By Jon Farmer
I’m grateful that my recent pieces generated so much engagement including a response from Councilor Tamming, whose question at council inspired my previous article. I take the councilor at his word when he invites a further response. In particular I want to clarify his misinterpretation of my housing suggestion and highlight what I believe is the root of the difference in our perspectives.
Firstly, Councilor Tamming wrote that I requested council develop an affordable housing plan. This is not true. I asked that they follow Kincardine’s lead in creating a housing action plan. The difference being, an affordable housing plan focuses only on that. A housing action plan would examine the full housing ecosystem in Owen Sound, assessing community needs, and examining what role the city can play in addressing those needs through local policy, public and private sector engagement, and advocacy with other levels of government. This kind of planning would ensure that the city is prepared for future opportunities and can use resources efficiently and strategically to meet local needs.
In his response to my piece on climate action, Councilor Tamming wrote that he had asked me for specific policy suggestions as well as their cost and the corresponding amount I thought property taxes should rise to cover them. He explained that he likes “specifics because we don’t have 2 or 3 unemployed researchers sitting around waiting to do these kinds of staff studies. And we certainly don’t have $100,000 or more for yet another consultant.”His request, and response, highlighted for me that the differences in our opinions on these specific topics is rooted in our differing beliefs about the roles and responsibilities of our community and the municipal government that represents it.
From my perspective, everyone in Owen Sound has a role to play in making this the best city it can be. We all have a role but all of our roles are not the same. Voters are responsible for communicating their values and needs: with their votes during elections and anytime through participation with community groups, and by providing feedback to city staff and council through City surveys and public meetings. City councilors have the responsibility to develop a vision informed by the diverse values of voters and to pursue that vision, conscious of the challenges we’re facing and the resources available to meet those challenges. Ideally, council does this by listening to the local community, learning about the issues, and asking staff to explore solutions or directing them to take action as appropriate. Staff have the responsibility to bring council the most comprehensive information and recommendations they can and to carry out the directions they recieve.
We all have a vested interest in our city council making the best decisions possible. Good decisions will consider our needs, current and future challenges, and available resources. In practice, council decisions are shaped by the values, vision, and the knowledge of each individual councilor. However, long term issues like climate change and housing will persist well beyond council terms. There is room to improve how we make decisions that will impact our future. One way to improve the consistency of council decision making is by creating a triple bottom line assessment framework that formally assesses social, ecological, and financial considerations.
There is precedent for applying specific lenses to decision making. Owen Sound’s Corporate Climate Change Adaptation Plan includes the objective to “integrate a climate change adaptation lens into the City’s strategies, plans, and policies”. Council could direct staff to develop a triple bottom line framework and integrate it into all recommendations and reports. It would embed a longer term and more comprehensive analysis into all city decisions with the added benefit of raising awareness among staff, council, and anyone following city processes.
While pressing me for costed policy suggestions, Councilor Tamming suggested that Owen Sound doesn’t have the staff or financial resources to do the research on current issues. Based on the ongoing work of staff and regular announcements of consultant reports, this is false.
Staff are more than capable of researching and making recommendations on complex issues. However, it is up to council to ask for this research. Staff can only provide answers if council asks the question. In turn, council will only ask questions that support or are relevant to their vision. If council has blindspots or their vision is limited, then directions to staff will be limited as well.
I agree with Councilor Tamming when he says it is fair to ask the cost of policies and projects but it should not be the first or only question. I also disagree that asking this of individual citizens is appropriate. By doing so, he has set a bar that is impossible for individuals to meet. When we fail to produce the costed policy, he is then free to dismiss us for not providing specifics. This also allows him to publicly suggest, as he did in the previous letter, that he is asking for ideas but local advocates can’t provide them.
Councilor Tamming’s questions also focused specifically on the cost of ideas, how much taxes should rise to cover them, and what other programs should be cut if taxes can’t rise. Focusing only on the immediate budget and tax rate ensures that the scope of decision making is limited to the short term. Many of the issues facing Owen Sound are complex challenges that require long term thinking. As well as asking what the cost of immediate action is for tax payers today, council needs to ask what the cost of delaying action will be for tax payers in the next year, next decade, and next generation. By asking an impossible question and fixating on only immediate costs, Councilor Tamming can appear to encourage engagement while avoiding more difficult and deeper consideration of both the issues being raised and the values at the root of public feedback.
The corporation of Owen Sound has limited financial and human resources to assign but there are community resources to mobilize as well.Owen Sound is home to many passionate and informed people who want to support the city in making the best decisions possible. To name only a few, there are grassroots organizations like the local climate action networks, field naturalists and Owen Sound Waste Watchers, non-profit partners like the United Way, Poverty Task Force, and the drug and alcohol strategy, social service clubs like the Order of Good Cheer and Kiwanis, minor sports organizations, faith communities, as well as individual volunteers who are working to support our community in many ways. Those folks and others want to participate in developing solutions but they need opportunities for engagement and to be both heard and considered when they reach out. When council becomes defensive or dismissive of public feedback, they turn away people who want to be part of the wider community effort.
Several councilors, including Councilor Tamming, have publicly expressed their hunger for new ideas to address the city’s challenges. As the adage goes, we could feed them an idea for the moment or teach them how to fish for ideas and creative solutions of their own going forward. I try to do both. Councilor Tamming mentioned our email exchange following my housing action plan question at Council. He is correct in saying I didn’t provide him with a costed policy. It is not accurate to say I only shared policies from other areas. I also directed him to resources that could deepen his knowledge and thinking on the issue, including an online course called “Creating Housing Opportunities in a Strong Town” that explores the root causes of distorted housing markets and how local city policy can assess and respond to local contributing factors.
In order to get the best possible decisions for our city, we need councilors to be doing their own research and for their learning to include engagement with local stakeholders, experts, and advocats. It is worth asking whether we have sufficient avenues for this type of public engagement since the 2015 decision to consolidate the number of city committees from 11 to 6. It could be helpful to strike ad hoc committees or task forces to address specific issues outside of the more general committees. In fact, councilors could be exploring any number of structures or arrangements with the goal of increasing council and staff engagement with the community members who are passionate about these issues.
As I’ve written previously, we can’t expect councilors to know everything about everything but we can absolutely expect them to seek out information and best practices related to the challenges facing our city. This is hard work. It is difficult to do thorough research, engage the public, and ask the nuanced questions that will lead to good decision making. Citizens can support city councilors but at the end of the day it is councilors’ job and it is fair that we ask them to do it.
Jon Farmer lives in Owen Sound
