initial Findings are based on a preliminary, (described as) “incomplete” account of: an unsigned, (perhaps none-resieident) respondent questionnaire; also most likely some open house unsigned, (perhaps non-resident) “sticky notes” and some, (perhaps non-resident) hearsay. However unsigned neighbor handouts is something the District has frowned upon and has severely criticized neighbours for valid-information handouts in the past year.
As a method of improving public engagement, Oak Bay has been holding a series of three Special Committee of the Whole – Community Meetings to allow the public to informally discuss issues with council members. The first of these meeting at the high school was poorly attended. The second at Windsor Pavilion had better attendance and residents expressed they were unhappy with current development trends and issues. The third will be the public’s last chance this year to informally bring their concerns to the attention of Council. Mark it on your calendar.
This Monday 7pm, November 4, 2019 in the Fireside Lounge
Emmanuel Baptist Church, 2121 Cedar Hill Cross Road
Oak Bay Watch Perspective
The main goal of the volunteers who research and write for Oak Bay Watch is to improve the transparency of our local government. We do this by identifying important decisions or events which are not transparent enough, by advocating for better transparency, and by improving the transparency through our own independent actions
We could find no better example of the Transparency standards the public expects from Oak Bay Council and Staff than those provided on the ICompass website. Residents should expect no less from our Council. Please Read on:
Why is Transparency Critical in Local Government?
Jun 19, 2019 | iCompass: https://www.icompasstech.com/?s=transparency
Local citizens do their best to vet their political candidates to ensure they get public officials into office that are honest, have integrity, and will work for the best interests of the community. When the media comes forth with news about fraud in government, it’s a huge letdown, especially when it happens in local government.
Secrecy creates an environment where there is the potential for the lack of accountability and abuse of power. When information about how a local government operates isn’t forthcoming, it causes the public to be skeptical. Best practices for good governance recommend that transparency is a vital component of good government and strong communities.
One of the challenges in making local government transparent to any degree is tight budgets and a burden on limited resources. Fortunately, technology has become a friend to local governments. Digital tools create an environment of openness, transparency, honesty, accuracy, accountability.
The Benefits of Openness, Transparency, and Accountability Public officials with integrity are ever mindful of the fact that the money they have to spend on their communities comes directly from their citizens through tax dollars and that the government exists to serve them. Having access to these funds also means that citizens have the right to know how their local officials intend to allocate those funds. Good governance entails keeping the best interests of the citizens at the forefront of decision-making for the community. In a sense, the citizens act as overseers for their public officials and government staff.
The more a local government can provide in the way of transparency, the more it increases trust, honesty, and integrity in the government leaders. Another area where local governments can improve the public’s trust in them is by sharing policies publicly. That way the public knows how the government officials should be handling things and can hold them accountable for doing so. Code enforcement rules and requirements, board meeting minutes, council meeting minutes, financial documents, budgets, and annual reports should all be easily accessible by the public.
Integrity is inherently connected with trust. When citizens feel that their government officials are working hard to earn their trust, it builds confidence in the public’s view of the government. For local governments to be proactive in transparency speaks volumes to their constituents. When the general public has questions, they need a place to get answers. The public expects details on how governments made their decisions. Local governments that initiate processes to provide the information that matters most to citizens proves that the government officials have their citizens’ best interests at heart.
Transparency Enhances Communication
The benefit of providing as much information to the public as possible is that it gives them an opportunity to think about decisions that the local officials made and provide valuable feedback to them. The comments and feedback open up yet another opportunity for the all-important two-way communication. Local governments are continually looking at how to improve the quality of life for their citizens.
The best decision-making is a result of multiple perspectives, including the perspectives of community members. Based on their comments, government officials can incorporate necessary changes. The value in two-way communication is that it shows that the local government is listening and responding to the community’s needs.People often forget that responsibility works both ways. The government needs to honest and transparent. The community has responsibilities as well. Citizens have a responsibility to be informed and hold their local governments accountable.
