FAIR REPRESENTATION AND GOVERNANCE FOR OTTAWA

Dr. J. K. Walker and L. A. Walker

88 Starwood Rd., Nepean, ON, K2G 1Z5

Introduction

The new large city of Ottawa with its single tier government is ill suited to the complex region of an inner urban core, an outer suburban region, and a large surrounding rural region each with several distinct communities. Rather than saving $75 million as guaranteed by the politicians, the debt has increased substantially.  The city is now facing another tax increase of ~5% for 2008 and a debt of ~$680 million.  These funds will need to be refurbished soon and the high cost of restructuring together with that of the downloaded but still underfunded social services of the old Harris government will undoubtedly require increased property taxes or more provincial support.  The $200 million the city collects for the Ontario Government for provincial programs such as the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) should of course be funded out of the Provincial general revenue.  These misguided funding projects of the province should be rectified ASAP.  Single tier mega cities are well known to be inefficient and ineffective.

The new single tier Ottawa governance structure is known to result in an inefficient and ineffective city, and does not provide for independent development, community identity and only limited accountability.  Furthermore, such governments have not been successful in numerous cities (see Regional District Review - 1999: Issues and Interjurisdictional Comparisons and Amalgamation: Is it the Solution? by Prof. R. L. Bish; Lets Break Up Big Cities by H. Husock and Merger Mania: the Assault on Local Government by Prof. Sancton, the economic study by MEI - Montreal Economic Institute the award winning citiesplus study by the Sheltair Group and the City of Vancouver and the W. Cox study for Toronto).  It is unrealistic to expect the residents of Nepean to identify with those in distant Kanata or Orleans for example and for councillors to be familiar with the whole region.  Furthermore, the rural citizens have to travel a significant distance to have their voices heard on large committees in the new council where parking is now expensive.  Hence, these and other distinct regions should eventually become somewhat autonomous for local concerns, much like the divisions in Toronto and boroughs in Montreal and other large cities.

A concept to addresses mega city flaws, is to have the councillors work together to oversee and optimize the local services in each of the districts which generally form the main communities of a city. Some of these facilities and the associated services can be delivered more efficiently with some local responsibility and governance.  Such a distributed system of governance for all the different local municipal services would be significantly more efficient and effective and also more accountable without any significant increases in costs.  The legislation was changed so that a municipality can establish its own size of council and structure of governance. Ottawa can readily be divided into six districts and associated communities.  However, the guidelines for the new council did not reflect this need.  Furthermore, the ward system proposed by the Ward Boundary Review Consultants is inconsistent with the natural boundaries that they were suppose to respect (see report for maps).  It also has more councillors in the core of the city which permits them to continue dominating council.  The new council should explore the concept of a fair and balanced council with six distinct districts and standing community councils. This provides the compromise and framework for a more effective representation and governance solution for the entire city. It also brings accountability and hence democracy back to the community level.

Some Principles for Local Governance

The characteristics of a model governance are accessible; accountable; inclusive; representative; comprehensive; comprehensible and cost-effective.  These objectives and the following additional principles or criteria were used in developing the fair representation and balanced governance concept for the Ottawa-Carleton region:

1) Both a regional level of government and a local level should be used for a cluster of large and distinct urban, suburban and rural regions.

Services that cross municipal boundaries, or which have economies of scale, should be delivered by the region level or full council, whereas local road, water, parks, land use planning and other such local services are best delivered by a local administration.  A standing community council should be used in modest cities with associated districts or divisions of small communities and boroughs used for large communities.

2) The number of districts, divisions or boroughs should be of a manageable level.

The districts or divisions should encompass the significant urban or suburban areas and any distinctive geographic or heritage regions, but not be too large, as they could be unwieldy to plan or manage and become too "distant" from the citizens.  An optimum size for an efficient district is from perhaps fifty thousand to a hundred and fifty thousand citizens and four or more councillors.  A division would be more formal with a staff and perhaps up to a few hundred thousand citizens.  Larger districts of several hundred thousand might have a formal structure of a borough with a chair or deputy mayor and a CAO and more staff and authority.

3) No single district, division or borough should dominate the region, if possible.

