Sep 24, 2021
Oversight for municipal police is provided through local police commissions—independent boards governed by their own legislation. City council sets their budget and appoints their members, but otherwise can’t interfere. I can’t tell them what to do. But I can make suggestions.
I propose that we begin paying police commission community members $10,000/year as an honorarium. This is a serious job and should be compensated likewise. The seven-member board is made up of five community members and two councillors. They oversee a $20 million budget. They control the single largest budget line item for the City of Medicine Hat. They oversee security for our city. Security is perhaps the fundamental reason why people live together. The police commission needs to understand how powerful they are.
Paying commission members would hold them more accountable. It’s hard to hold volunteers accountable. It has become increasingly difficult for the city to recruit candidates for any city board. Most organizations are struggling to find volunteers. People are busy and volunteering is becoming harder. Paying members would be an experiment to attract stronger commission members.
Medicine Hat Public Library, Municipal Planning Commission
The Medicine Hat Public Library is another board that would benefit from a similar program. It is another independent board governed by its own legislation that oversees city funds (roughly $2 million/year). Paying library board members an honorarium of $2,500/year would also attract stronger board members.
The Municipal Planning Commission is another candidate for this idea. MPC often does not meet quorum. This delays development permits by weeks and has caused ongoing frustration with contractors.
Improving council’s appointment process
Currently, applications for all city boards are vetted by the Admin and Legislative Review Committee. This usually involves a brief discussion by the committee, who recommends a number of candidates. Usually we spend barely five minutes vetting candidates that will oversee millions of dollars. Council then subsequently votes from the total list, while keeping in mind the recommended candidates. I think there is room for improvement to communicate our selection process, but I’m not sure of the mechanism yet.
City council needs help. We can’t do it all. We need to strengthen other groups of community leaders to tackle challenges with. We need to maxmize the value out of the police and the library. Paying board members would create stronger boards that control hugely important city organizations. But it also has a secondary benefit. Serving on these boards can be used as an important development opportunity for developing good leaders.
We don’t want politicians for life, but politics does require a particular type of skill development:
familiarity with governance and policy
learning the difference between governance and operations
dealing with the pressure of a high profile job
talking to residents about service levels
Consistently creating strong, experienced candidates for city council requires that we create development opportunities for residents interested in leadership.
Path forward
I checked with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association about this idea. Paying honorariums for municipal boards is currently not common practice in Alberta. It’s not typical, but neither are honorariums prohibited. I plan to meet with these board chairs to advocate for this idea.