[0:16] election. I'm helping your deputy chief election officer Crystal and your chief

[0:22] election officer Ross uh with Blackwell Mr. Blackwell um helping them uh put

[0:29] this election together and that one of the things they asked me to do is let

[0:34] people know this is what's involved when you are running for office. So, um, you

[0:39] want me to >> Oh, yeah. I'll sneak at you.

[0:43] » Lisa, will you will you be able to share this with us afterwards or

[0:46] » Yeah, I can share

[0:50] at least the dates and reminders of that stuff's coming up. Good. I don't We'll

[0:54] make notes. >> Yeah, we'll put it as a PDF and then No

[0:56] problem. So, your slides. >> Yeah.

[1:00] » Where am I supposed to get that? Um well uh

[1:06] » then again >> we met one of these at one of those

[1:11] council meetings about four years ago. I was participant. What do I have to do?

[1:16] Right. >> There we go.

[1:22] » So there's probably

[1:31] [laughter]

[1:34] » good engaging with the community. [laughter]

[1:38] » Well, I'm going to talk about a couple three main areas. One about becoming a

[1:42] candidate. one about actually what's involved with being an elected official

[1:47] because um sometimes unless you've been going to meetings on a regular basis,

[1:51] you may not always know, oh wow, this is what's involved and there's a lot of

[1:55] things behind the scene as well. So the idea is to give you a hopefully a

[2:00] realistic understanding of what is required and then just what's your life

[2:05] going to be like as an elected official uh with that. So, I'll just get us

[2:10] going. Um, because I'm lazy as anything, you'll see abbreviations. So, when I'm

[2:16] referring to CC, that's the community charter. That's the principal piece of

[2:19] legislation that impacts a local government. That's a municipality. Um,

[2:24] there's also LEA, uh, local government, uh, local election campaign financing

[2:29] act. Say that time a couple times quickly. That's what deals with how do

[2:33] we deal with the paperwork for your expenses, what needs to be involved.

[2:38] deals with election advertising. So again, another important piece of paper

[2:42] information and LGA, local government act, and that's where we find all the

[2:47] regulations for um running an election. So there's legislation all over the

[2:52] place. So if you're really curious what it is and want to look at it yourself,

[2:56] not a problem, but that information is provided. So let's just get right into

[2:59] it. So you want to become a candidate. Well, if you aren't familiar with what's

[3:07] involved, there's actually a lot of resources to help you. You'll see on

[3:10] this page or this slide and on the next slide. Um, the Ministry responsible for

[3:16] local governments has put together a wealth of information for you. Uh,

[3:21] talking about what does it mean about running for it, what are some of the

[3:24] basics about elections, a candidates guide, a voters's guide, scrutiners

[3:29] guide. We'll talk about scrutiners or candidate representatives later and what

[3:34] if you wanted to support someone. So, we have the link right there for you. Um,

[3:40] there's also some videos for those of you who prefer to watch rather than

[3:43] read. And so, again, they've come come over with a lot of information about

[3:48] what's involved. So, we just want to make you aware of that. Um, this

[3:52] information is also in the nomination packages. There's a cover letter or a

[3:56] cover memo that contains a whole bunch of information as well. And these

[4:01] documents are listed there with the links as well to help you with that. And

[4:06] so there's even more guides because we are not alone in helping to put on this

[4:10] election. Elections BC is quite involved. Um, if you choose to be a

[4:15] candidate, you will get to know Elections BC well because they're the

[4:18] ones you will contact about dealing with any campaign financing, questions about

[4:23] the advertising and that and they too have some guides. So, we've given you a

[4:26] link there to make it easier for you to find it. So, let's see if you're

[4:32] qualified. Um, there are certain um criteria you need to meet and as long as

[4:39] you meet that, have at it. Um, so are you 18 or older on election day? Um, I

[4:46] kid you not, there have been some elected officials. They weren't 18 at

[4:51] the time they voted in advanced voting, but on general election, they were 18

[4:54] and they were elected. So, the minimum age is 18 on general voting day. uh

[5:01] resident of BC for at least six months prior to submitting the nominating

[5:05] papers and you're not disqualified from voting or being nominated or holding

[5:11] office or otherwise disqualified. Um please note that you are not required to

[5:17] be a resident, believe it or not, in the jurisdiction in which you are running

[5:23] for office. And you're going, I can't believe that. Um I'll offer uh an

[5:29] example. For example, I live in the south part of Siri. So there's Suriri

[5:32] South and then there's White Rock. A number of South Suri residents have

[5:37] businesses in White Rock. They don't live in White Rock, but they have run

[5:41] for council and actually have been elected because they've been such part

[5:44] of the community. So the criteria is you're a BC residence for at least 6

[5:51] months. That's the criteria. It is not the issue of where you live is not an

[5:57] issue until you go to vote. >> We had someone run here before you was

[6:01] the resident. >> Yeah. And that

[6:04] » became a counselor. [laughter]

[6:08] Like I said, as long as far as we're concerned, are you meeting our criteria?

[6:12] Yeah. Excellent. We're happy because then we can start processing your

[6:16] paperwork. Okay. What else I got?

[6:21] Okay. key dates. I thought I had key dates. It hates me. Oh, oopsie. That's

[6:28] why they don't let me play with That's why I shouldn't be playing with any of

[6:33] this. >> I was on slide eight.

[6:37] It doesn't like me. Oh, there we go. I think just keep the mouse like in this

[6:42] area. >> I think it was down in the menu which

[6:45] confused it. >> Okay. Sorry. So, there are some key

[6:49] nomination uh key dates to know. Starting tomorrow, 9:00 a.m. and not a

[6:54] minute sooner or 9:00 a.m. precisely for those of you who remember Jack Webster.

[6:59] » 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning is the opening of the nomination period. It

[7:04] runs till September 11th, 400 p.m. So during that time,

[7:11] oops, sorry, I got stuck on the nines. Should say or yeah, no, the 11th. There

[7:15] we go. Um that's the time in which you will submit your nomination papers in

[7:21] order to be considered for this. Um there's a pre- campaign period and this

[7:27] is where LEFA's coming in the election financing and that was from July 20th to

[7:32] September 11th. You still have to keep track of all your expenses that you were

[7:37] there before you the campaign starts which is of course September 12th until

[7:42] the election day. advanced voting. There shall be one advanced voting day. Um you

[7:49] don't have to do two like other municipalities because of the vote um

[7:52] population threshold. So October 7th, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. come on down and

[8:00] vote. We'd be happy to have you there. And then the other election day, of

[8:04] course, is general voting day on the 17th. Um you're welcome to encourage

[8:10] anyone. It doesn't matter which day you choose to vote on.

[8:14] I always advise candidates, you need to be that's the last thing you want to do

[8:18] is forget not to vote for yourself and because it gets a little crazy on

[8:24] election day. So come to advanced voting. Um that's not a problem. And for

[8:29] the residents as well long time ago and um good thing I had my gray hair but a

[8:35] long time ago you it only certain people could vote on advanced voting date.

[8:39] That's out the window. Come on down everybody. So, in theory, we could have

[8:44] everybody vote on the advanced voting date. That doesn't happen because a lot

[8:48] of people forget to the actual date, but that's okay.

[8:52] So, you're welcome to come vote for either of those. Um, what's going to

[8:56] happen is um once we tally at 8:00, we close the doors. We start a preliminary

[9:03] count. It's not the official results, okay? But we're going to have a good

[9:08] idea by the end of the night who in theory has been elected because we've

[9:13] got to go through and uh do a number of ballot reconciliations and all that

[9:17] between then and before 400 p.m. on the 21st, okay? To make sure that everything

[9:23] is in order, that there's no problems with the books or anything like that.

[9:28] So, preliminary results are done on the night of the election because everybody

[9:32] wants to know. No one's going to wait till Monday morning, but the very

[9:37] official results which will let's say 9.5 times out of 10 match

[9:44] the uh preliminary results and those will be officially disclosed before

[9:49] October 21st 4 p.m. And when we're going through doing the ballot reconciliations

[9:54] and that like on election night, you and a scrutiner can come on down and watch

[10:01] the count or not. Your choice. But if you want to, you can watch and observe.

[10:08] Um, but when we're going through the books, which will be on the Monday,

[10:12] making sure, checking everything to make sure it's there, only candidates can

[10:16] watch if you want to. It's not mandatory. Yes, you have a question.

[10:22] » Is there mailing up vote opportunity? >> You stole my question.

