Warning

[toe]

I am resigned to the fact that people such as yourself would never agree with even one of my ideas. And because you have much company; that I seriously doubt I could ever get on any council locally. However if there were 1000 or more potential voters I trust I could give a very good account of myself; and might well be an asset if so chosen in an election.

. FYI I have been a councillor in the past and could point to some enduring accomplishments which I would still proudly take credit for.

There would be a chance to sneak in by acclamation; but council would actively search until some one was arm twisted in having an election. That scenario actually did happen. One party deliberately withdrew the nomination papers; the then acclaimed candidate would not sign his "oath of office". The story and twist circuated by council was that "Council had sure lost a good man; because he feared someone would take the matter to court".

Now you know the rest of the story; but probably missed the obvious "Moral and legal" point being made.
And don't forget that a solitary councillor should have no more impact on a council motion than a "cynic and disengaged ratepayer" without majority support from the other council members.
And that brings up an interesting couple of comments made about "the reeve be able to do whatever he chose to do" and another comment about "an automatic no vote on any matter that a certain businessman might approach council with). More comments later.
Cm'on. Lets get this out in the open."

[toe]

Some may involve themselves in solving problems as long as they are secure and unnoticed more than 100 miles from home. Its a lot more dicey keeping your friends and relatives happy and still do the right thing locally.

Must everyone keep their heads in the sand?

[$short]

Sounds like a crappy RM in which you live.
Run for council and encourage others who see things the way you do to run as well.
I have not seen evidence of problems in our RM.

[carebear300]

In my humble opinion this does have a place on the commodity marketing discussion sight. If we don't maintain adequate rural infrastructure we aren't able to market our production in a timely and orderly manner. I too was on council for ten years and was a part of council when the decision was made to dispense with rate payer meetings due to low attendance(against my wishes) and one of the reasons I finally just quit in disgust. I was never scared to stand up and explain why certain things were done in a certain matter. I also more than once admitted that I had been a part of a less than ideal solution. I wish I had the answer about getting more and better civic minded individuals involved but I haven't been able to figure that one out. Back in those old days we were on council for the betterment of our area not for our own benefit, but as we see nowadays it appears too often personal gain seems to be a major motivation. Courage to become involved and to take the extra responsibility is not easily found in individuals today. We all live very busy lives of our own it seems.

[farmaholic]

Yea I know this is supposed be a commodity marketing thread but it isn't the only thread that gets started unrelated to commodity marketing. There are only a couple of things that irk me in my RM. One is the basic abandonment of (back)roads that at one time were maintained on a somewhat regular basis. You can barely drive a high clearance sprayer down them without getting thrown from the seat or drive a combine down them without the flex header or pickup just about snapping off. All a result of water accumulating on the road because the shoulders are higher than the middle and regular traffic punching the holes bigger and bigger. A light dusting of gravel would also help. The sad part is this RM is in (very)good financial shape because of a wee bit of oil activity, major pipelines running through it and some decent farmland in it. I wish they would service the roads instead of having a wad of cash in the bank without any debt of significance. They used to look after them better than they do now and the machinery is even right up to date. What it boils down to is policy--not any councilor in particular. Otherwise there really isn't much to complain about.

[grrrr]

toe: If you have a councillor who is not acting legally or morally, maybe you should contact the SARM head office in Regina and let them know.

[toe]

The legal department of SARM will quite abruptly tell you that they are engaged by SARM and its RM members; and have no desire to discuss any legal matters with any ratepayer. They bill RM's for their legal advice; and I could relate how their shallow advice was taken to Court of Queen's Bench Chambers last year; and in the end the judge promptly ruled exactly as it reads in the Municipal Act and the Local Government Elections Act. That decision cost ratepayers $2901 out of pocket, plus the full tariff allowed in the judgement; plus the RM legal costs in court; plus SARM legal advice etc.

Nope I don't think SARM will hear from me. Municipal Affairs advisors can't help, I talked to Brad Walls staff; the auditor may look at the books; and a couple of other avenues of redress were pursued.
All parties won't touch RM's with a 100 foot pole. There are but a few ratepayers with a backbone, and it has nothing to do with balls.

[sumdumguy]

All council meetings should be open with all
correspondence open and available for
ratepayers. You should try to run an on- farm
cleaning plant with one jealous vengeful
councillor next door. He never let up until the
other councillors got on his case. A lot of
damage was done. The government even turned
our road into heavy haul and assumed the cost
so all farmers had a great road.
It still bugged his ars.

[stonepicker]

With all due respect toe, it sounds like you have a big
personal axe too grind. Almost all rural councillors are
completely untrained in municipal politics,they're only
human, there will be favoritism at times, all
municipality's have that to a certain extent. It's a
thankless job which very few people want. Give
someone alittle bit of power and the majority of them
seem to change somewhat. Life;s a journey so enjoy
the ride and don't sweat the small stuff.

[Jfreedom]

Toe as a current councillor I have heard many a
coffee shop rumor that is so far out it's hard to
believe that grown men would repeat. If you feel
(and it sounds like you do have evidence) you
have a valid case of conflict of interest then
make that complaint in writing to ministry of
municipal affairs. They then put it to a judge
within I think 2 days (it's in the act) to examine
the minuites and make a decision .I totally
understand your frustration it's why I ran for
council in the first place . Good luck most of us
do the job for the good of the community but I
have run into my fair share of professional meals
and milage guys in my day . Nothing shakes up
the old boys club like an election or two even if
you lose the message that someone is watching
is sent .

[toe]

And with all the repect you deserve may I repeat back to you in words you may understand
-one or even two inexperienced, untrained newcomers to a council should have little effect on a council because one would hope that the other 5 no longer fit in those categories. A council and each council member only gains their authority to act when the majority of council members pass a resolution giving such authority. The Municipalities Act is a literal "Bible" as far as spelling out the duties and obligations of council members in carrying out their duty to represent all of the electorate.
No one should get deliberate free tries at operating outside the Municipal Act; and any slack you give on that matter is not warranted or valid.
There is training available; and no reason why any prospective councillor should not read the Municipal Act and the Local Government Act before submitting nomination papers. It would also do no harm to attend some council meetings at nearby Municipalities for a little practical training. If you are saying someone can not understand these Acts; and has a tendency to show favoritism; then I assure you that those persons are not yet fit to subscribe to an oath of office; and will not understand a code of ethics or code of conduct. It isn't small stuff; its serious business that carries with it an obligation of the highest standards.
A councillor's job is not meant to be a power trip ticket; and the thankless job comment is most often an attempt to portray someone to be a martyr. Its long term effect is to convince everyone not on council to never consider taking a term on council. Thus this "thankless job" comment is one of the most damaging comments that is ever uttered.

Your apparent low expectations may well be as high as most voters demand; and that is exactly why we get the governments that we deserve.
Please concentrate on the details of the previous posts; and you will find honest accounts of what has happened. Please specify exactly where you find any axes.

[stonepicker]

well, you can call my expectations low if you like, but i
have no interest in running for rural council so in that
regard i don't plan on criticizing them too much. What
i would like to see is a maximum of two or three terms
for a councilor, i think it would stop some of the
power-tripping. You mentioned a certain municipality
was pretty much being run like a dictatorship, thats
where it seems to me that your taking the whole thing
to seriously. Just my opinion, don't take it too
seriously. ( i left myself open for one there lol )