Adding another Foothills School Division trustee in Okotoks will give the community the representation it needs, said some at an open house last week.
“With the size of Okotoks and its growth, we are under-represented when it comes to any decision,” said Lisa Penzo, of the Percy Pegler Elementary school council. “Currently when it comes to any decision, we have something like 40 per cent of the population, but have only one vote.”
An open house on a proposal to double the number of trustees for the Okotoks area (currently Ward 4) from one to two was held at Okotoks Junior High School on Feb. 9.
The present structure has Okotoks with one trustee on the five-person board. That trustee represents 41 per cent of the population in the public school division jurisdiction according to the 2015 census. The Okotoks ward had 28,016 people while the entire division’s population was 68,793. Federal census numbers released last week, show Okotoks’ population has continued to grow, reaching 28,881 in 2016.
The proposal would make Foothills a six-person board and the two Okotoks trustees sharing the duties in the community. Both would have one vote at the table.
Okotoks trustee Laurie Copland has been away on a leave of absence since October.
Corrine Babb, who has children in the Foothills system, said she feels the proposal is a good one.
“I think the math shows that it is needed and this is overdue,” Babb said.
She said the addition of a trustee will provide further opportunities for others to run for a place on the board.
“This allows others to explore the possibilities (of running for trustee),” Babb said.
Babb is considering running as a trustee in the municipal election in October.
Ana McFadyen is also considering running for one of possibly two Okotoks positions.
“There was a concern at least 10 years ago that we needed two trustees,” McFadyen said. “This has nothing to do with a leave of absence, we need two trustees. I welcome the teamwork. It’s better to have teamwork rather than one person. There is lots of new ways for innovation.”
However, one of the five people in attendance wanted to maintain the status quo, giving a ringing endorsement for Copland.
“She has done a fantastic job for us through massive growth,” said Darren Stuber, who has a child in the public system. “I don’t see the need to have separate trustees if we have a trustee that does the job that she was doing for us until October.”
Copland took personal leave in October. She is facing charges of fraud and theft of more than $5,000 and is scheduled to go to court in June. None of the charges are in connection with Copland’s duties as a trustee since 2004 and the reason for her leave of absence was not discussed at the Feb. 9 meeting at OJHS.
Drew Chipman, division assistant superintendent, corporate services, said the issue of Okotoks needing more representation has been a concern for years.
“This has been looked at three or four times since I started with the division,” Chipman said. “It is not a reflection on the trustees in anyway, shape or form. It is just demographics.”
A presentation by Stantec Consultants concerning making changes to the wards and representation in the division was made to trustees in November of 2014.
Chipman added the division received criticism about not having enough representation for Okotoks a year ago when the controversy of placing a high school in the Aldersyde area arose.
Brian Callaghan of the Alberta School Board Association said the provincial government wishes to get ward representation to be plus or minus 25 per cent of the average population per ward.
Based on the 2015 Okotoks municipal census, the average is 13,752 people. Using the 25 per cent rule wards should have a population between 10,314 and 17,190. Okotoks is at 28,016.
If a second Okotoks trustee were added the average among the six wards would fall to 11,461 people. The two Okotoks trustees would an average of 14,008, just falling under the 25 per cent maximum (14,236).
Callaghan said had the division not looked at the matter it is possible the province would have stepped in at sometime in the future.
Under the proposal, the two Okotoks trustees would be the two top vote getters in the October 16 municipal election. They would share duties in the community they would not cover specific portions of the community, such as a North Okotoks or South Okotoks trustee for example.
Trustees will discuss the matter today (Feb. 15) at their public meeting in High River. It would then have to be approved by Alberta Education.
