Squamish experienced a dramatic shift in economic development strategies Friday (May 1) as the district's foundation for job growth was eliminated in one fell swoop.
Council for the District of Squamish last week voted to terminate the business development department and the business lead position, formerly held by Dave Thomson while the entire Squamish Sustainability Corporation (SSC) board tendered its resignation.
The business lead position was eliminated purely as a cost-saving measure during budget deliberations, said Mayor Greg Gardner. The decision means a budget reduction of approximately $70,000 in salary and about $150,000 in total.
Thomson worked closely with the SSC to generate jobs and economic interests in town. Thomson could not be reached for comment.
SSC chair Dave Crewson said the board's resignation had nothing to do with council's decision to eliminate the business lead position.
"That was, I guess, an unfortunate coincidence."
SSC news release issued Monday (May 4) stated "attempts to work collaboratively with the new council have been unsuccessful.
"The board sincerely regrets that it has come to this end."
The SSC motion to resign stated the arm's length municipal corporation wished to "ensure readiness for the upcoming tourist season and the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games."
The board's motion recommended "that the SSC directors collectively resign and that the administration, maintenance and management of the Squamish Adventure Centre revert the District of Squamish."
The motion also emphasized the desire to see Tourism Squamish continue with its responsibilities.
The news release added the intent of the motion is to emphasize the importance of the tourism industry and need to accelerate readiness for 2010.
Crewson said the council's apparent unwillingness to work with the SSC also led to the decision to resign.
Upon new council's election late last year, members discussed removing much of the SSC's responsibilities, and since then an economic development committee headed by Coun. Paul Lalli was formed. The committee denied the SSC an audience with council, said Crewson.
"Several requests to present job growth strategy recommendations, business plans and budgets were denied by the mayor and the Economic Development Committee," stated Crewson in the news release.
"We had also spoken to the mayor twice for a committee of the whole meeting between council and the board, and in those occasions the mayor did not enter that request onto an agenda," he said in an interview.
Gardner said the economic committee made the decision to disallow an SSC presentation to council because the board's budgets and recommendations had not been made by the minimum number of members required to make a quorum.
The resignation leaves unanswered questions regarding the direction and funding required for Tourism Squamish, since tourism initiatives fell under the SSC mandate, and were funded under SSC budget requests.
The municipal budget now reserves $157,000 for Tourism Squamish, however the group revealed to council Monday (May 4) that they'll require $214,000.
Coun. Patricia Heintzman said until just last week, she believed the SSC had requested the $157,000 itemized in the budget. Rather, it was a figure brought forward from last year's SSC budget since, according to Gardner, the SSC hadn't brought their funding needs forward.
The SSC did present its finances for the purposes of review, according to council's staff directive made in December, said Gardner. But the figures did not amount to a formal budget request.
Heintzman said she's concerned the SSC - and subsequently Tourism Squamish - was denied the chance to put forward budget requests.
"In my opinion, committees aren't designed to filter the agenda to council, they are designed to aid in communicating council's agenda as policy making stuff with the staff and vice versa. So I'm not a fan of the committee system at the moment," said Heintzman.
She added that confusion over the specific mandates for the SSC, economic development and Tourism Squamish, and over who is and is not a district employee, understandably led to a decision to "sort of deconstruct" and rebuild with more clarity.
However, she reiterated, the committee system requires better terms of reference.
"We really need to figure out the terms of reference or we need to return to committee of the whole meetings," she said. "That's my opinion, but I'm willing to give it a little more time. I don't think committees should be driving the agendas of those committees. Council should still be driving the agenda."
Gardner said the business lead department's elimination does not mean job growth is no longer a district priority.
"This council is focused on bringing more jobs to the community and we're working on that from many different angles," he said. "For example you'll see a lot of budget money allocated to the fibre network this year. We are trying to make sure we're business-friendly in our planning and community development departments and many of our planning initiatives, for example the Oceanfront development lands and others."
