On Friday, it was announced that Port Coquitlam will receive $3.7 million from the Federal government and $3.7 million from the Provincial government from the national Action Plan for infrastructure funding. The money will be used for the widening of Broadway Street from Kingsway to Mary Hill Bypass.

This is wonderful news for our community; it will allow us to complete the road work of the Coast Meridian Overpass, which will benefit our residential community and our businesses, to help stimulate our community for decades.

Year to date, Port Coquitlam has faired very well to receive Federal and Provincial money.

It is important that we work with the other levels of government for our fair share of the provincial and federal funding partnerships. It is equally important that we hold other levels of government accountable for their decisions and the effects on our community. This is the balance we play as a municipal representative.

As we move down the new untraveled path of decision-making that has been legislated on Municipal Mayors through the creation of the TransLink Mayors%u2019 Committee, as defined by the provincial government, we are embarking on unforeseen complications. As you know, last year the province developed a new governance model for TransLink, which consists of a private board of directors (BOD). The role of the BOD is to develop a 10 year budget, which includes capital development and operational funding, proposed revenue sources and overseeing of the operations of the organization. The role of the Mayors’ Committee is very limited, the Mayors vote on the presented budget from the BOD and any supplements. The Mayors’ Committee does not develop the budget, does not oversee the operations or have the ability to amend the proposed 10 year plan. In effect, we have the ability to increase taxes but not account for the spending.

The other player at the table is the Transit Commissioner. The Commissioner’s role is to review the 10 year plan from the BOD and advise the Mayors’ Committee of validity of the plan. The Transit Commissioner must also review any fare box increases.

It must be stated that the other ‘unofficial’ player is the provincial government, who, over the years, has indirectly dictated the direction of TransLink. A few examples are the leapfrogging of the Canada Line over the Evergreen Line. You could also look back to the decision of the provincial government to build the Millennium Line, a line that parallels the Expo Line and does not follow the Livable Region Strategic Plan. Another example is the implementation of turnstiles at the skytrain stations, which due to capital and operational costs do not make economic sense. There are others, but these three demonstrate my point.

Today, we heard from the Commissioner on the BOD plan; here is a link to the presentation.

There are basically three options (and only three, the Mayors’ Committee is not allowed to make any amendments):

1. Base Plan – Drastic Cuts

· Limited new revenue

· Reduced level of service

2. Funding Stabilization – Supplement 2

· Increase revenue by $130m or 13% (where does the money come from, increase property tax, gas tax and an increase in parking tax)

· The level of service remains virtually unchanged

3. On Track to a Sustainable Region – Supplement 3

· Increase revenue by $275m (where does the money come from: all of the above plus a car levy)

· Level of service increase by increasing capacity of existing skytrain, eight Westcoast Express cars (also included in Supplement 2) and new buses for existing high capacity lines (Vancouver).

Here is the challenge facing the Mayors’ Committee: we have three options, however Option 1 will reduce the hours of operations of the service but we have no say on which routes are reduced. So as a suburban municipality who’s buses are not as full as areas with higher density, in my opinion, will mean an substantial decrease in transit service in Port Coquitlam. Supplement 3 introduces a Car Levy, which make driving a car increase by between $85 - $125 per year per car, however there are little to no new service for Port Coquitlam. So, the only option that is reasonable is Option 2; however, a 13% increase for no new services does not seem appropriate. Hence the dilemma.

You might ask where is the Evergreen Line? In short, it is not being proposed by the BOD, therefore we do not have an option to approve the Evergreen Line. This is one of the main problems with the new governing model, which makes the process very frustrating. The Federal and Provincial governments have come to the table with a majority of the funds (I do think they should fund 100% of capital costs, but that is another issue), but the Mayors do not have an option to vote on the Evergreen Line. We finally have all the levels of government on board, including capital $ and a private board of directors has vetoed the Evergreen Line. I would argue the new governance model is broken.

To add one more wrinkle into the process the Provincial Government has appointed the Controller General to perform an operational audit to review the operations of TransLink. The report is due by the end of September; it will give the Mayors’ committee an indication of the efficiency of TransLink. But, let’s be clear, no matter what the report indicated on the efficiency of the operations of TransLink, the Mayors’ committee has no control or ability to implement any changes, due to the provincial government legislation. Again, another indication that the governance model is not working.

When the provincial government made the changes to the governance model a couple years ago I believe they made the changes with the view of making a more efficient system and remove the politics from the decision-making. The new system has not removed the politics; in fact, as long as you have a public organization you will have politics. I think the governance model needs to change, but I am not sure what the right model is.

Question for you, if you were sitting at the Mayors’ committee, what option would you choose and do you have any solutions for the governance model?