City council is looking over its collective shoulder, wondering just what Eric Allen is going to do next.
Allen follows the politics of the day closely and has opinions on many issues, most recently a letter to the editor in the Citizen earlier this month about why there's no need to build the Site C dam. Yet he doesn't just write letters. Allen's efforts to rally citizens against governments of the day have changed the course of local and provincial politics.
Allen was an instrumental organizer in the provincial campaign challenging the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) brought in by Gordon Campbell's Liberals. Allen's efforts in central and northern B.C. helped force a provincial referendum and the eventual elimination of the HST.
Even before that historic vote, Allen had moved on, trying to raise another citizen-driven protest, this time against the plans to build a new RCMP detachment in Prince George. Although he wasn't successful in stopping construction, he didn't let that loss slow him down. In 2012, he led a counter-petition against the proposed $11.5 million River Road dike project, forcing then-mayor Shari Green and the council of the day to abandon their plan.
Using the alternate approval process, Allen had just six weeks to get the signatures of at least 10 per cent or 5,351 registered voters who wanted a referendum on the city borrowing money for its portion to build the dike. By the time the dust settled, Allen had 9,271 valid signatures and a mayor and council unwilling to send the proposal to referendum and a likely defeat.
Since his triumph, Allen has continued to speak out, always quick to challenge politicians of all stripes whenever he sees needless or excessive government spending.
On Monday, city council set the wheels in motion to borrow $7 million from the Municipal Finance Authority to pay for replacement of the aging fleet of city vehicles and to repair Foreman Road. Any loan taken by the city that can't be paid off in five years or less has to go through the alternate approval process, opening the project up for a petition challenge by concerned residents like Allen.
The outcome of the dike project remains fresh on the minds of the current councillors who were around for that embarrassing 2012 defeat. Coun. Albert Koehler seemed fine three years ago with borrowing millions without voter input. Today, he won't even entertain the idea.
"Doing that (borrowing) without getting our residents involved and having a referendum for me doesn't make sense," Koehler said Monday, the sole voice of opposition on council.
That being said, some of his colleagues still have concerns. Then and now, Garth Frizzell and Frank Everitt are not fans of the alternate approval process in its current form. Either/or input is a horrible measure of public sentiment towards a proposal. In this case, action (signing a petition) equals opposition while inaction (not signing) equals support. If voters are fine with part of a project at a reduced cost, there is no way for them to make their views known.
That may be especially relevant when considering the city's current $7 million borrowing plan. Could the Foreman Road work be done in installments over several years, spreading out the spending and avoiding having to borrow money for the job? Could the same approach be used to update the city's vehicle fleet?
Regardless, city council (and senior staff) is convinced the spending needs to happen, which begs the interesting question of whether the city could afford to take on servicing a$7 million debt if the dike project hadn't been kicked to the curb three years ago. In other words, this mayor and council may owe a debt of gratitude to the success of Allen's citizen-led protest for providing the ability to borrow that the city enjoys today.
The next steps involve drawing up bylaws and setting timelines before the alternate approval process gets underway.
By then, city council will no doubt have heard from Allen and other self-appointed municipal government watchdogs with their thoughts regarding a $7 million loan and how it potentially ties the hands of future city councils (and taxpayers) with debt repayments and interest charges.
The alternate approval process may not be perfect but if it gives politicians pause before approving borrowing and spending millions of dollars, out of fear of a taxpayer uprising led by the Eric Allens of the world, then maybe it's not so bad.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
