Attend any Region of Queens Municipality (RQM) council meeting and you’ll probably see them in their customary seats in the public gallery.
Leon Robertson, Bill Cox and Kim Williams have become fixtures at local council proceedings. Their life stories may be different, but all three share a passion for municipal politics and civic engagement.
“If you come to council, you can hear about things firsthand,” Robertson said. “And if you have any questions or concerns, there’s an opportunity for you to have your input. It’s the grassroots level of government, where you can have the most impact.”
Robertson comes by his interest in local government honestly, having served as clerk, treasurer and chief administrative officer for the former Municipality of the County of Queens. He retired two years before the municipality and old Town of Liverpool amalgamated in 1996 to form RQM.
“After I retired, I ran for council but didn’t win,” he said. “But a few years down the road, I did end up on the municipal planning committee.”
Robertson would like to see more people at council meetings but doesn’t claim to have a solution for poor public attendance. “At the old municipality we tried night meetings, we tried everything,” he said. “But it’s very difficult to get people out.”
Cox, another public gallery mainstay, served as a councillor for the Municipality of the County of Queens prior to amalgamation.
He later mounted two bids for RQM council but came up short both times. “I still maintained my interest in what was going on and started attending the council meetings,” he said.
A retired banker, Cox believes council attendance can make a difference. “I think it’s important, because sometimes you think of something that’s happening in the community and you basically want to know if the council or mayor is aware of it,” he said. “You can sort of prompt them to look into some things.”
Cox said council proceedings have changed over the years – and not for the better.
“Now, it seems there is very little discussion and very little debate,” he said. “Other than what’s in the preamble to a motion, nobody knows what precipitated the motion or how the individual councillors actually felt about it.”
Despite the advent of social media, Cox said residents know less about council than they did years ago. “In bygone days, everybody got to know their councillor because they debated things more and the press would report what they said.”
The closure of the South Shore bureau of the Chronicle Herald and demise of the Queens County Advance have significantly reduced the number of journalists reporting on council, he said.
Cox believes attending proceedings is the best way to keep tabs on local government. “First of all, you find out some of the thoughts of your own individual councillor,” he said. “And then you find out the overall direction of council.”
Williams, who operates a small business from her Liverpool home, moved to Queens three years ago with her husband Andy. As a military spouse before Andy’s retirement, she served on housing, school and other committees at Canadian Armed Forces bases across the country.
Williams began attending council meetings shortly after arriving in Queens. Her interest in municipal affairs eventually led to an appointment to RQM’s planning advisory committee.
Ironically, when she first started attending council proceedings, her seatmate was the man now sitting in the mayor’s chair. “It’s kind of funny, because (David Dagley) used to sit right beside me,” she said.
Along with Robertson and Cox, Williams has become part of a reliable and irrepressible trio. However, when it comes to the public comments portion of each council meeting, she defers to her longer-serving friends in the public gallery.
“I let them go before me,” she said. “They’ll often make the points I was planning to raise, anyway.”
Attending twice-a-month council meetings requires a bit of dedication, but it comes with many benefits, Williams said. “You get a lot of important information and you make connections with people,” she said. “If you really want to know what’s going on in the community, you have to attend.”
LighthouseNow Progress Bulletin
August 8, 2018
Scott Costen 