The largest district, division or borough in a cluster of urban centers should be no more than ~30% larger than the next largest division of the region, if possible, as it could dominate the regional government.

4) There should be the same number of divisions for the core region as that for the suburban and rural regions, if possible.

The number of divisions should balance, if possible, so that one sub region, such as the core, does not dominate the other and any change in the representation does not change the balance at the regional or full council.

5) The divisional or district boundaries should be drawn using the principle that "good fences make good neighbors".

Physical barriers that separate municipalities and communities such as rivers, parkland and limited access highways, help create a strong physical identity to a community and facilitate planning, development and service delivery.  A good "spatial barrier" is one that has a limited number of crossings, such as a river or a greenbelt.

6) For large cities the Regional Council should consist of both directly elected officials and indirectly elected officials (elected at the district or divisional level but sit on the regional or full council).

By having members of the regional/full council from the local divisions provides for local accountability and the "buy-in" between the division and regional level of government and at the same time reduces the number of elected officials.  However, at least one position (mayor or chair) on the Regional council should be directly elected to provide an untainted regional perspective. Note the deputy mayor should be from the other sub region of the city than that of the mayor to ensure balanced representation in the mayor's office.

7) The number of representatives for the core region should be balanced with those from the combined suburban and rural areas on a regional or full council, if possible.

By having, an equal number of representatives from the core of an urban region and from the satellites or suburbs provide a balance between the two regions and hence one cannot dominate the other.  For a solely urban municipality the ratio of representation of the wards could be ~2:1 (+/- 25%).  However, for municipalities with irregular districts and/or a large rural region such as Ottawa and Calgary the ratio of representation for the wards could be 3:1 (+/- 50%) so the rural wards are not overwhelmed with those from the central urban region.  This is using 'effective representation'.

8) The number of rural and urban representatives for a suburban or satellite division or district with a significant rural area should also be balanced, if possible.

The representation from the rural townships in the merged satellite municipalities should also balance that from the suburban region, if possible, to avoid one region dominating the other in the new suburban districts/communities.

9) Municipal and regional service delivery should be optimized.

The delivery of each municipal and regional service should be modeled, where appropriate, and optimized to make them more cost effective.  Furthermore, the costs of the basic services, including waste management, should be paid directly by the user so that the amount of service required will be minimal.

10) All funding for municipal services, including education and health facilities, should be linked to the municipal government so efficiencies can be obtained from multiple use of buildings and other resources.

Some facilities, such as schools and hospitals, can provide several different uses for a community over their lifetime.  They should be developed jointly by the municipality and the school and hospital boards so that they can always be effectively utilized.  There should eventually be one accountable administration for these different public facilities and services so that they can be more readily integrated and administered comprehensively within the community.

The present representation for Ottawa fails the test of the above principles 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, and 10.  The present governance model for the Ottawa obviously has limited merit and savings potential.  Furthermore, it does not have an accountable, efficient or readily accessible system for the delivery of local or community services and hence is somewhat undemocratic.  It is for these reasons that the new city has alienated many rural citizens and suburbanites and even some in the core.  The present structure has several wards that jump across natural boundaries and consequently does not establish neat and distinctive districts which is necessary for forming good community spirit and councils.  Characteristics of the old Ottawa-Carleton (Status Quo), the new Ottawa, and the ONE CITY PLUS SIX model are compared in the third article at http://pages.istar.ca/~jwalker  The underlined links can be also followed in the corresponding second article at this site.

General Concept

Using the above principles resulted in our development of the following concept to reduce costs, maintain balance and provide a nearby community council and a more accountable system for the delivery of local services.  This restructuring plan does not require any significant new facilities and only a few staff need to be relocated.

The concept provides for six districts and associated standing community councils within the Ottawa unicity government.  It would generate significant savings on the delivery of local services and at the same time maintain the distinctive character and heritage of each sub-region.  It would also significantly improve accessibility to councillors and hence democracy in the city.  The concept also avoids having one area dominating the region, as the present distribution of councillors permits, which causes friction.  The present large single tier city is also somewhat difficult to manage effectively and efficiently.

