Whereas the Province has enacted a significant volume of legislative and regulatory amendments affecting the authority of local governments, and these changes span across multiple, diverse topics and require specialized knowledge to implement locally; And whereas many British Columbia local governments are small organizations with a lean staff and fixed capacity, and local governments have not received permanent core funding to increase capacity for ongoing demands of new legislation, and multiple changes province-wide limits the availability of qualified consultants to create temporary capacity: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM urge the Province to: - conduct meaningful technical level consultation with local governments about the feasibility and practicality of implementation, prior to amending legislation that affects the capacity and authority of local governments; - to consider reasonable timelines for local governments to adapt to legislative changes; - to consider the timing of multiple significant changes to core legislation across multiple topics; - to coordinate the release of regulations and policy with statute amendments to assist local government staff in meeting timelines; and - provide sustained core funding to local governments to accompany permanent changes that create additional workload for local government staff.
