Saanich residents will not be seeing a voting dashboard tracking council members’ votes in the near future.
During a Feb. 8 meeting, council considered a motion from Coun. Nathalie Chambers calling for a staff report on options for a voting dashboard to reflect council’s decisions. After a lengthy discussion and several attempts to amend the motion, council voted 5-4 to postpone it indefinitely.
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Chambers and Couns. Susan Brice, Judy Brownoff and Ned Taylor were opposed.
Staff explained that a voting dashboard was already in the municipal work plan and would come in about two years as part of a suite of updates to the current council software called Granicus.
CAO Paul Thorkelsson added that accelerating the process would take staff resources away from other projects council has prioritized.
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Coun. Zac de Vries, who recommended postponing the motion, emphasized that no residents had reached out to request a voting dashboard and no councillors brought it up during the Strategic Plan check-in in January. He felt it was best for staff resources to be focused on more immediate priorities – such as implementing video conferencing technology for the public’s participation in council and committee meetings.
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Chambers was disappointed to see her motion postponed because she felt accelerating the implementation of a voting dashboard would be in the public’s best interest.
Mayor Fred Haynes emphasized council’s voting record is already made public after every meeting through the minutes and video recordings.
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