Redrawing the Lines

The present single tier City of Ottawa is not meaningful from a local governance or community perspective and it is inconsistent with the natural boundaries of the region.  The following boundaries are therefore proposed using the above principles and in particular the one "good fences make good neighbors".

For the core area (defined as the area within the Greenbelt) the new regions provides for three districts.  To the east of the Rideau River would be the Gloucester District, which consists of the former Vanier, Rockcliffe Park and the eastern part of Ottawa between these former municipalities and the old Gloucester.  The central part, which we call the Bytown District, includes that area which is west of the Rideau River to Fisher Ave. then to Island Park Drive.  To the west of this boundary would be the Nepean District formed from the core part of the former city of Nepean.  The four wards in each of these districts are rearranged so that they do not cross any of the boundaries but still have comparable populations.  Three districts in the core are proposed instead of a single one, which would be very large and would dominate the regional government.  This delineates the core area into eastern, central and western sections of approximately equal size and each with a major hospital.  Using the Rideau River as the dividing line parallels the use of the Gatineau River to separate the former Hull from Gatineau, which had provided each of these cities with a strong identity.  There is also some friction in the new amalgamated city of Gatineau.  The Rideau River and Island Park Drive boundaries keeps the downtown area under a single jurisdiction and divides the core into an easy to remember, and meaningful administrative units for local services.  This core system will facilitate planning and local service delivery and community development.  Unfortunately, the councillors for this sub region are not inclined to such changes in their wards, nevertheless the three core districts should be implemented with the new council in 2009.

To the east of the Greenbelt would be one district that we call Orleans.  This consists of the communities of Orleans and Blackburn Hamlet and the surrounding former municipality of Cumberland.  To the west of the Greenbelt would be the Kanata District consisting of the community of Kanata as well as the former townships of West Carleton and Goulbourn.  To the south of the Greenbelt would also be one district, which we call "Barrhaven".  It consists of Barrhaven, Manotick, the developing Rideau River South Urban Community and the proposed urban area east of the Rideau River and the former townships of Rideau and Osgoode.  The towns and villages within these rural communities could retain strong community associations that would work with their rural councillor and the district/division and municipal governments to optimize the delivery of services.  Note each of the satellite districts/divisions now has its own suburban centre which is the natural focus of the district.  They also have similar population and land area, which is desirable for maintaining checks and balances at the regional level and for administrative efficiency.  The old municipal offices in Kanata and Orleans could be the centres of the district administration while a new one might be established for Barrhaven, possibly just south of the town.  It is suggested that the Greenbelt be extended southeast and southwest between these satellite municipalities to ensure that they do not eventually merge into a continuous suburban ring.


The wards should be defined based on some semblance to the old municipal boundaries and communities in each municipality, if possible.  One councillor should represent each of the former townships in the satellite districts/divisions.  Old Stittsville should be part of the Goulbourn ward (#6) and Richmond part of the Rideau ward (#21) for balance.  This ward system ensures accountability and representation for smaller areas within each district/division.  The councillors for the new Kanata District would consist of two from the urban area and one from each of the former West Carleton and Goulbourn Townships.  Those for Rideau would consist of two from Barrhaven/Rideau River South (#22) suburban regions and one from Rideau and one from Osgoode (#20) wards.  For the Orleans District we suggest one from the Cumberland ward (#19) and one from Blackburn (#2) and two from the urban part of Orleans.  This provides a strong rural representation on the regional council and on the standing community councils.  Proposed wards for the 6 districts with 4 councillors each are shown on the map below.  The thick black lines indicate the proposed boundaries of the districts.

 

estimated

                                            populations

for 2006

 

Ward #

 

1

39,900

 

2

33,100

 

3

23,300

 

4

27,400

 

5

23,400

 

6

25,800

 

7

46,400

 

8

49,200

 

9

37,600

 

10

63,100

 

11

48,200

 

12

30,000

 

13

52,400

 

14

36,200

 

15

29,600

 

16

44,100

 

17

29,400

 

18

56,100

 

19

22,600

 

20

24,400

 

21

20,300

 

22

39,000

 

23

46,500

 

24

26,700

 

Total

874,700

 

The average is: 36446; +50% is 54668 and -50% is 18223.  Most of the wards are within this range.  However, some of the proposed ward boundaries within a district, such as ward 10, might be changed to reduce the population variation between the four wards in the district.  In particular, the inner boundaries for the rural wards should be adjusted for each term to ensure the rural residents have 'effective representation'.