Technology Is the Key to Transparency
Advancements in technology have provided new ways for local governments to share information publicly in ways that are efficient, cost-effective, and fast. New digital tools make it drastically easier to store and manage documents and other information. Citizens are familiar enough with technology that they expect their governments to be current on how technology can make information more transparent and accountable.
Social media has become a staple in our society. Not only has it become important in our personal lives, it’s important in business and local government too. It’s often the most proficient way to share information. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube provide outlets to share information proactively with the general public for announcing events, live-streaming government meetings, and communicating policy changes.
In today’s world, many people spend lots of their time on social media, and that means that social media is a great place to get information to them fast. Additionally, social media opens up a way for two-way communication. Local governments can post information in seconds and in a few more seconds get comments and feedback from citizens. These discussions provide rich communications that benefit both parties.
The first place that citizens will usually go when they want to get information about their community is their local government’s website. It makes sense that this is the place that local governments should focus their attention on providing access to the information that citizens want most. When citizens have access to a search box that brings up any public document, it saves clerks and other local government workers the time to pull it up and deliver it to the person who asked for it.
Search boxes on a government website make it fast and easy for citizens to pull up government policies, the budget, financial information, forms, documents, and live-streaming videos for council meetings. Having mobile access to documents and information is also a timesaver for local government officials. Mobile apps and devices bring information to elected officials to them wherever they are, any time of day or night. One of the most efficient uses of technology is in document security and management. Local governments handle thousands of documents. Online storage and filing systems take the work out of manual paper filing systems.
Even if government staff were to locate documents that the public asked for, they’d still have to scan them, upload them, and email them. It’s far more efficient to let citizens pull up the documents they want and print them in the convenience of their homes and offices.
iCompass offers all the tools that help local governments create transparency in local governments. From streamlining board meeting processes to document storage to communications and livestreaming local government meetings, iCompass meets your local government’s needs right where they’re at. Transparency in local government is critical for gaining the public’s trust and there’s no better company to help you achieve that than iCompass.
Appendix #1
Sent: October-22-19 6:30 PM Flag Status: Flagged
To: Oak Bay Council
Ce: Mayor Kevin Murdoch
Subject: Committees and Commission review
To: Mayor and Council Municipality of Oak Bay
Correspondence for the Special Committee of the Whole meeting, October 24 2019:
Having carefully read the consultant’s Committee and Commission Review document, | am disappointed on a number of fronts: The review claimed to involve “all stakeholders” but unfortunately no member of the public was invited to participate (as far as | know).
I wrote to Mr. Warren on May 13 2019 asking when public input would be sought as | was particularly interested ina review of existing Conflict of Interest guidelines for committee/ commission members. His response was that he assumed the consultant would recommend knowledge of Roberts Rules of Order and the importance of Conflict of Interest Guidelines. No answer on public input. | wrote to Ms. Varela on September 12 and September 18 2019 asking the same question, but | received no acknowledgement or reply.
Back to the review:
There is no recommendation on public involvement or input in the committee/ commission meeting process. Having attended as many (of the very few) Advisory Planning Commission meetings held over the last couple of years, it appears that such meetings are designed to be as obscure as possible
There was very little in the consultant’s review on the vitally important topic of conflict of interest. Existing guidelines are vague and inadequate. It is not acceptable to allow members to simply “recuse themselves” from discussion of land-use/ development issues before council when they are also involved in a pecuniary arrangement with the developer/ applicant. When a committee/ commission member meets with and lobbies other members of their group while in such an arrangement the member should resign from the commission, or be removed by Council. Their loyalty is split between two interests: one that offers a financial interest and one that doesn’t. How could this not create a conflict? Such unethical behavior taints any advice from such bodies, making the whole Advisory body process suspect and a waste of time. Both council and the public must insist that the highest ethical standards are demanded of ‘volunteer’ members of such committees and commissions.
