A former Powell River Regional District board member is calling for assistance in determining whether he has a recreation commission appointment.
At the Thursday, January 22, regional board meeting, Dave Murphy, who had been Texada Island’s director for a number of years, appeared before the regional board saying a small item had occurred on the island that hopefully the board could remedy. Murphy said the island has a recreation commission and several members had stepped aside so there were vacancies to fill. Having a lot of background knowledge on the workings of the island, he applied for one of the positions, he said.
At a recent meeting of the recreation commission, two of the three members were chosen and he said there was a debate on the third position. Murphy and another person were being considered for the appointment. Murphy said the commission postponed the choosing of the third board member to the next meeting, which is in March.
“I put my name in for this position in December,” he said. “At the March meeting, when and if they decide who is going to be the next commissioner, that recommendation will have to go to this board. Therefore, whoever is chosen will not fill that position or be effective as a commissioner until the next meeting, which will be six months from the time that my application and another person’s went in. I think this is unfair.”
Murphy said he was asking the regional board to recommend to the chair of the recreation commission that they hold a special meeting, even via email, and make a decision, so he knows whether he’s in or out.
Sandy McCormick, Electoral Area D director, agreed there were three vacancies. Two were for two-year terms and the other was for a one-year term. The decision was made on the two-year terms. She affirmed that the decision on the one-year term was set over.
She said the decisions were made during an in-camera session, so her question was how appropriate it was to discuss in a public session of a board meeting things that went on in camera.
When Murphy and McCormick began to have an exchange over the matter, regional board chair Patrick Brabazon said that there are no debates during delegations or inquiries before the board, so the board would be taking the matter under advisement.
Murphy reiterated that he wanted the regional district to have a discussion with the recreation commission chair so that the applicants for the position know the decision and aren’t held in suspense for six months.
Stan Gisborne, Electoral Area B director, said that under the bylaws, the position should have been appointed in January.
Colin Palmer, Electoral Area C director, said he’d received an email explaining what had gone on and presumed the rest of the board had as well. He wondered whether the regional board’s discussion would be held in public.
The matter will be discussed at a future date.