[10:26] » Yes, there there is mail ballot voting. Don't worry, I'll get to that one. Okay,

[10:30] well, fine. I'll address it now. Um, what will happen is is that yes, we do

[10:35] have the opportunity for people who wish a mail ballot. They will have to make

[10:39] that request. Um, they will the thing is very tight time frame for us to get the

[10:46] ballots back from the polling uh from the printers and that. So, as soon as we

[10:51] get them back, then fine, we can start firing out the mail ballots either via

[10:54] Canada post or if someone says, "I want a mail ballot." They can come on down

[10:58] and pick it up and they have to make that request because we've got to we

[11:01] have paperwork. Nothing else you'll learn. There is paperwork for

[11:04] everything. So, they are welcome to do that. They can we can also make

[11:09] arrangements that somebody else picks it up for them. Not a problem. Um, so we

[11:15] make arrange we figure out how we get it to them. it's their responsibility to

[11:19] get it to us before 8:00 p.m. on general voting day. Now, we know we're going to

[11:26] get a number of them beforehand. So, on the Thursday at 400 p.m., because that's

[11:30] what our uh election bylaw says, we'll start processing the ones we've

[11:35] received, which means going through going, "Yep,

[11:39] we it's somebody who requested it. Open it up. Yes, they meet all the criteria.

[11:44] We open that up. their boat is actually still sealed in a envelope.

[11:50] That's what goes into the box. We seal that up so nobody gets into it. And then

[11:57] on election night, if there are any others, we will open it up, go through

[12:01] the same process we did on Thursday to make sure everything was, you know, that

[12:05] we could accept that ballot and if we can into the box and then shake it all

[12:10] up, open it up, open the envelopes, and start counting.

[12:15] That's mail ballot voting in >> when do you what's your best guess of

[12:20] when the mail the ballots would be valuable for the mail ballots?

[12:23] » Um well the request is then I'm sorry I'm just trying I don't have my calendar

[12:28] in front of me. >> I'm looking at right behind you. So the

[12:31] September the 11th is a Friday. >> Yeah. But the the problem is

[12:36] » we have until the four No, no, no, no. You got a bunch of dates we still have

[12:39] to meet before I can do an official official declaration can be done on

[12:42] October 21st or probably September 21st. >> Okay. So, getting the ballot.

[12:47] » Yeah. Well, no, we don't. We're getting the ballot. Long Stewart, here's the ad

[12:50] boring administrative details. We're on the phone with the printers getting

[12:54] things done, but we cannot officially declare that there's going to be a

[12:58] notice of election until the 21st of September because by the what happens is

[13:06] on the 11th people have until 4 p.m. on the 14th in order to challenge your

[13:11] nomination. Then there's 72 hours for the courts to deal with it. If that

[13:15] happens, please no. Okay. But if that happens, but the other thing we have to

[13:20] do is you have a week window afterward to go, "What was I thinking? I'm

[13:26] checking on out. Get my name off the list." Without having to get ministerial

[13:31] privilege, you have until 400 p.m. September 18th there. So, one week

[13:36] later, you have until I'm out without having to go through to the ministry.

[13:42] And there you go. So, we can't do official declaration of notice of

[13:46] election till the 20 uh September 21st at 4 p.m.

[13:52] We will have told the printers to get things going, but we tell the printers,

[13:55] you can't start running the ballots until we know what 400 p.m. on the 18th.

[14:02] Every other municipality is doing the same thing. [clears throat]

[14:06] So, when we get the ballots, well, obviously we need to get the ballots

[14:10] before October 7th. So that's the very last time, but we're

[14:16] hoping to get it sometime. So sometime between the 21st and the 7th actually to

[14:22] do to get the ballots, get the packages out. The requests can come now if

[14:27] somebody wants a mail ballot. >> Nice and confusing.

[14:32] » Interesting. >> So that's where we are with that. So we

[14:36] have that official results before the 21st of October. And um if you're

[14:41] fortunate enough to be elected, you have a date on November 9th at 7:00 p.m. to

[14:46] be part of the inaugural meeting, which is where you will be sworn in. What will

[14:52] happen between October 7 17th and November 9th is the old council is still

[14:58] in place. 9th or 3rd? >> This is the third.

[15:02] » Third. >> Where is it?

[15:04] » That's up by in front of me. >> Oh, November 3rd. Jeez Louise. I got to

[15:09] get my eyes checked. Yeah. So, anyways, you have a date,

[15:13] » right? >> November 3rd.

[15:15] » Okay, we good. >> Good.

[15:18] » So, there you go. All right. Nomination details. As we said, we're starting the

[15:24] nomination period tomorrow. If you wish to submit your nominations,

[15:29] you got to find two electors in your community

[15:34] who are going to nominate you. Okay? and they absolutely have to be

[15:41] residents or non-resident property electors who are eligible to vote. Okay,

[15:48] we will worry about whether like for the most part you're pretending to find

[15:52] residence with that. The thing you need to know, you can you cannot hold more

[15:58] than one position. So, you can't run for mayor and for counselor and change

[16:02] seats, you know, should you be elected for vote. You can't wait to choose

[16:06] whichever one you want. You only get to you got to figure out which one you want

[16:11] when you submit your documents cuz we're not taking two sets.

[16:14] » Could you change your mind in the period?

[16:17] » Yes. Then what you would ask is you give us in writing nominate say that I wish

[16:21] to withdraw those nominations that nomination for that position and then

[16:25] you would submit new nomination documents that still go through.

[16:29] [laughter] Pisces,

[16:32] » I I'm just sitting here taking this whole new strategy. [laughter]

[16:37] » Okay. Well, okay, [clears throat] let's talk a little bit about that. Um, uh, in

[16:42] 24 years of running elections, I haven't had that happen yet, please.

[16:47] » Um, what I have had, can I tell you something?

[16:50] » We've had many people sit in this chamber and say to us, the first time it

[16:55] ever happened to me in 30 years in this industry has happened in Lions Bay more

[16:58] than once. So don't wish. Be careful what you wish for.

[17:01] » I'm not wishing for it. Not in your head.

[17:05] » The one thing I will say um more than anything else is please for your own

[17:12] peace of mind. Do not wait till September 11 3:00. Don't wait till se

[17:19] September 11th at noon. Don't wait till September 11th at 900 a.m. to submit. I

[17:25] have had un the unfortunate situation of

[17:31] nominations completed incorrectly, incomplete.

[17:35] People have had insufficient time to fix it and they're running in the door five

[17:41] after four. Here are my forms. And I'm like, I'm very sorry to tell you

[17:46] [clears throat] that we I can't accept them. It's past that

[17:50] time frame. You have to have completed, correct, accurate forms submitted.

[17:57] That's why please don't wait till the last day cuz we if something goes

[18:01] sideways, you won't you may not have enough time to fix it.

[18:05] » Yes, sir. >> Back to the dual position thing which um

[18:09] » I was looking at the nomination form say there's the added attestation

[18:14] » that should you be elected, you'll accepted that role.

[18:17] » Correct. >> Do both.

[18:19] » Correct. Ah, you'll just be a bad person.

[18:23] » Well, I'll be sorry. Which one? Which ones are you submitting?

[18:27] » Well, you're submitting both. >> Yeah. And you can't be do that. So, I'm

[18:31] going to You're going to have to figure out which ones you're drawing because

[18:33] otherwise you're going to disqualify yourself out for both.

[18:37] » Yeah. >> Let's just put it. I don't I don't think

[18:40] they want to be on the phone to the lawyers going, "Now what?" [laughter]

[18:45] » Yeah. >> I thought this was an academic thing

[18:48] that >> Yeah. No. No, no. The the legislation

[18:51] makes it really clear. >> No, thank you. [laughter]

[18:54] » Okay. >> Well, the other thing is is if you're do

[18:56] signing the de like you are signing a solemn declaration.

[19:01] Um, and the thing is you may not like we would really appreciate it if you booked

[19:06] an appointment so we can sit down and go through it with you in an unheard

[19:09] manner. And so if there are any oopsies, oh, we need to correct [clears throat]

[19:14] this and you have time to do that. We can go

[19:18] through it. However, it does if you I'll show you it. If you want to send it in

[19:24] by email all filled out, okay, we can't say no to it. We will

[19:30] have received it, but you're going to have to have a commissioner for taking

[19:35] affidavit in the province of British Columbia

[19:39] watch your attestation, your sign your solemn declaration, which is page three

[19:43] of document C2.

[19:48] So you could have a notary or if you have a lawyer friend, they can do that

[19:53] witnessing for you and you can just email it in again please before 4 p.m.

[20:00] » But if it is signature doesn't have to happen in your presence.

[20:04] » No, but it has to be it that declaration has to be sworn either in front of a

[20:09] chief election officer, a deputy chief election officer or a commissioner for

[20:13] taking over. No, no, I'm saying if you show up with your own papers, you you

[20:17] can pre-sign it. >> No, no, you can't pre-sign. We'll just

[20:20] make you sign your name again. Okay, >> because for there like if you go, oh,

[20:24] you know, and I understand the enthusiasm. I used to ask for a

[20:27] signature. I give you a signature. >> I get that. We'll just go, my friend.

[20:32] Sorry. Can you please sign over here a second time because this way we're

[20:36] making that we're going to ask you to do that declaration to make it really

[20:39] clear. This is what you're signing up for.

[20:44] and that and then we will fill out the paperwork. But as I said, if it's a

[20:48] commissioner for taking affidavit, then they will put their signature where they

[20:52] are and the date that it happened. So it isn't impossible to submit your

[20:59] nomination papers without having gone through the chief election officer, the

[21:03] deputy chief election officer. It can be done. We're just saying we want to make

[21:09] we want to help make sure that everybody who wants to run has the opportunity to

[21:13] run and that things are taken care of. >> So if you show up September 3rd at 100

[21:19] p.m. there'll be somebody there to watch you sign it.