Thank you for considering this input. | would rather have given these comments for consideration of the review consultant but there was no opportunity.
Oak Bay Resident
Some examples:
Excessive Administration Costs
- It is possible there is a good reason why Council forked out/ paid over $300.000 in
fiscal year. However there has been no public disclosure of why so much funding
was used for one CAO position in a single year (2018).
It is known a Chief Administrative Officer left the District over-night just after
January 2019. Later it was explained her contract had expired. On April 27, 2019
the Oak Bay News headline announced, “Oak Bay loses its lead administrator”.
“Koning came to the district in 2013 and is leaving to pursue other opportunities”.
It is not clear why this news was 3 months late. Ms Koning left the District and the
replacement CAO assumed the lead administrator duties in early February 2018.
Records show however, Ms. Koning remained on full salary in 2018 to the tune
of $183,000. It is not known whether her healthy benefit package was in addition to
the substantial financial salary arrangement.
Advanced Notice and Access to Information
- There have been so many requests from residents for adequate notice and access to
Citizen’s of Oak Bay’s September 4, 2019 newsletter and last Thursday’s (Oct 24, 2019)
resident letter to Council. The letter reads in part:
“I wrote to Mr Warren Jones (Director of Corporate Services) asking when public input would
be sought as I was particularly interested in a review of existing Conflict of Interest guidelines
for /Committee/ Commission members. His response was that he assumed the consultant
would recommend knowledge of Roberts Rules of Order and the importance of Conflict of
Interest guidelines. No answer on public input I wrote to Ms Varela on Sept 12, 2019 asking
the same question, but received no acknowledgement or reply” (See full letter Appendix #1).
The Planning Department has withheld reports and development information has often been
hard to obtain. If a small District like North Cowichen can afford a website online tool called
"Building North Cowichan" that provides Zoning Amendment Applications and Development
Variance Permit Applications Why can’t Oak Bay?
The District of Oak Bay has announced it now provides much more advanced notice for
Council meetings and while this is somewhat true the same cannot be said for the late-
provided Council complex documents listed in Oak Bay Watch’s October 22, 2019 Flash Bulletin.
Even with the last Council regime’s proven, poor transparency record a provisional
annual budget was provided in the December before the next budget year. However this year's
extensive 2019 provisional annual budget, was not provided to residents until March 28, 2019 at
the Council meeting called for the public to discuss it.
The Financial information late March 2019 open-house meeting lasted just 35 minute and was held
just before the early 2019 April Council budget estimates committee meetings. In contract (and there
are many such examples) North Cowichen currently has a webpage dedicated to their 2020 budget,
it lists 3 public input budget October 2019 resident meetings, and has a 2020 budget information
and an online survey etc, http://www.northcowichan/EN/main/departments /finance/budget/budget-
2020.html.
Secondary Suites April 24, 2019 Open House May Initial Findings.
- The Findings state: "Initial results from both April 24, Open House engagement opportunities were
now being analyzed and summarized. A complete engagement summary report will be available
in June (which June is not identified). Preliminary findings from the questionnaire and open house
are presented below. There were a significant number of comments received for both the survey
and open house and these have not yet been fully analyzed”.
Therefore: the fairly comprehensive May 2019 Secondary Suites Study Open House Initial Findings are based on a preliminary, (described as) “incomplete” account of: an unsigned, (perhaps none-resieident) respondent questionnaire; also most likely some open house unsigned, (perhaps non-resident) “sticky notes” and some, (perhaps non-resident) hearsay. However unsigned neighbor handouts is something the District has frowned upon and has severely criticized neighbours for valid-information handouts in the past year.
As a method of improving public engagement, Oak Bay has been holding a series of three Special Committee of the Whole – Community Meetings to allow the public to informally discuss issues with council members. The first of these meeting at the high school was poorly attended. The second at Windsor Pavilion had better attendance and residents expressed they were unhappy with current development trends and issues. The third will be the public’s last chance this year to informally bring their concerns to the attention of Council. Mark it on your calendar.