The city of Toronto had also developed six districts with standing community councils, which was changed, following a large study, to 4 districts which are unfortunately poorly defined.  Each district has a standing community council of 8 - 11 councillors for a total of 45 elected representatives including the mayor. Hence, these districts are not balanced and the boundaries are very irregular.  The northern boundary of Toronto should be extended to the 407 highway so that three districts each of 8 councillors north of the 401 highway could be balanced with three similar districts south of this highway for a total of 48 councillors.  These districts in Toronto and Ottawa could eventually become boroughs with a chair/deputy mayor with jurisdiction over local services and facilities.

The councillors sometimes have undue influence in the number and nature of the wards in some cities.  It is suggested that, just like the provincial and federal ridings are managed by an independent commission, the wards for larger cities should also be managed by a similar commission.  The commissioners should be well regarded planners with some experience in the municipal field and have a sound understanding of fair representation and of good management practices.

Regional Representation, Administration and Services

The premise is that since the districts are the principal "clients" of the central government, they should be the main decision-makers and part of the overall management of this government.  Hence, the councillors from each of the districts/divisions should be on the full council and associated committees for discussions concerned with cross border services but form 6 community councils for discussions and consideration of local services.  A balanced minimum would be four councillors from each of the three satellites and three core districts.  This results in 25 officials, including the mayor.  The proposed council is shown below with the six standing community councils.

The services best supplied by the full council are water, sewage, solid waste management, electric power and some generation thereof, arterial roads, regional planning, economic development co-ordination, transit, welfare, and special police and fire services.

The present system of managing the services of mega cities by large committees is not comprehensible and is outdated for cities with extensive and expensive infrastructure.  For the services to be effective and efficiently managed councillors need to directly oversee the service in their community and co-ordinate each of the services.  The chairs for each board or committee should be elected by the full council using the ranking method if there are more than two candidates.  The members of each committee should consist of only one councillor from each of the districts/divisions.  Some of the services, such as police, fire and hydro, could eventually have subdivisions in each district.  On the other hand, the full council/committee would be responsible for special police, fire, emergency (911), ambulance, training and other such services.  The cost of the police services has increased by more than 10% each year since amalgamation and the cost of using the OPP or RCMP for some selected roles might be explored for possible cost savings.  Note, the RCMP already have a large detachment in the city.  The Ottawa Police Service had 230 complaints last year and seems overzealous in charging citizens involved in trivial incidents.  The Police Board needs to be vigilant in monitoring their activities.  Ontario should have a Family Conflict Court much like other provinces to mitigate such affairs.

To ensure that each sub region is treated fairly, the taxes and other revenue and the cost of services for both the core and suburban/rural regions should eventually be determined and efforts made to balance them independently so that each sub region lives more-or-less within its means.

The councillors that oversee the different services are expected to keep in close contact with council and their provincial counterparts in order to advise them when a service is inadequate.  The mayor or a councillor should also be a member of the board of the airport authority in order to provide a link with this important transportation hub.  A proposed governance structure is shown below.

The World production of light oil will peak in the next decade or so and the price of oil will probably escalate from the current $100 dollars per barrel to a few hundred dollars a barrel over the next few decades.  The City should move quickly to an efficient fleet of vehicles and also consider a large fuel storage system that would last for a month or more in the event of a supply shortage or significant peaks in the cost of fuel.

Corporate services and the Solicitor’s office are also part of the organization.

Some of the municipal services can be modeled and, using operations research tools the relations of the different aspects of the services explored to determine a suitable degree of service.  The councillors also need to work together to optimize the provision of services.  Several boards could be formed which should have a few outside experts to advise the councillors who oversee the services as indicated below (also see HLB optimizing research for examples).