[21:22] » Yep. >> That everything's okay. So

[21:25] » it's usually easier just call in. Kind of like booking an Uber.

[21:29] » Okay. >> Cuz this way you know Yeah. that they're

[21:31] not, you know, sneaking off for lunch or something.

[21:33] » Yeah. Yeah. >> Cuz they do [clears throat] get hungry.

[21:35] » Yeah. [laughter] But yeah, no, they know if you say,

[21:38] "Look, the only time I could get in is at 12:30." I'm quite certain.

[21:41] » Yeah, it's Ross and I will be taking care of that.

[21:45] And so I mean, we're here Monday and Friday, but you know, sometimes you have

[21:50] an appointment or you have to both. So yeah, ideally first.

[21:53] » Yeah. >> Oh, and remember September 7th, the

[21:57] office is closed, so nobody will be here to take that

[22:00] » cuz Labor Day. >> Yeah, Labor Day.

[22:02] » Oh, yeah. >> And maybe you're not.

[22:04] » No, no, no. It will take probably 15 to 20 minutes at least, maybe more visits

[22:09] mean it's my first time. So it'll be very like line by line making sure it's

[22:13] accurate. So again, ideally you call say I'm going to come, you know, you know,

[22:18] make an appointment that can be pretty flexible, but at least set aside more

[22:23] than five minutes. >> Okay. I'm retired, so I'm pretty

[22:26] flexible. [laughter] >> All right. Well, I'll talk about lect

[22:30] stuff now that I really Oh, nomination papers. But you need to there you you'll

[22:35] have more papers than you know what to do with. So there are some papers you

[22:39] shall have to submit. Others it's like okay if they reapply. So that's why I

[22:45] have two quotes. So the mandatory ones are well the cover sheet that's good

[22:49] because it helps you go through make sure you didn't miss anything. C2 um I

[22:54] don't know if any of you are planning to run as school trustees. So if you see CS

[22:59] and the number, that's the documents that school trustee candidates

[23:03] [clears throat] would fill. I'm assuming most of you are here for council

[23:06] council. So it's just C2. So you got to get C2 filled in, C3 filled in, which

[23:12] has other information. Yes, you'll be writing the same details all the time.

[23:17] Just telling you in advance. Um if you have somebody else be your financial

[23:23] agent, C4 has to come in. And so what happens is is you have to appoint a

[23:29] financial agent or somebody's going to be your financial agent. If you don't

[23:33] say, "Hey, it's my bud doing it." Your bud agrees to it, your bud signs off on

[23:37] it, you're the financial agent. Okay? So don't worry. We'll ask you to clearly

[23:42] indicate, are you going to keep your own books or somebody else going to do it

[23:45] for you? Someone else does it for you. We need to see the paperwork of who it

[23:49] is that they agree to it that you just didn't throw their name out. They got to

[23:53] sign it cuz you never know. You don't know. I don't know how good your

[23:56] friendships are, but we can't trust that. So, they're going to have to sign

[23:59] their life away or just at least put their signature saying they'll be

[24:03] helping you with the financials. Um, so that there's a statement of disclosure

[24:08] and you'll see it says financial disclosure act and what it sets out is

[24:13] these are all the various assets or liabilities or income or shares,

[24:19] whatever you've got um as it pertains to being in Lion's Bay. And so that's a

[24:25] document that you will have to fill out. Um if you're elected, you're going to do

[24:29] it every January before January 15th every time anyways. Um and you're going,

[24:35] "Well, why do we need to know that?" Well, that's how people know can figure

[24:38] out whether you have a conflict in a trust.

[24:41] » So if you own a second piece of everybody gets it, you got a house here

[24:44] if you have a house here. Yeah, we get it. We're not asking about that when

[24:47] we're asking do you own other property that we don't know about that's also in

[24:51] your Alliance Bank and that. Okay. So, it's very basic information that's in

[24:57] there. Um, you know, if there's anything with um election signs, if applicable,

[25:03] you may want somebody to help you run your campaign. You know, they used to

[25:07] call them campaign managers. We call them official agents.

[25:12] Going to make you fill out a form if you want people uh to observe what's

[25:18] going on during election day because guess what? You don't get to hang out.

[25:22] You come in, you vote, get out. That's simple. But if you you are welcome to

[25:27] have somebody sit and watch the entire time or you may have different people in

[25:31] there, but you can appoint what they call candidate representatives aka the

[25:36] street mayors to observe what's going on. So any of the balloting process,

[25:41] you're entitled to have someone there. You don't have to give us the forms

[25:45] right away and you can make copies of C6. Um but they need to have a form

[25:49] saying, "Yep, I'm here because the candidate said I'm here.

[25:52] Okay. So, we have paperwork for that. Um, there is a candidate information

[25:58] relief authorization and what that is is a document like believe it or not you

[26:03] have personal information and with that um where we while we have

[26:09] the documents if you want to say hey you want to see

[26:13] my election website or here's my election phone number or here's the

[26:17] election email address to get me at. Well, that's great. But if you don't

[26:22] give us authorization to say you can distribute it to the world, you know,

[26:25] distribute it out. Someone calls up saying, "Hey, I'd like

[26:29] the phone number for the candidate." And it's like, "Sorry, we don't have an

[26:32] authorization. We can't do that." Okay. So, and we may as well talk a bit

[26:38] about the privacy. I'm jumping ahead here, but um what will happen is that

[26:43] when your doc we receive your documents, everything's ticky boot. Yes. Okay. We

[26:48] will have to post um the C2 document, the basic nomination that says

[26:55] [clears throat] you have you're you're putting you put your name forward. We

[26:58] pretty much have to do it shortly after you've submitted your nomination paper

[27:01] so that people know what to protect people's privacy, yours

[27:07] and the nominators. Um the only things that you're going to

[27:11] you're going to see a couple black lines on it. Sorry, can't help it, but that's

[27:14] the way we protect your information. We'll see your name. We'll see whatever

[27:20] your jurisdiction of living is, your abode. So, I'm assuming mostly Lion's

[27:24] Bay, maybe Westband. No judgment. That your candidate, your nominators

[27:30] will see their name. We'll see that it better be Lions Bay or it better be

[27:35] checking off that they're a non-resident property elector. But the other stuff

[27:39] will be blacked out, including the signatures, because we need to protect

[27:42] your privacy. There were a lot of problems actually last election which is

[27:46] why legislation has gone in place to break out the black lines in particular

[27:51] with the school trustees and stuff with soji that happened about 40 years ago. A

[27:55] lot of stuff like that. >> Oh, I'll let you.

[27:59] » Okay. >> Why why in particular the signatures

[28:01] though? >> Well, do uh we're looking at that with

[28:04] the signatures is like do you want your signature getting uh copied and used all

[28:08] over the place? >> Not really. No.

[28:10] » Yeah, that's why we've got the signature. So all we have to show is the

[28:13] name and jurisdiction. Everything else is getting to good old black line.

[28:16] » I've never been that good at copying signatures. So uh but I guess today with

[28:20] CGI and everything else, it's not difficult.

[28:22] » AI don't let it go. >> Yeah.

[28:24] » So that's part of the thing with there. So yes, your domination documents in a

[28:28] blacked out form will be on the website. If somebody comes booking it down to the

[28:33] office and says, "I want to see the unredacted one," we make them sign a

[28:37] form so we know who it was and they can see they'll see the C2 documents and the

[28:44] statement of disclosure. That's all they're going to see in their unredacted

[28:47] form. No photos, no photos. What am I saying? No copies are made. If they

[28:53] write the information down, well, we're not tackling for the pencil, but

[28:59] » you know, they can see the unredacted, but we make you work for it.

[29:03] » Good for you. >> So, there you go. Well, it's rather the

[29:06] legislation makes you work for it. Okay. So, that's kind of a nomination uh

[29:10] discussion. You good? >> Yep.

[29:13] » Oh, boy. She get Hi, Russ's phone. Oops. Oh, me and my enthusiasm.

[29:20] Okay, maybe I better let you handle this because I'm not doing

[29:25] » Hello everybody. Sorry I'm late. >> That's all right.

[29:30] » Oh dear. >> Is that Ross? Okay,

[29:33] » here. I'll just >> Thank you. You take care of it.

[29:35] » I'll do your slide. >> Thank you. Okay. So, as I said, the

[29:39] campaign period starts up uh 28 days before um advertising and promoting

[29:45] during this time are considered election expenses. So, what you need to do,

[29:50] here's a piece of advice be uh on the day you submit your nomination

[29:54] documents, go down to the bank, you have to set up a separate bank account. Trust

[29:59] me, it's going to make your life a lot easier for, you know, if elections BC

[30:02] ever needs to see this stuff. Here's my elections account and have everything

[30:07] funneling in through there. Um, are there any questions about the financing

[30:12] or advertising election? We've got that information there for

[30:16] you. third spot party sponsors. So they may not be part of your campaign, but

[30:22] maybe there's someone in the community say, "Hey, vote for this candidate."

