When reporting the news of the week, it can sometimes seem like the coverage of what’s perceived as a negative story outweighs what’s perceived as a positive story, and in a sense that’s true, but it doesn’t mean positive things aren’t going on.
If everything is status quo, that’s not necessarily news. It’s only when things don’t go as planned that a person or event might tend to attract some increased attention.
Certainly that’s been true in the pages of this newspaper with all the issues at Westlock County in the past couple months, but this week there are several items that tend to highlight some of the positives going on. More specifically, the fact that Westlock County appears to have embarked on a wholesale review of policies and bylaws can be viewed in a very positive light.
The discussion around the council table about remuneration and expenses for elected officials, for example, certainly showed some leadership — this council has kept a tight grip on the purse strings, and it’s nice to know they’re trying to practice what they preach.
The fact councillors will no longer be able to set their own rate of pay, but will only be able to change things for the next incoming council, is an extra breath of fresh air. In all levels of government, residents and taxpayers understandably get up in arms when elected officials give themselves raises. Those other levels of government would do well to follow this lead.
The discussion about changing the volunteer committee makeup is also quite refreshing — especially in terms of the efforts to ensure fair representation of women on these volunteer boards.
It’s true that in the case of volunteerism, you’re more often than not forced to take whatever you can get, but putting it in writing that women need fair representation on these committees is a remarkably progressive step for a rural Albertan council to try to make.
One could make the argument that the councils themselves should better reflect that women make up half the population — in the three Westlock-area municipalities just two of the 19 elected officials are women — but that’s a decision for the electors to make. All this is not to say that Westlock County couldn’t do things differently or better, but credit should be given where it’s due.