 


Public Transit

The forthcoming climate and oil crisis will see a significant increase in the use of public transit as the cost of fuel and carbon taxes escalate (see transportation article at ‘Mitigating Power, Oil and Climate Disasters’).  The US financial disaster will probably trigger a recession for a decade or so and this will drag down the Canadian economy.  The city should also be divided into six boroughs at the end of this term to improve accountability and governance.  Each borough should eventually pay for most of its own services.  It is important that the city/boroughs optimize all their services to reduce energy (fossil fuels) requirements and the associated costs and greenhouse gases.  The proposed 4 billion dollar transit plan would probably saddle each of the three core boroughs with ~$300 million dollars debts and each of the three suburban boroughs with ~$200 million dollar debts if the senior governments pay 2/3 of the cost.  However, the city is rather slow paying off its ~$680 million dollar debt.  Consequently all options should be considered, including firm support from the senior governments which are both now unfortunately in difficult situations.  There isn’t much space left in the downtown core for more offices and we are probably in the first phase of a long recession so I suspect the estimates of 296,000 morning trips in 2031 is high.  The average bus uses more energy and causes more pollution per passenger kilometre than the average car.  However, a bus typically carries 5-10 times more passengers than a car and thereby eases congestion on the roads.  The transit users should pay at least 2/3 of the cost of the different transit services which doesn’t even cover servicing costs let alone the debt costs.  I would suggest council consider pay-as-you-go until adequate resources have been secured.

 

Ottawa has numerous good transitways and the system should be expanded and improved with good quiet, efficient and comfortable hybrid buses.  The larger buses should be used along the arterial routes and service the suburbs, malls, and park and ride stops in the different regions.  These buses should eventually all be plug-in clean diesel hybrids with good lithium-ion batteries and and/or use EEStor’s or other ultra capacitors and also have several doors so they can load and unload quickly.  These ultra capacitors can store three times the power of lithium-ion batters and can be charged in a few minutes.  They should also have several doors so they can load and unload quickly.  The buses should be equipped with 220 V plugs so they can be rapidly recharged and they should be plugged-in whenever they are stopped at a terminal for more than a few minutes.  They should have a range of at least 20 km on electric power to reduce fuel costs and pollution.  The 202 Orion VII Hybrid buses the city has ordered should be equipped with an enhanced battery pack for extended range to save fuel and the production of greenhouse gases.  Smart bus cards should be implemented to reduce loading time and improve passenger service and control.  Several buses should operate together like a train when they transit a congested region so that they generally do not need a second lane to pass one another.  Albert and Slater should be changed to two way streets ASAP so that bus transitways could be on both sides of the street.  More curb transitways might be established on Carling, Main, Smyth, Elgin, Bronson, Rideau, Montreal Road and other arterial roads.  It is suggested that parking be limited in the downtown core so that the buses can readily move about.  However, several parkades for vehicles should be implemented, possibly with PPP operations, to alleviate the limited curb parking in the downtown core.  They should have numerous 220 V plug-ins to rapidly recharge the latest hybrid plug-in vehicles.  Car pooling with plug-in hybrids will soon be the smart and inexpensive way to commute to the downtown offices and shops.

 

Light rail is more expensive and inflexible and best for connecting high density locations such as the big hotels in Las Vegas or big park and ride stations.  Ottawa, at present, does not have even two high density locations.  However, the expensive O-train might be extended to Gatineau and the airport and possibly a Y link into Bay St. with a short tunnel and Federal and provincial support.  Eventually this route could be further extended to the Riverside South community and later to Barrhaven if support increases.  These trains should also have clean diesel hybrid engines.

 

