Safe Surrey Coalition loses another councillor

Second councilor leaves Safe Surrey Coalition Another city councilor has left Mayor Doug McCallum's Safe Surrey Coalition, citing conflicts with the mayor's leadership style.

Surrey Councillor Brenda Locke has announced she's leaving the Safe Surrey Coalition, citing problems with Mayor Doug McCallum.

Locke is the second member of the Safe Surrey Coalition to leave recently and call out McCallum's governing style as a problem.

"I was elected by the people of Surrey to speak up for them and advocate for their interests, but it has become impossible to do as part of Safe Surrey," Locke said in a statement.

"I ran as part of a coalition, but it’s become obvious that Mayor McCallum has a my-way-or-the-highway approach to governing."

Locke said she took issue with the city's recently released Surrey Transition Policing Report, particularly when it came to police staffing levels at Sophie's Place, which helps victims of abuse.

"If we look at the Police Transition Report, it's a long, detailed report but it has very little substance and it is not good for Surrey," she told CTV News. "I joined Safe Surrey Coalition because I wanted more safety for the public. I don't see that in the report."

The bigger issue, she said, was comments made by McCallum about her concerns following the report's release.

"The mayor said that I was fearmongering, he said I wasn't being truthful with the public and integrity means a lot to me and that was just unacceptable," Locke said.

The councillor says she has asked for a legal opinion on the mayor's alleged defamatory comments. She says she wants McCallum to apologize.

Locke added that her concerns extend beyond the issue of community policing, however.

"Something that I've said to the mayor and all of council from the beginning is transparency is really important," she said.

"This will not work unless we're transparent about how we're moving forward and certainly that didn't happen. So communication, transparency is critically important."

Locke, who is a former MLA, said she now plans to sit on council as an independent.

Asked about the councillor's decision to leave the Safe Surrey Coalition on Thursday, McCallum said Locke will have to answer to the city's voters.

"Brenda campaigned with the Safe Surrey Coalition on the platform that we're implementing. She got tens of thousands of votes on that platform and she's going to now have to address those people that voted for her," McCallum said.

The mayor also denied the councillor's characterization of his leadership at city hall.

"It's very good. Everybody gets a chance if they want to speak at council, they have lots of opportunity to speak at council," McCallum said.

Locke isn't the mayor's only critic in council, however. Coun. Linda Annis, who is with Surrey First, says she is not at all surprised by Locke’s departure, calling the situation at Surrey City Hall "an embarrassment."

"Things are not getting done the way they should be," Annis told CTV News. "Much of the decision making on issues that council should be totally included on have been done in the mayor’s office in isolation of council."

"We have to get back on track,” she added. “We’ve got to get into a place where we’re making good decisions."

In her statement, Locke said that she felt Surrey city council had become "dysfunctional."

"Now, far too many decisions are made in the mayor’s office, behind closed doors, and when I speak up for citizens I am met with personal attacks. This is simply not acceptable."

Councillor Steven Pettigrew, who was elected with Safe Surrey Coalition, left the group at the end of May to sit as an independent.

“I’m excited for her. I think it’s a very positive move,” Pettigrew told CTV News on Thursday afternoon at city hall when asked about Locke’s departure from the coalition. “I know when I left i had this huge weight lifted off my shoulders.”

Pettigrew has also had issues with Mayor McCallum, including tense moments during a council meeting Monday.

“As elected officials we need to be accountable to the public and there is no accountability right now,” Pettigrew told CTV News when asked about the issues at city hall. “That’s something I’m really concerned about.”

CTV News also reached Safe Surrey Coalition City Councillor Jack Hundial by phone Thursday morning. He says he is re-evaluating his future with the coalition but has not yet decided if he may also choose to sit as an independent.