WESTLOCK — The wording for the plebiscite question on the Town of Westlock’s crosswalk flagpole bylaw 2023-14 has been set.
Councillors voted 7-0 to confirm the wording for the plebiscite question at the Jan. 22 regular council meeting and will present it to residents for the Feb. 22 vote, as follows:
“Do you agree that:
• Only federal, provincial and municipal flags may be flown on flagpoles on Town of Westlock municipal property.
• All crosswalks in the Town of Westlock must be the standard white striped pattern between two parallel white lines.
• The existing rainbow coloured crosswalk in the Town of Westlock be removed.”
Section 44(1) of the Local Authorities Elections Act (LAEA) requires that council determine the wording to be used on the ballot and pass it by resolution.
Administration received a petition from Westlock resident Stephanie Bakker in September 2023 requesting that a bylaw be passed ensuring crosswalks and flags on public property remain neutral and adhere to several criteria. The Municipal Government Act requires that to be a valid petition, the petition must be signed by a minimum of 10 per cent of the municipality’s population. The Town of Westlock’s population is 4,921, meaning 492 signatures were required and the petition received more than the required number of signatures with more than 700 in total.
Town of Westlock CAO Simone Wiley validated the petition on October 30, 2023, councillors passed first reading of the bylaw on Nov. 27th and set the date of the plebiscite for Feb. 22, 2024.
Several councillors and administrative staff, including Wiley and planning and development manager Danielle Pougher, as well as councillors Murtaza Jamaly, Laura Morie and David Truckey, joined the council meeting virtually.
Wiley provided a brief overview of the bylaw process and confirmed the wording for the plebiscite vote next month.
“We are required to pass the question, council is required to make a motion on what that question will be and then the Local Authorities Elections Act (LAEA) requires that for two consecutive weeks prior to the vote of electors, the question is advertised,” said Wiley, who read the question for the plebiscite aloud.
“And it has to be the actual text or a reasonably complete summary of the bylaw or the question.”
Following the short presentation councillors briefly discussed the wording and asked several questions.
Coun. Curtis Snell asked to clarify the second point in the question, which read in part that “crosswalks in the Town of Westlock must be the standard white striped pattern between two parallel white lines.”
“Do we need to elaborate on ‘the standard’, like what is the standard,” asked Snell. “Is it an Alberta standard, is it a traffic safety standard or is this (statement) good enough.”
Wiley noted the town has a “procedures and design standards document” that it follows for new developments and the Traffic Safety Act has a standard for crosswalks as well, which they would adhere to.
“Traditionally, right now when we do re-paint ours on an annual basis, so that’s really what this is referring to,” she said. “So I think it is sufficient to say that there is a standard in Alberta and that’s what is being looked at.”
Coun. Jamaly asked if the wording of the question was vetted by the town‘s legal team.
“Yes, actually we worked with our legal team to ensure the wording of the question meets the intent of what was submitted in the petition, as well as the neutral stance the municipality takes on receiving the petition as well,” explained Wiley.
Mayor Jon Kramer also provided some comments on the plebiscite wording.
“The main thought is your question needs to be clear enough but I think every person standing in line to vote knows which way they want to vote,” said Kramer.
“And the goal is to make the question as clear as possible so when they go there and they read it, they know whether they’re supposed to say yes or no, based upon their feelings.”
Kramer also asked Wiley to speak to the town’s plan for polling stations that day, in light of some issues that arose during the recent Town of Westlock byelection on Jan. 10.
“Have we changed anything from our previous plan on byelection day to plebiscite day, for people to be aware of?” asked Kramer.
Wiley said they have changed several things to better accommodate the large crowd of voters expected for the plebiscite on Feb. 22.
“We will have four polling stations set up right from the start and it will be at the community hall in the large room,” said Wiley. “So that we, anticipating the larger crowd, make sure that we have people inside, more voting stations and we’ll have … more of our staff members working because it was a very long day on byelection day for those that were working it,” she added. “Lesson learned. We anticipate there’ll be a very high turnout for the vote of electors on this question as well, so making sure our staff are taken care of and not working the entire day.”