[30:25] Well, guess what? They got to fill out forms with Elections BC and keep track

[30:30] of elections expenses. It's just so you know what's going on.

[30:34] Um, but yeah, there's lots of requirements. Like for example, if you

[30:37] have election signs, you have to have a sign saying, you know, here's who's

[30:41] authorized this. Here's the contact information to get a hold of them on

[30:44] their, you know, if they say vote for you, vote for you. You got to have that

[30:48] little sponsorship line tag underneath. >> You can't put your, you know, as much as

[30:53] you love your signs, you cannot put them within 100 meters of the polling place,

[30:58] which happens to be the hall. Just down, sorry, have I got the direction?

[31:02] » Literally downstairs. downstairs. Okay. Not within 100 mters of the

[31:06] building cuz we'll yank it. We'll take your signs. We'll give them back, but

[31:10] better not be within 100 meters. Don't put it in the back of the window of the

[31:14] car that you came in. Not a good idea cuz that puts it within 100 meters.

[31:19] » Is it 100 meters of the crow flies? >> No, it's 100 meters from the meter from

[31:24] the building. >> That's crow flies.

[31:27] » Sure. >> We'll figure things out. We will let you

[31:31] know. I'll tell I'll tell you why. The fence coming over the bridge, people

[31:35] will like to put their signs there. It's typically allowed.

[31:38] » Yeah. >> And and I don't think it's 100

[31:41] » needs to be more than 100. If it's more than 100 meters, we don't have a good

[31:44] time. If it's 100 meters, you got to have some fun when you're

[31:48] doing this. So, um >> it's not as the crow flies. It's not as

[31:54] the crow flies, by the way. It's via the road network.

[31:59] » Okay. I think that was the ruin. >> Okay.

[32:04] » Well, there we go. Um, so the other thing is you got to be careful about ele

[32:08] advertising on election day, you know, say for example, you have a Facebook

[32:13] page and you say it's one thing on your Facebook page on election day or on

[32:18] advanced voting day. Get out and vote. It's advanced voting day. It's election

[32:22] day. It's another thing if you say get out and vote for me on those days.

[32:28] That's advertising. The other is just information. Like I said, elections BC.

[32:33] It's a real good idea to go through that sort of uh the information that they've

[32:37] got there to help you with that. >> So, you could say that two days before,

[32:40] » pardon? Oh, yeah. Two days before. >> Good.

[32:43] » October 15th, have >> or October 5th, have

[32:49] But you want to be careful about that sort of thing. So, just saying campaign.

[32:55] Oh, yeah. Like I said, you need account for that. An account for that. Went to

[32:59] open it as soon as practical. Even if you personally are get putting your hand

[33:03] in your pocket, pulling out the money, slapping it down, saying, "Hey, I want

[33:06] to use that to buy, you know, buy my signs or whatever." Got to keep track of

[33:10] it. You need that account open. Okay? Even if you have no expenses, cuz I have

[33:16] seen some candidates, they don't they don't spread nothing. Okay? You still

[33:20] have to fill out all the paperwork. It makes Alexa happy. [clears throat] So,

[33:24] yeah. Uh so if you pay an expense, if you get a transfer, any surplus funds

[33:30] previously, there are limits as you can see. Uh you can't spend more than

[33:34] $12,323 if you're running for mayor or $6,161.

[33:42] Yep. And then anonymous contributions and more than $50 is prohibited. So if

[33:47] they want us to give you $49 and say, "But don't say what my name is," that's

[33:51] okay. as soon as it's 50 or $50 or more, you cannot receive an anonymous

[33:57] contribution. >> What happens if it is truly anonymous

[33:59] and you have no idea where it came from? >> Uh for if it's more than 50,

[34:04] » my suggestion would be not to take it because this is something

[34:07] » Well, no, it's just a long time ago there was an incident

[34:14] where it just turned up in somebody's mailbox in an envelope.

[34:18] » And what you said for your campaign? >> Okay. Um, under these things, I would

[34:23] not be accepting it. I would bring it into the

[34:25] » Well, that's the thing. Just bring it in.

[34:27] » Yeah. Bring it in and say, "I got this >> and run the other direction because um

[34:32] if you start accepting it, no." And it wasn't that. I just wanted to see if

[34:37] there was a mechanism for dealing with that. So, bring it in and say, "This

[34:41] arrived. Don't know what to do with it." >> Yeah. Just hand it over and we can do we

[34:45] can chat with Elections VC. As long as you're not taking it and putting in your

[34:48] account, that's >> Listen, it says more than 50, by the

[34:51] way, not more than 49.

[34:59] » More than 50.

[35:03] » Yeah, it's >> just touch just because I will be

[35:05] sharing this as a resource. Um why the trusty is just so much higher. Sometimes

[35:11] people that can walk. >> Yeah, it does. It caught me off guard

[35:14] going what? Uh it's because it's all in West Vancouver. It's not a situate

[35:18] you're electing C the school trustees for West Vancouver because the

[35:23] municipality is running the election on behalf of the school district. So it's

[35:28] like a satellite satellite polling station but the people who are running

[35:33] are running for the entire one. you don't have like for example I'll pick on

[35:37] Belera um in Kquitlam they have theirs carved into electoral areas

[35:44] belera and anort only can vote for one trustee so that person's going to have

[35:50] to file their paperwork there and what have you and then with the other ones

[35:54] for Kquitlam Poco and and the other one I'm missing um they have the limited

[35:59] number and so in the Kquitlam school district there will always be the school

[36:04] trustee for Cara add more because that's the Toral

[36:09] area board. This one it's uh it's at large all the

[36:15] school trustees are for West Vancouver from here to Westb everyone there. So

[36:21] because it's West Vancouver school district that's why it's 24,000.

[36:28] » So the person who let's I think there was five people being elected for Yeah.

[36:32] They're going to be part, let's say. Is that all of West Van is the five people

[36:36] or is that just a Okay. So, they're not going to have like five from West Van

[36:41] and five from here. It's all going to be one.

[36:43] » No, no, no. Like I said, it's it's an atlarge election as opposed to electoral

[36:48] areas. >> Okay.

[36:50] » Okay. Finance. Oops, I skipped by number 13. Election advertising.

[36:57] Um the idea with that it's a transmission

[37:01] to the public by any means during the campaign period. That's why we care

[37:04] about the campaign period uh for that. So it prom you know either promoting

[37:09] directly and in uh indirectly um for a candidate or against candidate.

[37:15] So if somebody specifically says I don't want this person elected. I'm going to

[37:18] run my own campaign against that person. Guess what? sign up with Elections BC

[37:24] and guess what? You got to do all the same paperwork

[37:28] as if you were a candidate. So, that's just the way it is. Um, so things that

[37:33] it doesn't include are listed there as well for your general information. I'm

[37:38] not going to go tons in that cuz you guys actually want to get home at some

[37:41] point. Yes. Okay. Financial agents. Thou shalt have one.

[37:46] Either it's you or um it's somebody else. uh you can have only one at any

[37:53] time. You may have a situation where you've had to uh there may be a

[37:58] situation if you were running slakes like we see in Vancouver and that which

[38:02] is several candidates have the same financial agent. That's not a problem,

[38:07] but each candidate can only have one financial agent. So, it can be you or

[38:12] yourself. Um if the other person's the a uh agent, there are specific

[38:17] requirements for the appointment, aka it's in writing. That's why we got a

[38:20] form for it. Uh full name, effective date, contact information, candidate

[38:25] signed it, the agent to be has signed it uh to make it there. And that's got to

[38:30] be delivered before the end of the nomination period because elections BC

[38:33] wants to know who they dealing with. Okay. So, wow. Let's get us to what

[38:38] happens before the ele before voting day.

[38:42] Um communications with staff. The standard that election staff is going by

[38:48] is fair, transparent, and neutral. So the idea is that we're going to teach

[38:53] we're going to treat you exactly the same even if you're already an

[38:57] incumbent. Sorry, you're just like every other candidate and that's how you will

[39:02] be uh treated to ensure that fairness because we want people to have

[39:06] confidence in our democratic process and so that's part of how we'll do it.

[39:10] Absolutely. Um, so, uh, we will be a condu conduit for you for information.

[39:16] If you've got questions about the process, ask us. And guess what? We'll

[39:20] filter it out to everybody just to make sure that everybody's on the same page

[39:25] that you all know because somebody may have asked a question and we go, "Oops,

[39:28] we didn't, you know." Well, thank you very much. We want to make sure

[39:31] everybody knows that. So, that's what we're going to be working hard there.

