Sicamous council opted for continuity over policy with the re-appointment of three outgoing directors on the Development Corporation board.
At the June 11 meting, Tourism and Economic Development coordinator Carly Procyshyn brought forward a recommendation to re-appoint Coleen Dales, Mike Helfrick and Todd Kyllo to another two-year term rather than going to a public call for new members. She said the trio had expressed a desire to renew their terms because “the projects we have going, we thought it would make sense to extend the terms again.”
While Coun. Gord Bushell understood the logic, he felt council should stick with the procedure in place.
“I think the world of all three.. but we do have a policy, and I remember we had this problem years ago with somebody on the board where we said, no you have to go through the process,” he said. “So I just think you know, we give everybody in the community an opportunity to put their name in."
He added that other people may or may not put their names forward, and council could very well end up re-appointing the three board members, but "we do have a policy and I think we should stick to it.”
Coun. Ian Baillie agreed, pointing out that bending the rules once could set a precedent.
“If we short circuit it one year, you have a process and then, well why this year and not next year? I feel like it does kind of erode the process that you have there and then it becomes a little less credible," he said.
Coun. Pam Beech agreed with sticking to procedure as well, but asked about possibly lengthening the two-year terms for continuity on longer projects.
Other councillors agreed the terms should be longer, which chief administrative officer Dean Strachan added is the general feeling of the development board members as well.
“In the conversations I had with the group, it sounds very much that they feel like they’re finally getting momentum going, and it’s taken some time to get the momentum going and two years is just not enough to see anything really move to fruition,” he said.
In a split vote with Couns. Siobhan Rich, Baillie and Bushell opposed, council approved the re-appointment of the board members as being in the best interests of the community, and will address increasing the length of terms to three or four years at a future meeting.
