Improving elections
The election of Fire board Trustees should happen the in a similar fashion as those elections held for our Regional District, Islands Trust and School Board representatives.
These seven Fire Board Trustee positions are, as stated by Trustee Albert Reed, seven out of the ten Gabriolans elected to make decisions which directly effect our tax dollars. Should we ever elect a Gabriolan to be on the school board, the Fire Trustees would still be seven out of eleven positions.
An important note: the Board has always conducted the elections in a proper and legal fashion, as required of an Improvement District under the current provincial requirements.
Each Board member stands for a three year term. Those terms are staggered so each year there is an election of a couple of new trustees. This is done at the annual general meeting (usually held in April)
During the meeting, those in attendance are given a slip of paper on which to write the names of the person(s) they are voting for. Those wishing to stand for election are named and nominated just prior to the vote. The slips are then counted by volunteers from the public.
The only way to currently vote for this local government is to be in attendance during the AGM, during the twenty minutes in which nominations and voting takes place. For the other local governments, candidates must declare their intentions a month ahead of the election. Then there are three different voting days, each eight hours long, in which the public may go in to cast votes.
If we could at least extend the Fire Board election to include an entire eight-hour voting day, it might mean more members of the public would vote. If we were told ahead of time who the candidates were, perhaps we’d see a campaign, or at least get to know who wants to be on the Fire Board before election night.
Every Fire Board election up till now has been legal. Just because a process is legal doesn’t mean it is the best practice.
If the Fire Board is to be seen, treated and respected like any other local government, we should be voting it in like the rest of our local governments.