BANFF – Selection for a council seat on the steering committee for the long-awaited review and update of Banff’s community plan more or less came down to a popularity contest.
With two council seats available on the 10-member steering committee that will ultimately help shape policy and guide future decisions, Mayor Corrie DiManno and Coun. Grant Canning were voted onto the committee by their colleagues by way of a secret ballot.
This is the current policy when there is more council interest than positions available for a committee, but councillors Ted Christensen and Hugh Pettigrew tried to convince their council colleagues a random draw would be a fairer way to go.
“This is based on the premise that everyone is going to be interested and that everyone is equally capable and enthusiastic about being a member of the steering committee,” said Christensen during the Nov 28 council meeting.
“This is also based on the premise of eliminating any public consideration that there has been any other discussions behind the scene at council so that the public can see their representatives chosen in the least biased way.”
DiManno said she appreciates the method and rationale proposed by Christensen, but wanted to stick with the current policy.
“We’ve used it before when we’ve had multiple members wanting on a committee, we’ve used it before to pick the mayor when our other mayor became a senator, so it’s a method that has worked well for us in the past,” she said.
“It’s the most democratic system we have currently, and perhaps when we review this policy in general, we can talk about other methods."
Six of the seven elected officials self-nominated for the steering committee. Only Coun. Kaylee Ram did not put her name forward, saying she was very passionate about the community plan but simply did not have the bandwidth to take on another role at this time.
Earlier in the meeting, Pettigrew failed to get support from his council colleagues to increase the number of council representatives on the committee from two to three.
“There is a lot of interest from council and to spread out the diversity that we may have at the table, I think it would probably be a good step. I think it would probably eliminate a lot of angst,” he said.
Canning said he too considered this idea ahead of the meeting, but in the end couldn’t support it based on the belief there might be too much council influence.
“I don’t think there’s a right answer as much as I think there’s a comfort level. I think we’re better off keeping it at two for fear of influencing the steering committee just a little bit too much,” he said.
The community plan, which is a statutory document known as a municipal development plan in other Alberta municipalities, will be a social, economic and environmental blueprint for Banff over the next 10 years.
The plan will set strategic direction in matters relating to social planning, environment and sustainability, mobility and transportation, land use, urban design, culture and heritage, housing and affordability, economic prosperity, tourism, and recreation, trails, and open spaces.
Appointed as public members by council to the steering committee were Banff’s first mayor and former councillor Leslie Taylor, prominent businessman and former councillor Stavros Karlos, physician Vamini Selvanandan and long-time resident and two-time council hopeful Allan Buckingham.
The committee’s membership structure was increased from three to four public members in light of the high interest with 27 applications from residents. To keep the voting membership at 10, two positions from the planning and development department were reduced into one interchangeable representative.
Randall McKay, manager of strategic initiatives and special projects for the Town of Banff, said going from three to four public members would better reflect the diversity of the community and significant interest in the review and update of the community plan.
“Administration received an overwhelming number of applications from qualified and passionate residents,” he said.
Wanda Bogdane, executive director of the Banff and Lake Louise Hospitality Association, will represent the business and tourism sector, and Jess Harding of the Bow Valley Naturalists will represent environmental organizations.
Sheila Luey has been appointed as Parks Canada’s representative and Kendra Van Dyk will serve as her alternate.
