The members of city council have been doing what they can to get set for their upcoming term in office – but the real work begins after inauguration.
Mayor-elect Patrick Johnstone said the biggest issue for Monday’s inaugural council meeting could be accommodating attendees.
“Our biggest challenge might be there's too many people who want to show up, so our council chamber might be over full,” he said. “But I think staff are managing that as best they can.”
Along with the swearing in of the mayor and council members, Johnstone will also be sworn in as the chair of the New Westminster police board at the Nov. 7 meeting. The remainder of the meeting will include introductions of council, senior staff and special guests, and consideration of reports on the results of the 2022 general local election, acting mayor appointments for the coming year and appointments of council members to some external boards and task forces.
“It's just that it's just basically getting the councillors sworn into the duties they have,” Johnstone said. “And then, once you get through that initial inauguration, there'll be a lot of business coming up, because there hasn't been a ton of meetings over the whole election season.”
In the weeks since the Oct. 15 election, Johnstone has connected with staff, mayors in other cities in the region and each of the councillors.
New West council will be comprised of two council incumbents – Jaimie McEvoy and Nadine Nakagawa.
Asked how she sees her role on council during her second term, Nakagawa said she will continue to advocate as strongly and bravely as she can for the same issues she championed last term: affordable housing, climate solutions, reconciliation, and equity. With four first-time councillors around the council table, will she take on a mentorship role?
“As far as being a mentor, I’m very happy to support incoming councillors as I understand how inaccessible city processes can be,” she said. “I see my leadership role as pushing public engagement to be better representative of our community and making processes that include everyone which will also support incoming councillors.”
Rookies joining council
On Monday, four new councillors will take their oath of office – Ruby Campbell, Daniel Fontaine, Tasha Henderson and Paul Minhas. Since the election, they’ve been going through onboarding, a process that’s helping them prepare for the inauguration and for the work that follows.
Campbell said the candidates have each met with chief administrative officer Lisa Spitale. She said she’s very appreciative of all the information the new councillors have received from legislative services staff, including details about the inauguration and key dates they need to know.
Campbell said councillors-elect received a council handbook, but there are a lot of empty tabs because they can’t get the complete package until they’re officially sworn in.
“I'm excited, totally excited,” said Campbell, who received the most vote in the councillor race. “And I'm just so honoured.”
While she knows there’s going to be a lot of work ahead for council members, Campbell believes she has a responsibility to continue to be as engaged in the community as she can be in her new role.
“There will be times where I won't be able to be as involved in different aspects. It's going to be challenging prioritizing where I put most of my efforts; we'll see how that works, how it complements the other council members,” she said. “I am really, really looking forward to getting involved in the community and engaged, but I also know that there's going to be a steep learning curve.”
Like Campbell, rookie councillor Fontaine is grateful to city staff who have helped prepare incoming councillors for their new roles.
In addition to meeting with Mayor-elect Johnstone, Fontaine was also pleased that outgoing Mayor Jonathan Cote met with the four new councillors.
“We had a chance for to get some of his wisdom imparted to us as he's heading out the door,” Fontaine said.
According to Fontaine, Cote’s advice centred around some of the tings he’s learned during his 17 years on council. Topics included goal setting, interactions between councillors and pacing yourself.
“It was really good advice. It was just all stuff from his own personal experience. He said, ‘some of it may not be applicable to you, but here's the things that I've kind of gone through,’ and I thought it was very good,” he said. “Some of it was just practical, common-sense stuff, and some of it was insider baseball from having been in the chamber for so long.”
That casual get-together, said Fontaine, was the first time the four new councillors – two from the New West Progressives and two from Community First New West – met in that type of setting.
“He asked us kind of like, you know, what, what do we want to accomplish? … We each got to hear each other out,” he said. “It's a good exercise, I think, for the new for the new folks to come in and to have that opportunity to ask him questions on process and stuff. So that was very helpful.”
Like Campbell, Fontaine is eager to jump into his new role – something he expects to happen pretty quickly. He notes councillors-elect are in a “bit of a weird position” between the election and the inauguration.
“I’m looking forward to being officially sworn in and having the opportunity to get that behind me, and then roll up my sleeves and get to work,” he said.
