Translink has left a bad taste in the mouth of Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts
I have a feeling that the departure of Dianne Watts from serving as chair of the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation is the first step towards major reorganization of Translink that will come over the next year.
By the way, look for Watts’ replacement to be Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini.
But getting back to the issue at hand, Watts’ departure is something that is completely understandable in light of the fact that in typical municipal fashion, the local leaders are forced to bend into uncomfortable positions based on provincial negligence, indifference, or both.
Remember how Translink held the Mayors for ransom back in October? That was a decision that I believe deeply scarred Watts’ sense of autonomy, where the province told her and her colleagues that access to alternative revenue sources were out of the question – forcing their hand to raise it on the backs of property owners, as per usual.
The province’s forthcoming changes based on the Comptroller General report that was released in November indicate a tone that will not be favourable to the continued participation of the Mayors in the TRanslink sphere.
On one hand, the report claims that:
“Inaction by TransLink and the Mayors‟ Council to maintain a balance between expenses and revenues has brought TransLink to a point at which substantial operating deficits in 2010 and beyond will be difficult to avoid (a structural deficit).”
Yet on the other hand, they recognize that the power was taken away from the local leaders and put into the hands of an unelected and unaccountable appointed board:
“The Mayors‟ Council has experienced challenges with its more limited role as the Mayors‟ Council and determining how it can best add value to TransLink‟s operations.”
The report goes even further, however, by acknowledging that:
“Following the 2007 governance report, the Act was changed to create the Mayors‟ Council and while it assigned some responsibilities to them. We noted that there is no dedicated section in the legislation which clearly sets out all of the current Mayors‟ Council roles and responsibilities. It is unclear to the Mayors‟ Council what level of consultation and information it is entitled to under the Act.”
The province has in essence handcuffed the Mayors into irrelevance, yet at the same time placed the lion’s share of financial burden on their shoulders.
Here is the key statement that can be taken from this report and its implications for the future:
“The lack of shared priorities and agreed objectives continues to exist amongst the mayors, the Board and the Province. This is most evident in the lack of action to resolve the pending structural deficit”
Clarification on a number of fronts is needed from the province, and as long as the Mayors continue to feel as though they are little more than pawns without any kind of true decision-making power, dysfunction and a lack of engagement will continue to dominate a group of individauls that still need to go back into their communities and get reelected.
An objective that isn’t exactly helped along by increasing taxes without many improvements for those fitting the bills.
