B.C. municipality to debate whether it should continue to exist

On a cloudy night on northern Vancouver Island, about two dozen people pack into a tiny room in the basement of the Kelsey Recreation Centre.

They're there for a council meeting for the Village of Sayward. 

It's a community of about 350 people, where the post office, school and health clinic are all on the same block, across the street from the faded strip mall that closed years ago. 

Like many B.C. towns settled because of natural resources — it started as a company town for forestry giant MacMillan Bloedel — Sayward, about 286 kilometres northwest of Victoria, has lost a lot of its population and economic base in recent decades.

The mayor and council face a complex mix of problems around diversifying the economy and providing different forms of housing while operating on a limited budget.

But on this night, members of the public are more interested in accusations of corruption and cover-ups. 

"That's bullshit!" shouts one member of the public, when Mayor Mark Baker says the town hasn't been selectively editing council videos posted to YouTube. 

During a 30-minute question period, people shout over the mayor, councillors shout over members of the public, and the chief administrative officer gives various reasons certain things aren't happening as quickly or as publicly as some residents would like, from the passing of this year's budget to a bylaw that would legalize backyard chickens. 

Amidst the chaos, one person steps up to the microphone with no criticisms or pointed attacks, but with a novel request: that the municipality hold a workshop on whether it should keep being a municipality.

"People need to have an intelligent discussion of the subject of the possible dissolution of the Village of Sayward," said Alex Turner, who was told by council that a workshop would be scheduled for this month.

"You hear very strong opinions on both sides, but not much information."

This is Vancouver Island14:57Do small towns really need councils?

Things are tense at the council table in the tiny village of Sayward. It's not the first time things have gotten ugly in a small community's government, and it won't be the last - leaving one resident asking if the village council should disband. CBC reporter Justin McElroy walks us through what this could look like, and if it's something the people of Sayward even want.

5 mayors in 5 years

In the last five years, Sayward has had five different mayors, more than any other municipality in British Columbia. 

During that time, four chief administrative officers — the person in charge of overseeing the operations and staff of a municipality — have also resigned, also the most in the province.

Sayward's financial assets are the lowest of any municipality in B.C. — just over $1 million — making the town incredibly reliant on grant applications to higher levels of government to keep things afloat. 

Due to the constant turnover of senior staff and mayors, the town is behind on its budget and official community plan. 

Council agendas and videos don't get published in a timely fashion, and even a municipal proposal as common as legalizing backyard chickens has languished for two years because of a lack of staff capacity, adding to the frustrations of some residents. 

It's why Turner thinks Sayward needs to have, as he puts it, "an intelligent discussion" on the pros and cons of the village remaining a municipality. 

"There's an overhead to running a village like this. You have to have a CEO, receptionist, financial officers," he said. 

"If you get good governance from it, then it might be justified."

And if not? 

"If we can make local government work better, then that's one good argument for maintaining the village," he said.

"I'm just not entirely confident about that happening."

'It's important to be self-governed': councillor

If Sayward were to disincorporate, it would function like any other small community in B.C. without its own mayor and council: all decisions, from land-use to local festivals, overseen by a regional government.  

Local residents would help elect an area director for the Strathcona Regional District, headquartered in Campbell River, about 62 kilometres southeast of Sayward. There, the local regional director would pass budgets and policy with other elected officials from across the region, from Quadra Island to Zeballos. 

Sayward would lose a local government that has been beset by problems in recent years, and potentially gain the benefits of scale and efficiency for the basic operations of public works that can come from a larger organization. The Strathcona Regional District's budget is approximately $43 million, compared to just $1.5 million for Sayward.

But while local officials say they welcome a conversation about the disincorporation, they aren't convinced of its merits. 

"I think they think it's a magic wand," said Baker.

"When you are an area district and you've got 14 members on the board, you have all these other areas that get equal billing."

Coun. Scott Burchett has battled with Baker for most of this term and has been on the losing end of many 3-2 votes, and has been removed from several meetings over various arguments. 

But he agrees with Baker over the merits of local-versus-regional government. 

"It would be like Port Alberni managing Tofino," he said. 

"A small community like this that is so closed-knit where everyone knows everyone is, it's important to be self-governed. Without it, you will not get the tourist activity, you won't get the close relationships with volunteering, and you won't get the community support."

'How can we be better?'

But what drives a town to a level of dysfunction where this discussion is on the table in the first place?

Like other small municipal governments that have had trouble in recent years, there are plenty of interpersonal conflicts, arguments that are less about policy and more about procedure, and no local media, but an active local Facebook page full of allegations.

"I dealt with similar things," said Bill Ives, who was appointed acting mayor in April 2020 after a different acting mayor quit. 

He lasted about two months before he was forced out, quitting council entirely a few months later because of his frustrations with confidential information becoming public. 

"People take [allegations], distort the information, present it online and get a following. And they seem to try to uproot and disrupt the process of council."  

Baker says that if the public is making allegations about an issue that council can't speak about, it creates a difficult governing dynamic. 

"It's extremely frustrating. But I'm never going to respond to a keyboard warrior. Ever," he said. 

"You want answers, you come to me."  

Except because of those in-camera rules, Baker can't discuss the one thing dominating the talk-on-the-town Facebook page at the moment.

It involves a family member of Burchett's, who has made untested allegations against the mayor.

How the village is dealing with the allegations is being handled in-camera — which means it is closed to the public — along with questions about the potential costs.

Neither Baker nor Burchett can talk about the allegations, because it involves in-camera conversations. But both of them believe that once the situation is fully revealed, their side will be exonerated.

"In the last year, we have not got anywhere near the amount of work that we should have gotten done because of what's happening," said Baker. 

Burchett says the current troubles shouldn't be a reason for the municipality to disincorporate.

"It's worth fighting for, but I'm going to look at what I can do and what my colleagues can do to make it better in the future. If we don't learn from some of the mistakes, how can we be better?"

Everyone wants Sayward to be better. It's everything else that seems to get in the way.