CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown said the implementation of the Municipal Government Act was the biggest thing to happen to the city in 2018.
Not that Brown has a lot of perspective in the big chair. He was only sworn in as mayor in early December, but he reasons that the MGA sets the tone for the city going forward.
“The new procedural bylaw is our framework on how we govern ourselves as mayor and council, so it’s very important that we all understand it,’’ Brown said.
Among other things, the MGA requires city council to set up a council advisory committee tasked with selecting the different standing committees and their terms of reference. It’s also charged with selecting who will chair and serve on those committees. In the end, the final decision on the makeup of all of that lies with council itself.
Brown doesn’t have a problem with any of that, but he did bristle when the old council suddenly thrust the responsibility of doing all of that on his council.
“I didn’t like how it all unfolded right near the end of the old council’s terms but, you know, it’s time to move on. This council advisory committee is going to provide accountability, co-operation, collaboration, consensus (and) everything about making people work together.’’
Prior to the MGA, it was the mayor’s sole responsibility for selecting his or her council chairs, much the same way the premier selects his or her cabinet. Now, the only thing the mayor gets to do alone is select the deputy mayor, and Brown chose Jason Coady.
The advisory committee will have a list for council to mull over on Monday, and it’s Brown’s hope that the standing committees chairs will at least have something to report at the January public meeting.
Once that happens, Brown wants to get to work on four big priorities – facilitating affordable and accessible housing, creating a new capital area development agency, integrating the waste water system to include Stratford and Cornwall and working with other levels of government to get rid of the two-tiered employment insurance system on P.E.I.
“We have to make it quite clear — the mayor and council of Charlottetown, we are not into building social housing, that’s a provincial and a federal mandate. Our responsibility is to facilitate and to grease the wheels to keep this moving forward. That’s what we have to do.’’
Brown said council’s role would be to provide property tax incentives, variances for parking, height requirements and setbacks for buildings and to look at permit fees.
Brown has already met with Premier Wade MacLauchlan to pass along his priorities.
The mayor added a new capital development agency could facilitate the construction of affordable housing.
“(And) it can be an assistance to the province in getting new immigrants more involved in our local economic activity. They’ll create work and most likely stay here longer than getting their permanent residency and their citizenship and moving on. Let’s try to keep them here.’’
Brown said there’s a lot to do, underlining the importance of getting the standing committees in place so the work can begin.
Also new under the MGA is the fact that the mayor will now have a vote on every single committee.
“I intend to get to as many committee meetings as possible to be a part of keeping things moving.’’
At a glance
A sample of some of the municipal news in Charlottetown in 2018 (click each to see a related story):
January:
- Council axes $50 fee for residents who want lawns inspected for infestations
- Mayor Clifford Lee says residents could be in line for a tax break in 2018
March:
April:
September:
October:
- Coun. Greg Rivard unchallenged in Ward 7 and ends up being acclaimed
- Cecil Villard and Philip Brown get into a heated exchange in mayor’s debate over future of CAO Peter Kelly
- Five people come forward to run for Ward 1 seat
November:
- Mayor Clifford Lee chairs his final council meeting. He had served as mayor since 2003
- Finance chairwoman Melissa Hilton announces city has $11.3 million capital surplus
December