The Superbus is being developed at TU Delft and Connexxion in the Netherlands.  The bus is light, streamlined and powered by an electric motor with batteries and probably fuel cells supplying the energy.  It can travel at 250 km/hr on Supertracks and is quiet and comfortable.  It can also travel on the local roads, arterial roads, highways and transit ways and hence is very flexible.  Every passenger has a seat in a compartment.  Each of the seven compartments has a door for rapid loading and unloading of passengers.  The bus can be called up and could deviate from a regular route to pick up several passengers at a nearby intersection during off peak times.  Similarly, the passengers can give a destination and the bus will drop them off at a nearby intersection near the regular route during off peak travel.  Hence, it is much more efficient, flexible and comfortable than the present system or a light rail system.  It should not be expensive to implement the Superbus into the present transitways.  Such buses are best used on the residential routes in the suburbs of Kanata, Barrhaven, Orleans and Stittsville and the surrounding towns.  The Superbus could probably travel at ~150 km/hr on some stretches of the transitways.  However, special heated Supertracks could be made on long stretches of transitways to melt the snow and ice for safe high speed travel during wet and icy conditions.  These tracks are less expensive than those for light rail and the equipment is also less expensive.  Another transitway on Laurier should be explored for the Superbus for this region to reduce the congestion of buses on the present route.  Hence with transitways also on Queen St., it should be possible to eventually have 8 transitway curb lanes in the downtown core rather than the present two lanes.  Consequently expensive tunnels would not be required for at least a few decades in the downtown region of Ottawa.  The present sunken transitway along the parkway should be extended via a separate sunken road alongside the parkway to the Lincoln Heights terminal.

 

I would strongly suggest that these options be explored in the near future and carefully compared with the other four options and that for light rail for the same communities on a transitway so that an objective assessment can be made of the different systems.  See Superbus for details of this vehicle.

The Agriculture and Rural Affairs committee should consist of the 6 rural councillors including the one representing the Blackburn Hamlet ward.  Probably the Mayor or deputy mayor should chair this committee and it should have adequate resources to fulfill its mandate.  Some of the services provided by the central government could be extended and some new ones considered when resources become available.  For instance, improved links to Quebec are needed in both the western and eastern parts of the region.  This is primarily the responsibility of the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau with support from the provincial governments and the NCC.  The airport authority and regional (special) health care facilities such as the CHEO and the Heart, Cancer and Palliative Care institutions could be linked to the city.

Hydro Ottawa distributes the power throughout the city.  It is owned by the city on behalf of the taxpayers but there are only three elected representative on the board of directors.  A more accountable board for this utility would have a councillor from each of the six divisions, the CEO and a few outside experts.  The chair of the board should be a councillor, if possible, who is elected by council and not an appointed official.  The utility is a monopoly and it makes little sense to privatize it as the service would undoubtedly degenerate and the distribution costs would increase by another 10%, which is permitted for such utilities.  The utility should be operated on a not-for-profit basis and revenue should not be used for supporting the city as it does at present.  The "privatization" of Hydro Ottawa has also resulted in an increase in cost of the local power distribution by at least 10% and OPG power has gone up 6% this past May and both are of concern. 

Energy Ottawa should have a similar board as that for Hydro Ottawa and explore new green sources of power generation for a more reliable supply during major outages .  A dam at Remic rapids and pipes to the Chaudière dam and additional turbines could probably add about 50 megawatts of clean reliable power and should be investigated.  Energy Ottawa should also explore leasing or purchasing the nearby Chats Falls power stations to ensure the city has an adequate and secure source during an extended outage such as another ice storm. (See Recommendations in Powering the Future by D. Owens)  The inevitable higher prices for power and the lack of reliable sources preclude the possibilities of a high tech chip fabrication plant for the Ottawa region.  Energy Ottawa should also explore the possibility of a nuclear source such as the new AECL ACR-1000 which could provide about half of the cities requirements in say 2020+ to reduce costs and ensure supply during difficult times.  The significant cost might be shared with OPG as it would alleviate some of the strain on Ontario’s power system.

The public health facilities (hospitals) in Ottawa are underfunded by about $100 million and are not governed by an accountable board but by one that is appointed by the Minister and some are elected from an inner group of hospital associates.  Members of the Champlain regional health district for Eastern Ontario are also appointed by the Minister.  There is considerable concern about these structures and steps should be taken to develop more accountable boards.  A logical solution is to have a councillor from each of the 6 divisions together with the CEOs of the hospitals and some outside experts form the board.  It is important that additional hospital facilities be developed in each of the satellite divisions and such problems might be addressed with a more representative and accountable board.  One of these new facilities could be a private not-for-profit organization so that more choice is available and costs of the different services can be compared.  An eastern regional accountable board could be formed by having one or two councillors from each of the municipal boards form the Champlain regional health district.