[39:35] again with municipal staff ask it through uh the CEO and the CEO's

[39:41] role not the CEO role he has you know just for communicating that

[39:46] information to make sure that everybody that you know everyone's getting the

[39:49] same answer. Um please do not use any logos, coats of arms, any of our

[39:55] marketing slogans and that. Um, you can be your own candidate, but please do not

[40:00] use municipal branding because that would imply that the

[40:06] municipality is supporting you in that position and that's not in in to to be

[40:12] fair and have a democratic process. There's no endorsement. That's how part

[40:16] of how you protect that uh that perception. Um, place the signs

[40:21] accordance with any bylaws. remove. Uh we will remove those signs if they're

[40:25] within 100 meters on advanced voting day, general voting day. So if you have

[40:29] it the day before up until 11:59 p.m., okay, it's there, but as soon as it hits

[40:34] midnight, that baby better be down.

[40:39] And that's um so like I said, careful with advertisements on voting days. And

[40:43] you personally cannot be at the voting place except to vote. So it really is in

[40:49] out. Your official agents can be, your scrutiners can be. Um, we're not letting

[40:54] you anywhere near until about 8:00 on vote on general voting night. Okay.

[41:01] Uh, voting day, like I said, you can be there for the count. So, we while the

[41:05] doors get shut precisely at 8:00 p.m., be there be, you know, 10 minutes before

[41:10] so we can let you in. Um, and then we'll deal with that. No,

[41:14] no more ballots. Let's just put it. No one else will be eligible to vote after

[41:18] 8:00 p.m. If there are still people in the polling station, we will let them

[41:22] finish. They will feel awkward cuz everybody's staring at them going,

[41:27] "Hurry up and vote." Some of them may be like my husband sneaking in at the last

[41:31] minute and getting the vote in and that's fine, but we all just sit there

[41:34] and wait. But once that happens, then we will get everything going for there. Um,

[41:39] the people will tabulate the votes. Just so you know, it is done as paper

[41:43] ballots. So, it's going to be a hand count. So, we'll have it set up so that

[41:48] people will do the hand counts and go through and that as I said, you and your

[41:53] C and a scrutiny are entitled to be there. If you just want your scrutiner,

[41:57] that's fine, too. What you choose, but I can tell you right now, no electronics.

[42:03] You do not go taping what's going on during the count. Bad. I've had that

[42:09] happen before and it's not a fun time. I'll sit there. It's like, "Okay, delete

[42:12] the video and we ain't counting anymore till that's cleaned up." I can wait all

[42:18] night. I'm still getting paid. And I have had that happen before. I've

[42:23] also had to call RCMP before. Don't want to do that. As I said, preliminary

[42:28] results only that night. Um, but we usually have a lot of faith.

[42:33] And somebody says, "Well, what happens if it's a tie?" Well, I can guarantee

[42:36] you right now we're not counting again that night

[42:40] cuz everybody tired. So, it would be as I said when we do the reconciliation, we

[42:44] will go through that and see what the result if it upon reconciliation and a

[42:51] recount on the that Monday morning. Um, if it's still a tie, then we go to the

[42:56] courts and the recount and the judge goes,

[43:00] "Yep, you got a tie. Guess what? How are we going to resolve it?" So, your

[43:03] election there's um I believe it's a male ballot or it's a bylaw. If it's

[43:09] still a tie when you're before the courts, guess what? Name out a hat.

[43:14] Literally, it's by law. But yeah, uh judicial recounts do

[43:20] happen. But like I said, we that's why we want to go through the paperwork very

[43:24] carefully and make sure everything is where it needs to be. So, as I said,

[43:28] please yank your signs out. All of your signs, get them down within 3 days

[43:31] afterwards. the election's over. Um, if you're

[43:36] elected, inaugural meeting where you'll take the oath. But as I said, in the

[43:41] meantime, from the 17th of October to November 3rd, the old council is still

[43:46] in place. That does not continue. That's part of the continuity with that. I

[43:50] believe there are no meetings scheduled. >> Uh, no, there are.

[43:54] » Okay. Um, so, but obviously there's going to be a lot of consideration what

[43:58] does and does not go there and recognizing that. Yeah.

[44:02] You know, some of it is just usually you're dealing with stuff with that just

[44:05] absolutely cannot wait. Okay. And whether you're elected or not, Elections

[44:10] BC will be making a phone call saying, "Give us the final of your campaign

[44:15] financing accounts." So, it's usually up to about 90 days

[44:19] after you've got to get it uh get it into them. When the 90 days expired,

[44:24] you're late. You pay a penalty um for that. So, you got another 30, you

[44:30] know, penalty in another 30 days. After 120 days, if you still said, I can't be

[44:35] bothered with the paperwork, you're disqualified from running in the next

[44:39] election.

[44:43] » It's just some serious stuff. So, there's that. Um, like I said, our

[44:48] concern is being neutral and making sure that everybody h that the process is

[44:53] done in fair transparently. Um, so we are going to do things such as maintain

[44:58] the confidentiality of the vote. If we have to help somebody in the voting

[45:01] booth, that's fine, but don't ask us how they voted. We're not telling you uh

[45:06] with that. Um, you know, and we're going to have to require your associates to

[45:10] assist with that. So, when the scrutiners or your official agent, if

[45:14] they're in the polling station doing that observation, they're going to fi

[45:17] sign a declaration saying, "Yeah, I'm not going to try to influence this. I'm

[45:22] not going to help. I'm just here to observe." we make them sign that that uh

[45:26] to hold them to that uh level of efficiency. But the important thing is

[45:30] we are here to help you with the process. So if you got questions, do not

[45:34] be afraid to ask. Um you know, we will have election officials, other people

[45:38] helping us with that. Don't be afraid to ask the questions. Uh usually it's

[45:43] probably easier to go with uh CEO, chief election officer or deputy chief

[45:47] election officer because the election officers say go see them anyways.

[45:51] But that's okay. So, um the other thing is is that uh because of the way things

[45:56] are set up with that, we're not going to be should there be allegations of

[45:59] election offenses and that or imposing penalties. Um that's unfortunately where

[46:03] we have to call the police to do the investigations for that. Hopefully that

[46:08] will not happen. Social media. Next one. Um whether you want to use it or not,

[46:14] your choice. How you want to use it. We're ain't telling you how to do it.

[46:18] We're just telling you the village is not responsible for your social media.

[46:24] Um, but be careful what you say because you know things there's no how to put

[46:30] it. There's no immunity for flagging your

[46:35] flagging the other candidates or saying nasty things or defamatory things.

[46:40] There's no immunity. So keep classy. Won't be a problem.

[46:47] So or two. Yeah. Okay. What does it mean to be an election elected official? All

[46:52] right, let's go. Um, believe it or not, the legislation does have this is the

[46:56] job description. They call it responsibilities under the legislation,

[47:00] but you know, consider the interests and well-being of the community, contribute

[47:04] to the developing of policies and programs with services. Uh, participate.

[47:10] It means actually go to the meetings. You may not talk, but you can. We we

[47:14] expect you there. Okay. And then to carry out any other

[47:18] duties, the organization is collectively assigned. But it goes beyond that. The

[47:24] idea is that you're helping to provide that leadership. You're helping to say

[47:28] this is how we're going to spend our financial resources with it. Um this is

[47:32] what we're going to do with the resources that we have to best serve

[47:36] that community. The community we're good. You you're representing the

[47:39] citizens, especially if you're at various other organ uh events. you're

[47:43] engaging with the community that so it's a it's more than just what you saw

[47:48] listed in their legislation which doesn't sound exciting. So this is the

[47:52] more exciting stuff. um the role of the mayor. Um this is the

[47:57] additional responsibilities on slide 23. Um about that they're going to be the

[48:03] spokesperson. Um they're going to be leading that. They're going to be

[48:06] chairing the meetings and have that responsibility for uh doing that.

[48:11] They're going to they can create standing committees, committees that go

[48:14] forever and do the appointments for that. And they're going to communicate

[48:17] through staff with the chief administrative officer CAO.

[48:22] Um, most municipalities in British Columbia operate on what they call the

[48:27] one employee system. That's what your CEO is. That's your point you go through

[48:32] to get to for the rest of the staff. The CEO is going to be the one who's

[48:36] directing the work and reporting back to council and has that kind of

[48:40] responsibility. That's your connection to the rest of the organization. I'm not

[48:44] saying you can't talk to others, but the more that you can work with the CEO and

[48:50] it's just going to make it go a little easier. All right. Uh expectations for

[48:54] the roles. I won't read it out, but the idea with that is that

[48:59] you know there's an expectation of um finding a way to work with others in a

[49:07] responsible positive manner. So, as I said, there's a variety of things being

[49:11] open to changing that. I'll let you review that at your leisure with these.

[49:17] Okay. So, over to the overview of authority because what you're going to

[49:21] find is there's order to how the legislation

[49:28] works. So, if the community charter or the local government act says this is

[49:32] how you roll, that's the way you're rolling. If it says um the community

[49:37] charter says, "Hey, you may do something." Well, then you're you can

[49:40] enact bylaws that says this is how we're going to do these things

[49:45] um with the authority we've been granted under the legislation. Um you may also

[49:50] have some policies to support your bylaws and then of course there's always

[49:54] the procedures that staff go through. But what there is is always a need for

[49:58] alignment that you're you can't do anything in the procedures, policies or

[50:03] bylaws that uh is in conflict with the legislation. Legislation reigns supreme.

