If Cortes Island residents hoping to appear as a delegation before the Strathcona Regional District recently did not get their wish, they are giving the SRD some homework.
A couple of delegations had hoped to speak about concerns of governance for Area B as well as SRD board delays over proceeding on a referendum for a hall tax.
They learned the week before the Feb. 13 meeting their requests were being treated as correspondence only and that they would not be allowed to speak. They were informed the reason was that delegations are not intended to be opportunities to debate with the board or discuss its decisions.
As an alternative, Chair Michele Babchuk and David Leitch, chief administrative officer, will be responding to the letters from Cortes. There are many more requests that those from the delegations though. The agenda for the Feb. 12 meeting included 32 pieces of correspondence from Cortes residents.
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Claire Moglove, one of the Campbell River directors, made the motion for the chair and CAO to respond, saying she had read through all the letters, which she described as “significant and lengthy.” She counted 103 different questions, though she said some repeated concerns. She described some as rhetorical and some as dealing with matters of confidentiality. She broke down the correspondence into a few main topics, including the legal petition, costs and the SRD’s policies, among others.
“There’s a lot of misinformation, confusion, ambiguity as to what’s happening,” she said.
However, she summed up the extent of the response from Cortes, a community of 1,000 people, saying, “This is a very unique situation…. This is the first time I’ve seen a situation like this.”
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Her colleague Charlie Cornfield expressed support for the idea that people be allowed to communicate with their elected officials, adding he would like to see the response the Cortes residents receive.
“To me it’s everyone’s right,” he said. “That’s all part of democracy.”
Area A Director Gerald Whalley voted in opposition to the move, saying having the chair and CAO communicating with residents was not their responsibility.
“It’s kind of doing an end-run of a director,” he said.
At recent meetings, Area B Director Noba Anderson has expressed frustration over actions that could fit a description of “end runs,” specifically, that some residents on Cortes have not contacted her over issues and instead have contacted other members of the SRD board. In fact, Area D Director Brenda Leigh told the board at a meeting in November that Cortes residents had contacted her with various concerns.
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Anderson, who is at centre of a legal petition launched by 14 residents, recused herself from discussions around all but three of the letters. When she returned to the meeting, she questioned why the SRD had not allowed delegations to appear, saying in her 10 years on the board the only time delegations had not been allowed was if it regarding a legal matter.
“I do have a concern around a delegation being denied,” she said.
She asked where the language was in the bylaw around delegations and wanted the SRD board to review this.
Leitch responded that he made the decision that the delegation requests did not fit within the wording in the SRD guidelines, adding these guidelines pre-dated his tenure with the SRD. He also said he and the chair are ultimately responsible for setting the meeting agenda.
Andy Adams, Campbell River’s mayor and one of its directors, could not support a motion for the board to look at the wording, instead suggesting staff address the matter first. His motion carried unopposed.