     The educational system in the Ottawa-Carleton region consists of four separate school boards each with its own elected trustees.  A UN report and a recent study in the UK indicate that sectarian school systems should be integrated more with the different groups within the community otherwise, mistrust, friction and possibly violence can result.  A first step to bring the school system under one administration would combine the different boards under one municipal board together with the four CEOs and some outside experts.  The number of councillors could be increased by two for each division to accommodate this task.  Hence, the total number of councillors would be 36 for such a system with the additional 12 councillors overseeing the four school systems with a view to coordinating, integrating and improving the efficiency of the different educational systems.  Note the funding that is raised at the municipal level for education should not go to the province for redistribution and equalization.  This funding should stay in the municipality and the basic and equalization funding should come from the provincial revenue.

District/Division Representation, Administration and Services

Because of the considerable distances involved, the rural councillor will generally have to bring the concerns of the local citizens to council meetings.  We suggest that the rural councillors have an office initially in the old township office as well as one in the district/division council and one in the main facilities.

The districts/divisions would initially provide a focus for the councillors to present and discuss the budget and local initiatives with the citizens for their community.  Each councillor would generally sit on two standing committees and monitor the corresponding services in his/her community.  They should then strive to balance their resources and expenses in each of the districts in the second term.  Eventually, with appropriate legislation, they could have responsibilities and powers comparable to that of a borough.  The services best supplied by the local districts/divisions are: some land use planning and development control, overseeing the maintenance and developing the local road system, sidewalks and lighting, local parks and recreation, culture and library facilities, and some education, health and social services.  Associated planning for such facilities and for residential, commercial, recreation, conservation and industrial parks is also best done by local community councils and officials.  The local level of government could also have some links with education and health services and the ability to foster some provision of housing for the disabled, seniors and low-income families.  Ideally, each district/division could have associated health care and educational facilities.  The governance of the local divisions should be similar to that of the region with the councillors overseeing or coordinating the services.  However, formal community council meetings would be chaired by the mayor or deputy mayor, as there is no local mayor for the district/division.  The community councils would meet only a few times a year for consideration of local concerns such as budget initiatives.  A proposed eventual structure for a borough of 6 councillors is:

Community Associations and Volunteers

The districts/divisions will encompass small geographic regions, which often are delineated by natural or other boundaries with different interests that can be focused by community associations.  These associations can provide an important framework for collecting and expressing concerns about the local infrastructure and services.  They also provide a contact for the city administration and politicians with the community.  The community associations should have the authority to hold public meetings regarding local effects of the Official Plans and Zoning By-laws and amendments.  They should also be able to make recommendations to the local community council on neighborhood matters, recreational needs and safety concerns and be able to nominate representatives to panels for property standards and management of recreational facilities.

Volunteers can significantly improve the quality of life in a community and a city.  They can contribute to the operation of schools, hospitals, senior centers’, fire and police services.  They are the main "force" of many recreational clubs and cultural activities.  However, it is often necessary that the city provides the facilities for most of these activities and oversees their operation.  The Goulbourn Volunteer Fire Service and the Nepean Sailing Club are good examples of a significant city facility that is managed by volunteers at little expense to the city.  The City and NCC managers should appreciate these services and not try to swindle extra taxes from them which will simply raise fees and eventually destroy the club/service as it did with the Equestrian Park.  However, the NSC has been dominated for years by the keel boat sailors and the dry (dinghy and catamaran) sailors do not have a voice on the executive.  An expensive harbor redevelopment has been implemented by the board and the City, which will provide slips for even bigger 'floating cottages'.  This is not consistent with community requirements and it is best that the city limit the length of keel boats to ~28' with facilities for a typical family of 4.

Taxation System

Eventually the taxes associated with each division and the total costs of services for each division should be determined and should be comparable.  Hence, the councillors may have to work hard to optimize each of the services for the community to remain within the communities resources.  Every effort should be made to set aside funds to pay down the debt.  There is a shortfall of at least $200 million from the province for Ottawa's restructuring, ambulance, transit, health and education facilities.  The misguided use (fiscal abuse) of property taxes (~$200 million) by the province for social and other such provincial programs should be curtailed ASAP.  The disposal of some surplus assets only reduces the debt of the City of Ottawa.  The city should explore using the Infrastructure III program and the new Strategic Infrastructure Fund to help with some of the capital projects.  The provincial government could reexamine its budget to pay down some of its debt each year so that more resources are eventually available for infrastructure and for the municipalities.