[50:09] We work around it. Don't worry, staff going to help you with that. Um

[50:14] delegation of power because the general rule of thumb legally speaking is that

[50:20] if you've been delegated authority, you can't pass it on to somebody else to do.

[50:25] Okay, that's the general thing under administrative law. Um because the

[50:30] province has said municipalities through the legislation, you can do these

[50:35] things. You would assume that it's only council can do it. Legislation goes,

[50:40] yeah, there the exception is well, if the legislation says you can delegate it

[50:45] to somebody else, we'll let you delegate it to somebody else. Um and that's

[50:48] exactly what's happened is that the legislation says look you can develop

[50:53] delegate to staff different committees what have you. You can't delegate to a

[50:58] corporation but um you can do delegation but there

[51:04] are certain things you can't delegate. Only council can pass bylaws. Only

[51:08] council can um you know if it's had certain matters where it says council

[51:13] must do it, you can't redelegate to somebody else. Um, but you can put some

[51:16] terms and conditions on the things you can do. So, your legislative powers to

[51:21] enact laws, you're the only ones who can do it. So, staff may advise you, you're

[51:26] the only ones who can pass the bylaws. Okay. So, as I said in the next couple

[51:30] slides, it's very specific about what it can be delegated, to whom it can be

[51:35] delegated, and on slide 28, um, it's saying these are what the limits are.

[51:40] So, sorry, you're not that that's still at the council table.

[51:45] And don't worry about memorizing any of that right now because what's going to

[51:50] happen is should you be elected, staff is going to have some training for you

[51:57] and help you get used to your job and what's expected with that. So you're not

[52:02] going to just be thrown in, hey, here's your first meeting. Figure it out. No,

[52:06] staff's going to help you and give you the information you need. Okay? So no

[52:12] worries. Um, but just to give you a bit of an overview, staff is always going to

[52:17] be looking for um, this is why meetings are so important because that's where

[52:20] staff goes. Where do we get the authorization from council to go forth

[52:25] and do something? And so either you're passing motions that said staff go do

[52:30] something or you're passing a bylaw saying this is how it's going to be done

[52:33] staff. That's the only way you enact your authority is in a properly convened

[52:39] meeting with enough people voting in favor of it for something to happen.

[52:44] Okay? So, as much as you may you may be the only one who goes, "Please, please,

[52:48] please let us do this." Staff is always looking for where did it say council

[52:53] said we can do this. Okay? And they're not being cheeky about it. That's that's

[53:00] how we legally track your authority is through what happens in the meetings.

[53:04] That's why meetings are so critical uh that it's been done. Uh thing to

[53:08] remember with committees, they're great. They're really helpful. They can do a

[53:11] lot of cool things. Yes, some things can be delegated to, but their general rule

[53:15] is to provide advice to council. So, you could have a committee on a particular

[53:21] topic and they say, "Council, you really should do this." That's a piece of

[53:25] information for you to consider and you may still say that's great idea.

[53:30] However, there are all these other concerns. So we say no to that. Sorry

[53:34] committee. Appreciate your hard work, but you're the ones ultimately

[53:40] responsible. So you need to be free to make those decisions even if the

[53:45] committee saying you really really should do this. Okay. So [clears throat]

[53:49] as council, you're respon you're the decision makers. You're setting the

[53:53] vision. Um you're going to be the leaders for the organizations. As I

[53:56] said, committees, they're advisory bodies to council.

[54:00] um without staff. It's really kind of funny because before the meeting or at

[54:05] the start of the meeting, they're going to do reports. They're going to be your

[54:07] policy advisors. They're going to say from a technical point of view, we need

[54:11] you to think about this when making this decision. That's why we recommend this

[54:15] decision. But what they recognize is ultimately you have the authority to

[54:19] decide. So whatever you decide, even if it isn't what staff recommended,

[54:25] you know, say for example, there were three options. Staff recommends option

[54:28] A. And when you're discussing it around the table, you're going well, you know,

[54:32] considering this, this, and this, I we think option B is the better one. So

[54:36] that's what gets enacted. Staff goes, okay, they after the

[54:42] meeting, they switch on their hat. They switch hats and they say, okay, we've

[54:45] given you the information, we gave you the advice, you said do this, that's

[54:49] what we're going to make happen. So they will implement based on your directions

[54:54] for that. Uh, one thing staff is not going to be a participant in the bay

[54:59] debate as if they're there. They may provide you advice. They may say, "Hey,

[55:02] we really think you need to think about this, but they're not there to

[55:07] figure out the merits. They'll provide you information, but it's ultimately for

[55:11] cats to make that decision." Okay, what else I got? So, yeah, just to give you

[55:17] an idea what a healthy relationship looks like versus unhealthy. Um, you see

[55:21] that little circle there? That's the nexus point where council's meeting up

[55:25] with the CEO for the work. When council starts digging in the weeds,

[55:30] that gets some blurring. Staff's going, "Well, are we supposed to be doing

[55:34] this?" Council's, you know, what's going on here? And then when staff starts

[55:38] going, "Oh, yeah. We're the ones make the decision." So, they're making the

[55:41] decision that we It's a problem. So, it's a balancing act. Uh, but staff, I'm

[55:46] quite confident, understand what they can. Let's be honest. If it's coming

[55:52] before council at a council meeting, it's cuz staff knows we're not the ones

[55:56] to be in the position to make this decision. That's why they're coming to

[56:00] it's coming to council. Okay.

[56:04] Pitfalls. Yeah, conflict of interest. They happen. We'll talk about that in a

[56:08] few slides. There's the pecuniary. Show me the money versus the relationship

[56:13] ones. Depending on the type of conflict of interest, it can have an impact on

[56:17] what happens with the decision. >> [clears throat]

[56:20] » that if the decision could get thrown up with the conflict of interest, gifts.

[56:25] There's no such thing as a free lunch in that you have to be mindful and you will

[56:31] have to record if you're receiving gifts of certain values.

[56:36] So that's part of the thing cuz people want to know, hey, what's what's going

[56:40] on? So there, as you'll discover, there's paperwork for that. and

[56:45] confidentiality. That's to keep it to yourself because especially in closed

[56:50] meetings, you're going to hear a lot of things that could be put the

[56:56] municipality in an awkward position should that information be released.

[56:59] Like that's why you're having it in closed meeting is to have that

[57:03] discussion to make sure it's in the benefit of it. So the expectation is

[57:08] only the you know, you're only talking enclosed. you're you're not talking to

[57:12] anybody else about it. Like, hey, did you know we're going to buy that piece

[57:14] of property? No. Bad. Don't. So, close meetings. Don't worry. We got

[57:22] more for that. Like I said, for um if you are consider yourself to be in a

[57:27] conflict of interest. So, let's say it's a there's a reasonzoning application.

[57:32] It's not your reasoning. Well, it could be your reasoning application. Guess

[57:35] what? You're in a conflict of interest because how can you make a decision? Go.

[57:38] Of course, you're going to say, "Yes, I want that new zone." But what if you

[57:42] happen to be the neighbor to a person who's got an application in

[57:47] front of you, the zoning one? Well, it could mess with your stuff. You probably

[57:52] should be decl You need to declare a conflict of interest. I'm the neighbor

[57:56] to this person here. It's going to be a problem. So, what you will happen is is

[58:01] you're going to make the declaration in a council meeting. You got to do it

[58:04] every time it comes up to council meeting. Say, "Yep, conflict of

[58:06] interest. I'm the neighbor and you have to physically remove yourself. So, you

[58:10] get to wait outside. Hopefully, it's not a rainy day or I don't know where do you

[58:14] send people for Oh, you get the penalty box in the back. Door closed. You don't

[58:19] get to listen in um to allow everybody else who's eligible to deal with the

[58:24] issue, to deal with the issue, make the decision. Like I said, you got to make

[58:28] it each and every time. Why? Because we don't do carry over from the minute

[58:32] saying, "Oh, yeah, by the way, do you remember so and so had a conflict?" You

[58:35] do it every time, every meeting. Okay. Uh once you've made that de declaration,

[58:42] you're not going to stay in the meeting because if you're in the room, you're

[58:44] deemed to be voting. If you don't tell us how you vote, you're deemed to be

[58:47] voting in favor. That's why you got to get out of the room. So if you're not in

[58:51] the room, you're not deemed to be voting.

[58:54] Um you can't participate in it. You're not voting on it. And you can't talk to

[58:58] your your other friends around the table saying, "Hey, I'd really like it if you

[59:02] could." No, it's the the new silence not talking to anybody else about that.

[59:08] Um, however, if it does impact you, you can still have somebody speak on your

[59:12] behalf. >> If you know, like say for example, you

[59:16] were the applicant, you can't be in the room, but you could have, you know, your

[59:19] general contractor or somebody in there to speak on your behalf for that. Okay.

