White Rock council is taking steps to address what members describe as “abusive” and “disrespectful” behaviour from residents towards staff and elected officials.
At Monday’s governance and legislation committee meeting, several changes to the Council and Committee Procedure Bylaw – as well as council’s correspondence policy – were proposed.
Among those changes is the addition under ‘conduct and debate’ addressing decorum during meetings, noting “members of the public are not permitted to interrupt the meeting in any way, including outbursts, shouting out questions/comments, booing and heckling.”
The bylaw goes on to detail procedure to be followed if unwelcome behaviour persists.
Coun. Lynne Sinclair said she is glad to see decorum addressed, noting she was becoming “increasingly concerned at the interruptions at meetings and public hearings.”
“It’s one thing to have disagreements, but it’s another thing to treat people with disrespect,” Sinclair said. “I think we really need to rein in this behaviour.”
Coun. Helen Fathers acknowledged there have been “difficult times” in council chambers, but she was also critical of past comments by Mayor Wayne Baldwin.
Fathers said the issue of decorum “also should be applied to the chair” of a meeting.
“I don’t like the fact that the mayor in the past has made those ‘I’m the boss’ comments,” she said. “I think it really starts from the top, and I think it’s time for us to decide if we want to be part of the problem, or part of the solution.”
Baldwin said Fathers’ comments are “ludicrous.”
“That was two years ago at a public hearing, I had to maintain control and someone called out ‘who’s the boss here?’ and I said I was, because I was chairing the meeting,” Baldwin said. “I cannot describe my dismay at (Fathers’) comments.”
Additional proposed changes to the procedure bylaw include: limiting delegates to appearing once per year on a specific topic; starting meetings earlier than 7 p.m. if needed; and limiting speakers at meetings to two turns, unless they are presenting “entirely new information that had not been noted previously by them or others.”
The committee also outlined proposed changes regarding correspondence received by the city, which, according to city manager Dan Bottrill, would “provide some flexibility to staff with regards to response time.”
Bottrill held up two large binders, which he said were full of double-sided pages of emails from one resident in one year.
Council responded that they wanted to address not only the volume of emails, but the content.
“I’ve read enough of them to know that some of them, coming from a certain segment of the population, are abusive,” Sinclair said. “And we have a duty as council to prevent that as much as possible.”
Coun. Grant Meyer said the volume of emails is “shocking” and described correspondence he had received as “venomous.”
“I heard rumors out there that there are a handful of people who were saying ‘let’s just waste staff time and the city’s time and bog them down with needless emails and FOIs,” he said. "And that's a shame that people would stoop to that level."
Baldwin said “downright mean” emails had become a problem over the past year.
“I’m pretty sure that does not stem from the urban myth that I said ‘I’m the boss’,” Baldwin said, prior to tabling a motion to add to the policy that derogatory and accusatory correspondence would not elicit a response from staff.
Coun. David Chesney – the lone vote against endorsing a limit on delegates – said council needs to make an “extra effort” when it comes to engaging citizens.
“Members of the public seem to think that we’ve adopted a ‘let them eat cake’ attitude and that we operate out of an ivory tower,” Chesney said. “And I think all of us on council have some work to do to send a clear message to the community that we are here to listen to them, as long as they conduct themselves in a professional manner.”
The proposed bylaw changes are to be forwarded to council.