The municipal property tax base is limited and should be used primarily for street services and should not be used for supporting social and other such services.  Special taxes such as the fuel tax should be used solely for roads and public transit and not for general revenue.  Hence some of the federal and provincial sales tax and the fuel tax should be transferred directly to the municipalities to provide for the roads and other additional services that have been downloaded onto the municipalities by the senior levels of government.  Only 4% of the Federal fuel tax is used for roads but more of this tax is to be returned to the municipalities for developing their road infrastructure.  A few percent of the general revenue could also be returned directly to the municipalities from each of the senior levels to help pay for the Health care and social services if these governments are unwilling to fund them.

Advantages of the Proposal

Reforms the inappropriate ONE CITY-ONE TIER system of governance for the city of Ottawa into an interlocked system of six accountable districts/divisions, rather than the unaccountable Service Centers, for the delivery of local services within the regional system and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of each level.

·   Provides a core with three districts and three suburban districts with significant areas for economic expansion, recreation, conservation and development.

·   Redefines the wards so they form a district with borders using meaningful natural boundaries for stronger community identity and efficient and effective management, particularly for the satellite communities.

·   Provides for a balanced representation between the core and the satellite regions so that one cannot dominate the other.

·   A balanced system of sub-regions (districts) and governance that should remain stable for a few decades.

·   Uses a ward and "at large" local elected system with the mayor "at large" and councillors elected by wards to provide accountability and representation to sub-areas, such as the rural regions, within the districts/divisions.

·   Solves the large wards problem and the disjointed wards of the Ward Boundary Consultants.

·   Links the districts/divisions to the regional government to ensure "buy-in" and co-operation through local elected officials on committees and the full council.

·   The regional services are overseen and guided by involved councillors on standing committees/boards together with a few outside experts.

·   Provides for a central government/standing committees that's responsible for "one of a kind" facilities for utilities, water and electricity distribution and some generation of electricity.

·   Provides for the district/division councillors to work together for a community and be "commissioners" for overseeing local branches of the different municipal service who are part of the regional boards/committees for the corresponding service rather than the present haphazard representation on committees.

·   Brings accountability and democracy back to the community/district level.

·   The direct management of services by committee members and chairs provides a better and more comprehensible and accountable system of governance than general direction by large committees.

·   Provides a balanced rural and suburban representation for the satellite divisions with large rural areas.

·   Provides for a staged transition period (2009 – standing community committees and 2011 - divisions) and opportunities for significant saving such as "pay as you go" financing for most capital items as the divisions are tied in with the main government.

·   Encourages the optimization of municipal and regional services through modeling (operations research), where appropriate, to reduce costs of service which could save about $30 million.

·   Minimal cost and hassles of forming districts/divisions as the Service Centres are already in place.

The ONE-CITY plus Six Divisions model significantly improves the accountability, accessibility and governance at the local level.  The model proposed by the Ward Boundary Review Consultants has limited benefits as several wards are inconsistent with the natural boundaries and consequently it does not establish suitable districts and communities.  Our proposal locates the satellite centres and associated regions in existing municipal offices along with the councillors, a mini-council (standing community council) and staff for local services.  It also retains the heritage of each of the six main areas of the region.  The core and satellite regions are balanced with three comparable divisions for each sub region.  The number of representatives on the regional council for the core is also balanced with that from the satellite and rural region.  The concept also provides for economy of scale but some independence for local services.  Hence, it avoids the many problems of calamitous mega-cities.  It also fulfills Recommendation 6 of the Ottawa 20/20 vision review by Prof. G. Paquet of forming several boroughs/districts.  With further development, we believe that this proposal provides the framework that would much improve the local representation and governance system in the new Ottawa in a politically palatable manner and significantly contribute to a more accountable 20/20 city.

Acknowledgment Discussions with V. Walker and some councillors are appreciated.