[59:25] So that uh conflict of uh types like I said pecuniary that's the show me the

[59:30] money pen direct or indirect um the bias one is the personal interest

[59:36] because it suggested you have a close bond and it could be a positive

[59:40] relationship or a negative relationship I joke if it uh it could be your current

[59:45] spouse or it could be your ex spouse any way you look at it you got a vested

[59:48] interest in how this plays out so that's a relationship one um what if uh that

[59:54] happens to be former client of yours. You know, it may not be money, but there

[59:58] could be that sort of thing. So, the idea is that um you want to be mindful.

[1:00:04] You got questions, ask stuff. Um now, there are some that they recognize um

[1:00:10] that are exempt from being called conflict of interest. For example,

[1:00:17] voting on the budget to raise taxes. Yeah, your pocketbook's going to take a

[1:00:21] hit, but so is everybody else. So they recognize, well, if you everybody

[1:00:26] declared a conflict of interest because it's going to raise more taxes, nobody'd

[1:00:29] be there to vote. So that's one of those things. Also,

[1:00:33] another thing when it comes to council remuneration, again, everyone would make

[1:00:38] a declaration, there'd be nobody left to vote. So those are things that are in

[1:00:42] the legislation. Or they say, "Look, it's so remote. It's kind of like a

[1:00:46] butterfly flapping swings in Peru." Yeah. No.

[1:00:50] My suggestion is if you when in doubt, get out.

[1:00:56] But I digress. So, as I said, there are a variety of

[1:01:01] exceptions there. Campaigning contributions, which is what I want to

[1:01:04] get to, in of themselves don't necessarily create a conflict of

[1:01:08] interest. It's going to be looking at the uh like what is there. So if it's

[1:01:13] the $51 from that person, it's like really sorry, you could be bought for 51

[1:01:18] bucks. Really? You know, that's what I mean. So they're looking at the context.

[1:01:23] They're looking at the reception of it. So we're here to help you with that. But

[1:01:29] the horse, it's ahead of the cart. And then like I said with non-puniary, which

[1:01:33] is bias. Uh the thing is pecuniary kills if it can be proven kills the decision.

[1:01:40] That can be a problem. Um the uh biased one, yeah, can affect the decision, but

[1:01:48] if there's still enough people around, it might not be such a problem. But when

[1:01:52] it's money, it's a problem. Okay, so that's that. Now, [clears throat] what

[1:01:57] happens? So, you got yourself elected, huh?

[1:02:02] What can you what can you expect? I'd say things you took for granted. The

[1:02:07] 10-minute shopping trip, just going in to get some milk. If they know you're an

[1:02:12] elected official and they've got you cornered right by the eggs and the milk,

[1:02:15] you're not getting away. No. And I mean that's in fairness

[1:02:19] because the thing is it's the accessibility to the public. That's what

[1:02:23] people appreciate about local government is like I can see my mayor. I can see my

[1:02:28] elected officials. I'm just saying is don't be surprised if you thought, yeah,

[1:02:33] I'm going in for five minutes and you get cornered because somebody wants to

[1:02:36] know what's going on. No surprise. Okay. Or at least you've

[1:02:41] been told. Um, privacy, you still have it to some degree, but what you may find

[1:02:47] is that, you know, like what you post on your Facebook page, if you have one, who

[1:02:53] knows how that's going to play out. And they may say, well, you know, the

[1:02:56] municipality says this, when it was just a passing comment on your Facebook page.

[1:03:00] So, you may want to be circumspect about what you put on there. Uh, the ability

[1:03:05] to con um to comment freely on certain matters. Like I said, people will look

[1:03:09] and they'll say as soon as they hear you saying something that's municipally

[1:03:12] related, even if it's your own brilliant of I think we should do this. Some

[1:03:16] people will take it assume make that assumption that it's your that it's the

[1:03:21] municipality's position, not necessarily your personal

[1:03:25] position with that. Um free time. Well, yeah, there's going to be less of it

[1:03:31] because there are a number of things that will be involved, not just the

[1:03:34] meetings and that. um how you're treated.

[1:03:38] I thought you were my butt and all of a sudden no, you're not my butt or you

[1:03:42] were never my butt and now you're my butt. Really? Um it it's just one of

[1:03:48] those things that some people may you may be treated by some people

[1:03:51] differently and it's not necessarily anything you've done. You just happen to

[1:03:56] be the elected official. So I guess that's where thick skins come in. Um the

[1:04:01] ability to not know something. You may feel, "Oh, I got to know everything

[1:04:04] that's going on in municipality." No, you just have to know who to call.

[1:04:09] So, don't worry. If someone says, "Hey, what are you going to do about the

[1:04:12] pothole in front of my house?" I don't know. Let me put you in contact

[1:04:18] with the person in the or the person in the

[1:04:22] organization that deals with it because we you please don't feel you have to

[1:04:26] know everything that's going on. It's okay not to know. You just have to say,

[1:04:31] "Let me find out who I can put you in contact if you don't know." Does, you

[1:04:36] know, somebody asks you a question, what's the compulsion? Answer the

[1:04:39] question. But it's okay to say you don't know.

[1:04:43] Keeps you out of more hot water, not like uh and to be able being able to

[1:04:47] focus on one issue only. Maybe there was one thing you really campaigned on like

[1:04:51] I this needs to change. You're going to be expected to be um have concerned for

[1:04:56] more than that that one issue. All right. So, impact on family and friends.

[1:05:03] Um, you may want to have conversation with your significant other, your

[1:05:07] family, because it's going to it'll impact your family. Um, I'm certain my

[1:05:13] friend Terry won't mind. Uh, she ran for council and her and I went, she goes, "I

[1:05:18] want to go for lunch." Okay, fine. We went for lunch. She said, "Okay, what am

[1:05:22] I getting myself into?" And I said, "Well, are you going to have a

[1:05:25] conversation with Bob, her husband?" She goes, "About what?" I said, "Is he going

[1:05:28] to be comfortable being Mr. Terry James?"

[1:05:33] Because you, you know, that's the sort of thing. Is he going to be comfortable

[1:05:36] with the political pot shots that people are going to be because the, you know, I

[1:05:40] don't know about you, I protect my family and I'm going to go at you if

[1:05:44] you're going after my family. You may not be able to do so. You know, am I is

[1:05:49] he going to be able to fre, you know, can Bob freely comment on what he wants

[1:05:52] to on Facebook? She goes, "Well, he's not on Facebook." Well, there you you

[1:05:55] know, problem solved. But it's that sort of thing is that, you know, is this, you

[1:06:00] know, is your spouse being there or are they cornering your spouse? I don't like

[1:06:03] the decisions council made. What are you going to get your spouse to do

[1:06:06] differently? So, it's one of those things there. Um,

[1:06:11] you know, how involved I said, well, how many times do you want Bob to show up at

[1:06:14] the meetings or to show up at events because there are a lot of events. And

[1:06:20] she said, I don't know. I said, well, okay. You know, volunteer banquet,

[1:06:24] probably good time for Bob to be there. Christmas party probably a good time to

[1:06:28] be there. But for any of the other devs around the community, does Bob need to

[1:06:33] be there? I guess not. Well, then you need to let

[1:06:36] Bob know that. So, you know, that was the sort of

[1:06:41] conversations that they had. What's involved

[1:06:44] um with that there? And then just, you know, try as best you can to keep the

[1:06:48] political separate from your life. You're still a human being that has a

[1:06:51] life. And while this is an important part of your life, you still have your

[1:06:55] family to worry about too. So time committed, it's more than just

[1:07:01] meetings. So council meetings, they can be open and closed meeting. They could

[1:07:05] be oops, we have to have a special or an ad hoc meeting because something came

[1:07:09] up. We can't wait till the next time. Um other me so meetings outside the

[1:07:13] register schedule. The expectation is that you are to attend. If you wind up

[1:07:18] missing so I think four consecutive meetings in a row, you can be deemed to

[1:07:22] be disqualified unless the council has given you a pass on that like with a

[1:07:27] resolution saying, "Yeah, we know." Um I've seen that happen with elected

[1:07:30] officials who unfortunately become very ill and were hospitalized. So council

[1:07:34] passed a resolution saying, "No, they're not. They're hospitalized. We know they

[1:07:38] won't be in attendance. We're giving them that pass." So you need to worry

[1:07:42] about that. Committees. Um committee of the whole. That's when council meets

[1:07:46] together and basically is talking to itself going, "What do you think we

[1:07:49] should do? I don't know. What do you think we should do?" It's not a regular

[1:07:51] council meeting because you can't go off and do it, but it's kind of like your

[1:07:55] brainstorming sessions. Um, somebody's going to be acting mayor.

