The Richmond Community Coalition unveiled parts of its platform Wednesday afternoon at the Richmond Caring Place.
Six candidates for Richmond City Council and three for the Richmond Board of Education huddled in a circle prior to their news conference and gave a rousing cheer to one another, having formed the second largest slate in Richmond, over the past six months.
Among its goals are better fiscal management and more communication between citizens and city councillors and staff.
The candidates also said they would limit their time on council to two four-year terms.
“Our pledge is a personal pledge. I think we are all willing to sign a piece of paper that will be available in some public format…so people know, here today, two terms is what is needed so we can have that refreshed, new renewal of ideas. And the only way to do that is through new people,” said council candidate Dan Baxter.
Term limits can only be self-imposed as there is no present provincial law regulating such a thing.
For more effective communication, the RCC has suggested introducing an ombudsperson to handle complaints toward the city.
“That person will be the voice, the bridge, the communications tool for members of the public so that they can have their voices heard. We don’t want people shunned away,” said council candidate and on-leave deputy fire chief Kirby Graeme.
When asked, the RCC had no details on the costs or how the role would work, other than it could be similar to provincial ombudspersons.
The RCC also called on more access to city staff and councillors. It vowed to hold town hall meetings and an annual general meeting for citizens with the whole council.
The party said it formed some of its platform based on its two town hall meetings in the summer.
Coun. Chak Au noted RCC candidates would double community grants, using casino revenues.
“Instead of putting money in reserve perhaps we can help the people in our community by giving back to those programs,” said Au.
In 2014 the city earmarked about $0.8 million of casino revenues for third-party community programs.
Last but certainly not least is a rather ambiguous pledge to reduce taxes.
As it stands, the city is scheduled to increase property taxes by three per cent for each of the next five years. Compounded annually that’s a 16 per cent hike by 2019.
“The hike should not automatically be three per cent per year,” said Coun. Ken Johnston.
He said the RCC couldn’t make any promises but noted the RCC would perform a “spending review” to find efficiencies.
One of RCC’s campaign slogans more definitively states the tax hikes “will” remain “unless” RCC is elected.
When pressed to divulge details, no one could say in what department they think they could save money.
Baxter, a former Gateway policy planner for the federal Conservatives, said fiscal reviews are important and need to be done to ensure tax dollars are spent wisely.
Notably, this year, the City of Richmond received the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting for the fourth year in a row.
But while the city posts broad operating and capital budgets online, it still doesn’t go into specific details.
Baxter said the first 100 days would be needed to set the terms of reference. As such he couldn’t commit to any extraordinary measures such as a forensic audit.
Meanwhile, Sal Bhullar, an owner of farmland in east Richmond, cited the importance of the Agricultural Land Reserve.
Trustee candidate Jonathan Ho, a banker, said he wants more students graduating with financial life skills.
Trustee candidate Matt Pitcairn, policy and communications manager at the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, said he wants to strengthen communication and collaboration between teachers, the district and community groups.
“We want enhanced relationships with new immigrants in the community,” added Pitcairn.
Trustee candidate Moushtak Estepho said he wants to embrace diversity and “explore” more language immersion programs in order to better prepare children for globalized world.
He also wants to “ensure needs of children at all ends of the learning spectrum are being effectively met.”
