[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