This Monday 7pm, November 4, 2019 in the Fireside Lounge
Emmanuel Baptist Church, 2121 Cedar Hill Cross Road
Oak Bay Watch Perspective
The main goal of the volunteers who research and write for Oak Bay Watch is to improve the transparency of our local government. We do this by identifying important decisions or events which are not transparent enough, by advocating for better transparency, and by improving the transparency through our own independent actions
We could find no better example of the Transparency standards the public expects from Oak Bay Council and Staff than those provided on the ICompass website. Residents should expect no less from our Council. Please Read on:
Why is Transparency Critical in Local Government?
Jun 19, 2019 | iCompass: https://www.icompasstech.com/?s=transparency
Local citizens do their best to vet their political candidates to ensure they get public officials into office that are honest, have integrity, and will work for the best interests of the community. When the media comes forth with news about fraud in government, it’s a huge letdown, especially when it happens in local government.
Secrecy creates an environment where there is the potential for the lack of accountability and abuse of power. When information about how a local government operates isn’t forthcoming, it causes the public to be skeptical. Best practices for good governance recommend that transparency is a vital component of good government and strong communities.
One of the challenges in making local government transparent to any degree is tight budgets and a burden on limited resources. Fortunately, technology has become a friend to local governments. Digital tools create an environment of openness, transparency, honesty, accuracy, accountability.
The Benefits of Openness, Transparency, and Accountability Public officials with integrity are ever mindful of the fact that the money they have to spend on their communities comes directly from their citizens through tax dollars and that the government exists to serve them. Having access to these funds also means that citizens have the right to know how their local officials intend to allocate those funds. Good governance entails keeping the best interests of the citizens at the forefront of decision-making for the community. In a sense, the citizens act as overseers for their public officials and government staff.
The more a local government can provide in the way of transparency, the more it increases trust, honesty, and integrity in the government leaders. Another area where local governments can improve the public’s trust in them is by sharing policies publicly. That way the public knows how the government officials should be handling things and can hold them accountable for doing so. Code enforcement rules and requirements, board meeting minutes, council meeting minutes, financial documents, budgets, and annual reports should all be easily accessible by the public.
Integrity is inherently connected with trust. When citizens feel that their government officials are working hard to earn their trust, it builds confidence in the public’s view of the government. For local governments to be proactive in transparency speaks volumes to their constituents. When the general public has questions, they need a place to get answers. The public expects details on how governments made their decisions. Local governments that initiate processes to provide the information that matters most to citizens proves that the government officials have their citizens’ best interests at heart.
Transparency Enhances Communication
The benefit of providing as much information to the public as possible is that it gives them an opportunity to think about decisions that the local officials made and provide valuable feedback to them. The comments and feedback open up yet another opportunity for the all-important two-way communication. Local governments are continually looking at how to improve the quality of life for their citizens.
The best decision-making is a result of multiple perspectives, including the perspectives of community members. Based on their comments, government officials can incorporate necessary changes. The value in two-way communication is that it shows that the local government is listening and responding to the community’s needs.People often forget that responsibility works both ways. The government needs to honest and transparent. The community has responsibilities as well. Citizens have a responsibility to be informed and hold their local governments accountable.
Technology Is the Key to Transparency
Advancements in technology have provided new ways for local governments to share information publicly in ways that are efficient, cost-effective, and fast. New digital tools make it drastically easier to store and manage documents and other information. Citizens are familiar enough with technology that they expect their governments to be current on how technology can make information more transparent and accountable.
Social media has become a staple in our society. Not only has it become important in our personal lives, it’s important in business and local government too. It’s often the most proficient way to share information. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube provide outlets to share information proactively with the general public for announcing events, live-streaming government meetings, and communicating policy changes.
