As we all know, people running for election often talk in general terms. This makes sense; you can’t address every detail, and if you focus in too tightly you are likely to leave something out that you didn’t want to. Or you might be worried that something you don’t know about will prevent you from fulfilling a promise.
However, general statements are not helpful when it comes to holding people to account for taking the actions they say they will take. Apart from rarely being measurable, a big problem is that vague promises can be understood and interpreted in very different ways, and people can use exactly the same language to describe fundamentally different approaches to issues. So:
What concrete actions are the candidates for Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District Trustees committing to? We’ve gone through the Q+A published in the Sounder and the transcripts of the All Candidates Meeting (see earlier posts) and made a list of specific actions that have been mentioned by the candidates. The names of people who have committed to action are appended to each item on the list. Not everyone used the same language to describe what they plan to do, so some list items are paraphrased, but we have included names where we think their intent was clear.
The only items we have put on the list are publicly recorded commitments to concrete, specific and measurable actions. By measurable, we mean that the candidates have committed to actions that can easily be evaluated by asking the question, “Was it done?” and getting a yes/no answer.
- A commitment to transparency is not measurable because it does not reference actions.
- A commitment to put documents online so the public can access information is measurable, because the documents are either online or they are not.
- A commitment to investigate something, e.g. how to be more transparent, is not a measurable action unless the stated outcomes include actionable items such as the production of a report with recommendations.
Note that this list reflects a personal commitment to act. Although success can be measured by "was it done," any of the list items may or may not happen in practice if that candidate is elected. One person cannot force a board as a whole to take action; a commitment to make something happen may be made in good faith, but it may still not happen if that action is blocked by the majority.
To be very clear: if a person is not named, it does not mean that candidate will not do anything; it means that they have not said, in concrete terms with a measurable outcome, what they will do.
We recognize that our survey of the Q+As may have missed statement that candidates made elsewhere. If you are a candidate and are committed to pursuing an action on this list, or an action not listed, please use the Contact form to let us know, and we will update this post.
The list
- Creation of Mission, Vision, and Values statements to anchor organizational culture. (Chorneyko)
- Proactively publish policies and other information in a way that makes them easily accessible to the board and the public, e.g. put material on the website. (Bowers, Bussler, Chorneyko, Mercier)
- Adopt and follow Office of Ombudsperson’s Best Practices for Open Meetings (Chorneyko, Mercier)
- Adopt recommendations in the Brownlee report that focus on administration (Mercier)
- Standardize expectations for agendas, minutes and reports (Mercier)
- Clarify and document all relevant legal definitions (Jackson)
- Publish a list of recommendations from the Governance and Brownlee reports, with their status (Bussler)
- Ensure that Trustees follow policies (Bussler)
- Set term limits for trustees (Chorneyko)
- Update the Long Range Plan when ownership of the land is settled. (Bowers, Mercier)
- The Long Range Plan must include specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based goals and show how goals relate to costs. (Bussler)
- Long range plan - engage community on organizational structure - GFPID vs RDN (Chorneyko)
- Long range plan - create an appropriate risk assessment that is focussed on informing fire regulations. (Chorneyko)
- Long range plan - commit to dealing with fuel load on the island (Chorneyko)
- Long range plan - create perpetual vehicle replacement strategy (Chorneyko)
- Long range plan - create a long term water supply strategy in order to inform ten year plans. (Chorneyko)
- Long range plan – nix the ladder truck (Chorneyko)
- Ensure that all contracts relating to land or works, including joint works agreements and right of way agreements, be formalized through the enactment of a bylaw (Mercier)
- Invite participation and knowledge-sharing from Snuneymuxw First Nation (Bussler, Mercier)
- Implemenation of advance polling (Bowers, Bussler, Chorneyko, Jackson, Mercier)
- Clarify chain of organizational structure/reporting structure/chain of command (Bussler, Chorneyko, Mercier)
- Update operational guidelines (Bussler)
- Implement exit interviews when firefighters leave, as recommended by Governance review and Brownlee report (Bussler)
- With regard to the impact of provincial legislation or similar, actively lobby appropriate entities to bring about needed changes. (Jackson)
- Assess real costs of EMR agreement (Mercier)
Click here to view or download this list set up as a chart, if you prefer that kind of visualization.