Before we begin, here's a reminder: our current District of Squamish council members were elected on the platform of improving district governance and transparency.
However since the election, the picture of what's going on at Municipal Hall has become blurrier than ever.
One reason is that council members are taking on more and more of the roles that have, in the past, been held by staff or volunteers who could lend expertise in certain areas.
After all such decisions as economic and job growth, and community development shouldn't lie entirely in the hands of A) laymen who are B) busy constantly gauging the political winds.
Now these laymen, our elected officials, are not only in the position to adopt recommendations, they're heavily involved in the conception and execution of recommendations. So when they finally don the councillor's hat to adopt a new project, policy or expenditure, the in-depth discussion is not really required, is it? They may repeat assertions for the general public, but much of the act of delving, asking and criticizing is done beforehand.
It makes for really quick council meetings, but it also means that when all is said and done, one stakeholder group -you the public - is left out of learning and discussion process.
So was the case this past week when non-profit groups throughout the community were told their days of enjoying the municipal Adventure Centre building for events at barely any cost were over. No public discussion.
Who made this decision without consultation? The Squamish Sustainability Corporation (SSC) board. But wait council is the SSC board, so shouldn't this have been a public discussion? Council says it's the SSC's decision to waive fees, the SSC says council should be approached for grants to pay for fees. The bureaucratic maze makes one feel as though they've walked into a Kafka novel.
In June we reported that all SSC directors (except for the board's two council representatives) resigned when their budget was rejected without ever going to council.
Since then, council members have been holding meetings as the entire SSC board of directors, and again, they seem to be playing fast and loose with the rules. They're discussing the future of this public building without the same Community Chartered disclosure procedures and conflict of interest legislations imposed within council chambers. Unlike council meetings, the SSC meetings are not widely known, schedules and agendas are not widely distributed, nor are the minutes. And you won't see any of these meetings on Shaw.
If that doesn't break actual disclosure rules, it certainly breaks their spirit.
Now Squamish has no professional economic development team since council decided to eliminate the business lead position in June -just as the entire SSC board resigned.
Frightening situation indeed.