In today’s world, many people spend lots of their time on social media, and that means that social media is a great place to get information to them fast. Additionally, social media opens up a way for two-way communication. Local governments can post information in seconds and in a few more seconds get comments and feedback from citizens. These discussions provide rich communications that benefit both parties.
The first place that citizens will usually go when they want to get information about their community is their local government’s website. It makes sense that this is the place that local governments should focus their attention on providing access to the information that citizens want most. When citizens have access to a search box that brings up any public document, it saves clerks and other local government workers the time to pull it up and deliver it to the person who asked for it.
Search boxes on a government website make it fast and easy for citizens to pull up government policies, the budget, financial information, forms, documents, and live-streaming videos for council meetings. Having mobile access to documents and information is also a timesaver for local government officials. Mobile apps and devices bring information to elected officials to them wherever they are, any time of day or night. One of the most efficient uses of technology is in document security and management. Local governments handle thousands of documents. Online storage and filing systems take the work out of manual paper filing systems.
Even if government staff were to locate documents that the public asked for, they’d still have to scan them, upload them, and email them. It’s far more efficient to let citizens pull up the documents they want and print them in the convenience of their homes and offices.
iCompass offers all the tools that help local governments create transparency in local governments. From streamlining board meeting processes to document storage to communications and livestreaming local government meetings, iCompass meets your local government’s needs right where they’re at. Transparency in local government is critical for gaining the public’s trust and there’s no better company to help you achieve that than iCompass.
Appendix #1
Sent: October-22-19 6:30 PM Flag Status: Flagged
To: Oak Bay Council
Ce: Mayor Kevin Murdoch
Subject: Committees and Commission review
To: Mayor and Council Municipality of Oak Bay
Correspondence for the Special Committee of the Whole meeting, October 24 2019:
Having carefully read the consultant’s Committee and Commission Review document, | am disappointed on a number of fronts: The review claimed to involve “all stakeholders” but unfortunately no member of the public was invited to participate (as far as | know).
I wrote to Mr. Warren on May 13 2019 asking when public input would be sought as | was particularly interested ina review of existing Conflict of Interest guidelines for committee/ commission members. His response was that he assumed the consultant would recommend knowledge of Roberts Rules of Order and the importance of Conflict of Interest Guidelines. No answer on public input. | wrote to Ms. Varela on September 12 and September 18 2019 asking the same question, but | received no acknowledgement or reply.
Back to the review:
There is no recommendation on public involvement or input in the committee/ commission meeting process. Having attended as many (of the very few) Advisory Planning Commission meetings held over the last couple of years, it appears that such meetings are designed to be as obscure as possible
- They are not video recorded (or even tape recorded) and minutes are often incomplete and not available until months after a meeting.
- Members sit around a table with their backs to the ‘visiting’ public and speak as inaudibly as possible.
- Members frequently seem unprepared and disorganized, which is disturbing given their important task in making recommendations to council. Members may be volunteers but professional behavior must be expected.
- Developers may make presentations to commissions/ committees but the public may not speak — ever.
There was very little in the consultant’s review on the vitally important topic of conflict of interest. Existing guidelines are vague and inadequate. It is not acceptable to allow members to simply “recuse themselves” from discussion of land-use/ development issues before council when they are also involved in a pecuniary arrangement with the developer/ applicant. When a committee/ commission member meets with and lobbies other members of their group while in such an arrangement the member should resign from the commission, or be removed by Council. Their loyalty is split between two interests: one that offers a financial interest and one that doesn’t. How could this not create a conflict? Such unethical behavior taints any advice from such bodies, making the whole Advisory body process suspect and a waste of time. Both council and the public must insist that the highest ethical standards are demanded of ‘volunteer’ members of such committees and commissions.
Thank you for considering this input. | would rather have given these comments for consideration of the review consultant but there was no opportunity.
Oak Bay Resident