Council votes to scCouncil votes to scrap board of control rap board of control

London Free Press Tue, March 10, 2009

16-to-12 vote

By Jonathan Sher, Sun Media

London's board of control is heading the way of the dodo bird after city hall politicians today recommended scrapping it. Twelve of 16 council members at today's meeting voted to get rid of the board, and while the outcome was never in doubt, the debate was explosive, with some accusing others of abuse, boundary-manipulation and political threats. Coun. Steve Orser, who voted to abolish the board, said that people outside of council had warned him to change his vote or face a challenge in the next election from a sitting controller - he didn't say who. "I will not be bought, bribed or buffaloed," Orser said. Today's vote won't be the last but it might as will be so as members of council all appear firmly in one camp or the other. "I can see the handwriting on the wall," said Controller Bud Polhill, who voted to preserve the board. The recommendation will be considered at a pubic meeting in April or May before council enacts the changes soon after so it will be in force for the next civic election in November 2010. The meeting began today with Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best urging council members to act with civility, saying, "I don't want to be striking my gavel every few minutes." But her caution failed to suppress fierce emotions. "The problem with the Board of Control has always been the disrespect (controllers) have shown the rest of council," Coun said Harold Usher, adding that their had been abusive conduct. DeCicco-Best challenged his accusation, warning such words would irrevocably divide council with nearly two years left in its term. But Usher continued, saying of the abuse, "I can prove it." Coun. Chery Miller attacked on a second front, accusing unnamed politicians of rigging changes to the city's 14-ward map to help some politicians and hurt others - the ward changes are among 39 recommendations to council by a task force. "You've take Glen Cairn and split it in half," Miller said. Her claim was disputed by others, including the chair of the task force, Coun. Paul Hubert. It was the city's clerk who made changes, not politicians, he said. "To my knowledge there is no involvement by council," Hubert said. Today's vote was the culmination of a six-year effort to scrap the board to be replaced with a model recommended by the task force: - Shift the oversight of key issues, such as the city budget, property, personnel and legal matters to full council meeting as a committee of the whole. - Lighten the workload of ward councillors, who would face new responsibilities, by shifting some work elsewhere. - Create three committees for councillors to first consider matters that don't go to the committee of the whole, with jurisdictional lines among the committees clearer than what now exists. Some of those pushing for change were especially passionate. "It is time to push this dinosaur into the tar pit where it belongs," Orser said. Controller Gord Hume disagreed, saying the proposed system would be worse than what it replaced. "The system that is being proposed is going to be slower, more cumbersome and complex," he said In 2003, Londoners voted to scrap the board, eliminating four controllers and leaving the mayor as the only council member elected citywide. But council ignored the vote because fewer than half of eligible voters had cast ballots. A citizens' group challenged that inaction and the Ontario Municipal Board later doubled the numbers of electoral wards and halved the number of councillors in each. The task force recommended other changes that its members say would make for a more transparent council: - All votes would be recorded electronically. Many votes are now done by a show of hands, so there's no record of how council members voted. - Rebuild council chambers so council members face the public gallery rather than sitting with their backs to them. - Introduce a rebate program that would allow individual donors to civic campaigns to get some of their money back. Corporations and unions wouldn't qualify.

HOW THEY VOTED Do you recommend eliminating the board of control?

Yes: (12) Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best, controller Gina Barber and councillors Bill Armstrong, David Winninger, Harold Usher, Steve Orser, Walter Lonc, Susan Eagle, Joni Baechler, Nancy Branscombe, Judy Bryant and Paul Hubert.

No: (4) Controllers Bud Polhill and Gord Hume and councillors Cheryl Miller and Roger Caranci

Absent: (3) Controller Tom Gosnell and councillors Paul Van Meerbergen and Bernie MacDonald