[1:08:00] Everybody around the table's got, you know, when are you going to fill in when

[1:08:02] the mayor can't be here? So, there's that uh there. Maybe you're filling in

[1:08:08] um Burr as a director for Metro Vancouver in case the regular person you

[1:08:14] may it's usually your mayor. Oops. If the mayor can't make it to the Metro Man

[1:08:18] meetings, you may be in there with that. So, yeah, there's a variety of other

[1:08:23] things you may be doing. So, by the way, your term of office, it's four years,

[1:08:27] just so you're not surprised. Starts November 2026 and it ends November 30,

[1:08:33] 2030. It's a four-year term. All right. So, I think we're almost kind of sorted

[1:08:38] there. Uh, responsibility is not legislation. Um,

[1:08:44] it's really requiring a skill set of being curious

[1:08:48] and asking questions and wanting to know and being willing to listen. Um, if I

[1:08:53] can offer a piece of advice, being prepared for every meeting as best you

[1:08:57] can, um, is going to make it a lot easier for you. It's going to help your

[1:09:01] comfort level um, being there. And don't worry for the

[1:09:06] first few months you're going, "Wow, this is like if you've never been

[1:09:09] before, you may be going, "Oh, crackers. I don't know what I'm doing." It's okay.

[1:09:14] Just ask for help. Back to my good friend Terry. I mean, she had been

[1:09:18] involved with so many committees and everything else. And she goes, she goes,

[1:09:21] "I" she goes, "I still," she goes, "6 months in," she goes, "Still in what I'm

[1:09:25] doing." You're doing fine, Terry. Just ask questions. So, it's that sort of

[1:09:30] thing. Staff is here to help you succeed.

[1:09:34] So take some comfort. You're you're the other members around the table are here.

[1:09:39] Like you I mean the five of you will be in a unique position that nobody else is

[1:09:44] in. They're going to be help you know

[1:09:48] hopefully you want to help each other get through it because nobody quite

[1:09:51] understands exactly what you're in like the other ones around the table.

[1:09:56] Okay. So did I have more? Apparently I have more responsibilities. Um, the idea

[1:10:02] is keep your keep your mind open. You know, you I'm not saying you can't have

[1:10:06] an opinion on something, but be willing to hear what else is there to it. Um,

[1:10:13] because that's one thing that's going to be making it a lot easier for you. Um,

[1:10:18] like I said, the CEO is responsible for delegating work to the staff in

[1:10:22] accordance with your direction and any strategic plan. So, you don't have to

[1:10:26] worry about getting in the weeds. That's the CEO's problem with that there. Um,

[1:10:32] so I guess to the irony of the election, it's kind of like if you remember

[1:10:38] Gilligans Island, you're all stuck on an island trying to make things work or the

[1:10:42] first three days of Survivor. Something a little more current at least this

[1:10:46] century is that for the first three days is like you think about it, you've

[1:10:50] competed against each other to get to these position. Now that you're elected,

[1:10:56] now you got to work together. Yep, that's pretty much how it goes. So, it's

[1:11:00] that's why I suggest that, you know, um being mindful. You may not agree with

[1:11:06] the other candidates, but be mindful. You could wound up working with them and

[1:11:11] it can be a long four years if you've been nasty.

[1:11:15] Okay. I don't know what else I got. Yeah, I got nothing else. So, are there

[1:11:19] any questions [clears throat] that you have? Um, I know threw a lot of stuff at

[1:11:24] you, but hopefully you've got a better idea. Here's the process.

[1:11:30] What are your responsibilities and what's it like being an elected official

[1:11:34] so you can make that choice for yourself? Whether this is something you

[1:11:39] want to do, but if it is something you want to do, congratulations and I

[1:11:42] encourage you wholeheartedly. >> Theoretical question.

[1:11:46] » Oh, those are always [laughter] good. >> Hypothetical, whatever it is. Okay. You

[1:11:49] know I you know we already have two people who are involved in council right

[1:11:52] now. Three other people sitting here. What if after all this we go I want to

[1:11:57] do this. Where are the other candidates? >> Who knows

[1:12:02] » what happens? So you get >> okay if you get just enough candidates

[1:12:07] then it's called an election by acclamation.

[1:12:10] » Okay. So that means oh sorry as staff I'd be doing that. Oh, right. We got a

[1:12:16] council, but I don't have to do an election. That's just my personal bias.

[1:12:20] But so, no, it's if there are as many people as there are positions, it's

[1:12:25] acclamation. You do that declaration on the 21st saying, "Yeah, here you go."

[1:12:30] » And then so you start getting going from there. If there are not enough

[1:12:34] candidates, >> which has always been a question, um, we

[1:12:38] got a couple more days to put it out there saying, "Hey, just so you know,

[1:12:42] you still got time. Hopefully, please, please, please, somebody, somebody,

[1:12:46] somebody somebody um you know, and that may be something that you look at if

[1:12:51] you're one of those people who's there's, you know, who do you know who

[1:12:56] might want to >> that talk? If that doesn't happen and

[1:13:00] you've only got so many, well, the ones who are the so many are then going to be

[1:13:04] looking at who are you going to tap on the shoulder.

[1:13:10] » Yeah. Mhm.

[1:13:13] » Isn't that something? >> Well, there you go. There you are.

[1:13:16] » Sounds interesting. >> Yeah. It's not a situation though where

[1:13:19] um candidate people who had been on council before are continuing on, but

[1:13:26] it's not like you don't well, you know how it is like in some societies. So,

[1:13:30] you're stuck in the position as secretary treasurer until the next per

[1:13:34] until we get your replacement. That's not the situation there. It's a brand

[1:13:38] new kit. So, >> okay. I'm just curious.

[1:13:40] » Yeah. There were only three there or five positions for the

[1:13:46] council. >> One mayor,

[1:13:48] » four counselors. >> Okay. And I believe last election there

[1:13:53] were only five. >> That would have been

[1:13:57] » five counselors or four voting. There weren't there weren't that many.

[1:14:01] » I can't speak to 2022. >> There was an exclamation,

[1:14:05] » right? Pretty much everybody got elected, right?

[1:14:08] » Yeah. What happened? There was a bi-election as a position became vacant.

[1:14:12] There was a bi-election in that situation. Uh there was only one person

[1:14:16] who was qualified to at the close of the uh

[1:14:22] at the close of nomination and consequently that person was

[1:14:26] acquainted. Um again that was a situation where somebody left it to the

[1:14:31] last minute and sorry >> in the 2018 election we were all

[1:14:36] claimed. >> Yeah.

[1:14:38] So really >> there you go.

[1:14:40] » Interesting. >> So yeah, it it does happen.

[1:14:44] » So it all all depends what the situation is. Um there's a fluidity um for us who

[1:14:50] do the elections at this time. This is probably the most time you sit most on

[1:14:54] pins and needles going are we going to do like are we have an election or what

[1:14:59] or what do we need to worry about? There was also one case in the past where we

[1:15:03] there were five people that submitted for council and a few of them got

[1:15:07] together and decided that one of them was going to drop out. Well, didn't

[1:15:10] think we needed an election. >> I've heard I've had that happen in

[1:15:15] bi-election. Oh, well, can't we just figure amongst ourselves who wants to la

[1:15:22] [laughter]

[1:15:25] withdraw, I need paperwork. Okay. what you guys make the decision on and how

[1:15:32] you make that decision la I don't know I just know I have paperwork

[1:15:38] so there was one question maybe you didn't touch on it but the day by which

[1:15:42] you need to withdraw to ensure you're not on the ballot

[1:15:45] » September 18th 4 p.m. It must be in writing. So an email saying I'm out.

[1:15:51] » It's the same day as the >> Yeah. And after that, but it has to go

[1:15:56] to the ministry. >> And the ministry has in the past said,

[1:15:59] "Tough noodies, your name stays on." Oh, really?

[1:16:02] » Cuz you know this person's going to sit there and pull the plug as soon as

[1:16:05] they're elected. And we're in a bi-election. Like seriously, ministry

[1:16:09] lines more than more than once. Something pulled out way too late.

[1:16:13] » Yeah. So we would be dealing to the ministry about that as soon as possible.

[1:16:18] See, but there would be a ministerial order to authorize that. But like I

[1:16:22] said, I know a couple of my friend election friends who have had that and

[1:16:26] the ministry said [clears throat] these you're on the ballot. Even if you

[1:16:31] go around saying don't vote for me, don't vote for me, you're still

[1:16:36] campaigning. So still had to keep the election paperwork going with the don't

[1:16:40] vote for me paperwork. Um rocking good times.

[1:16:46] » The campaign period starts 28 days before the election, but also it's said

[1:16:50] July 20th or >> that's the c that's the pre- campaign

[1:16:54] period >> July 20th to october 11th or no

[1:16:59] September 11th [sighs] my kids birthday.

[1:17:04] So, but bottom line is if you're campaigning, keep your receipts. Get

[1:17:09] that that get that uh account open, put the money in, pay the money, just filter

[1:17:14] it all through there. Okay, we're good. Um, is there any questions online or

[1:17:21] » Ross? >> Ross, did you want to say anything?

[1:17:26] » Just being diplomatic and letting me >> That's very kind.

[1:17:30] That's very kind. But, uh, I think you've done an excellent job covering

[1:17:34] off all the issues. >> Thank you so much, Lisa.

[1:17:39] » You're most welcome. Um, if there are any questions, these are the two you

[1:17:44] talked to. I'll have, but I'll I'll still be here after, so I guess we can

[1:17:49] stop the recording. >> Great. Thank you so much for

260831 VoLB Candidate Information Session

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