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Kudos undeserved, and more
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Editor, Sir;
Why does the Queen Charlotte council deserve Kudos (glory, renown) for performing a function that they are rather obliged to do? (Your editorial of Thursday February 25). Surely Kudos should be reserved for performances over and above those that are normally to be expected. Council has an obligation to make public how it spends taxpayer money. It is not a benevolent act but a requirement that almost all financial matters must be transparent, and the public may ask for details if they are not satisfied.
You further commented that the village spent $17,000.00 over budget on legal fees in the first ten months of 2009 and that this may have "ticked council off". Those first ten months included October, the month in which advice was obtained pertaining to my "termination without cause". We have been told by the village that those costs were approximately $15,500.00.
Legal fees do tend to vary from year to year and the village was lacking in legal opinions when I entered the arena. Legal opinions are very useful should there ever be a question of negligence because they indicate that matters have been taken seriously and the best legal advice possible has been sought to protect the interests of a municipality. Your readers may remember that, before I came here, the village was divided over the matter of Hooterville and, amongst other things, the former CAO and one member of council reported they had been "threatened" by a moving vehicle. The situation was "hot' to say the least. We obtained a legal opinion, changed the stance of some members of council and the matter settled down. It has now moved into another phase altogether.
Although the village acquired all roads within the municipality at incorporation, maintenance of those roads does not fall to the village until the end of January 2010. There was no protocol governing how the maintenance would be assumed and undertaken. During 2009, I worked with the village lawyers to put this protocol together and, although very necessary, the work was extensive and was an extra legal expense. We also had to take care of possible liability issues regarding a dam the village had forgotten about. There was also a three day workshop, shared with other municipalities on Haida Gwaii, covering protocols that needed to be changed (as the village is now doing), bylaws that needed to be brought in (twelve were recommended - so far only the indemnity for mayor and council bylaw has been passed). The matters mentioned above were some of the matters that required extra legal work and none of them had to do with the dispute over my moving expenses. The work done by the village lawyer relating to that debacle was done for free. I make no apology for legal expenses incurred last year; the village is new and inexperienced and no-one wants to be caught in a potentially costly situation that a legal opinion would have averted.
The amount paid by the village to Young, Anderson for some advice - and about three letters connected with my "termination without cause" - is astounding and, had I decided to sue, would have done nothing to prevent it. As I mentioned in an earlier letter, I saw no reason for the residents of this municipality to pay huge legal fees to defend the actions taken by a few people who had made sure they were already indemnified by the village - check the date of the indemnity bylaw!
Some points on recovered costs and expenses - Jim Craven, the consultant involved in both my hiring and that of Mr. Beamish, offered $500 towards the cost of my move. Mayor Kulesha accepted his offer on behalf of the village although why he should have been made to pay I have no idea. Although the village did not pay a new CAO's salary for a part of October, November, December and January, they were obliged to pay me for those months and more - less, of course a 30 percent plus, tax holdback, deducted at source. I would imagine that Ms Uliana was paid the difference between her salary and the salary of the CAO for those months as that has been the usual practice in this village. Perhaps the figures should be looked at again.
Yes the village has changed law firms and gone to Young, Anderson, ironically a firm that Donald Lidstone founded some years ago. Donald is the acknowledged master of municipal law in this province. He was and is instrumental in writing new municipal law on an ongoing basis. You had him. You lost him, too bad!
Every CAO has, with council's concurrence, the choice to work with lawyers of his/her choice. Judging by the fees paid to this newly appointed firm relating to my termination, the fees paid by the village for legal services could be very high this coming year - except for the fact that quite a bit of the work was done last year, in advance of when it might be needed.
My last points relate to the "lost year" experienced by councilor Martin.
1- He was not present at the "hearing" conducted by the village relating to my previously determined "termination without cause". I was informed that the decision of the council after the "hearing" was unanimous. How could it be unanimous if one person was missing at the hearing? I couldn't quite do the math - but.never mind, unanimous it was!
A resolution stating that council was agreed to terminate me without cause had already been prepared, several days prior to the "hearing".
2.- He was not present at the legal workshop held in conjunction with council members and staff from other councils on Haida Gwaii,
3.-I don't think he can have been present when the information was gathered for a grant application based on generating hydro power on the Honna River.
4.- He obviously was not aware of the minimum of four months that were spent under my direction straightening out the improperly working MAIS program that no-one in the finance department seemed to understand.
5.- He cannot have been there when hours - no - days of work were involved to sort out why the figures relating to expenses that the village was working with differed so much from those of the engineering firm installing the new water system.
6.- I guess he must have been away when the Community Charter and Local Government Act were re-ordered in an up- to- date version so staff had reference to the core statutes by which the municipality is supposed to run.
I'm glad things are now going so well at the village office and that output is "immensely" changed. A lot of matters were tidied up last year but memories are short when it is expedient and this is part of the human condition.
Eunice Ludlow
Queen Charlotte
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Work together
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Editor, Sir;
I'd like to thank the mayor, fire chief Larry Duke and the firemen from Village of Queen Charlotte Volunteer Fire Department (VQCVFD) for working with us to ensure we have a greater advantage when we face our next challenge as fire fighters.
The Skidegate Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD) is rebuilding and we have been practising and training with our brother firemen from Queen Charlotte, we are also training in motor vehicle accident extraction. You may see vehicles in many different accident scenes around the community, we are sorry if anyone has been startled or upset by seeing these vehicles looking like there's been a accident, through the next few months you may see many more of these scenes. These scenes are staged for our practices to ensure if we have to deal with the real disaster we will have well trained firemen and women to professionally help the victims, ensuring we can do the best job possible to get the victim or victims back home to their families.
We are still short on manpower in our Skidegate volunteer fire hall and we need more firemen and women, we are open to anyone from Lawn Hill to the Village of Queen Charlotte, although we have a great core group of dedicated firemen in SVFD but we still need more, with our joint fire departments we number 26 and this is great but we need more volunteers!
I see great value in working with the Village of Queen Charlotte by resource sharing in areas where we share common problems like fire education, protection and other emergency services, building safer communities for the future of our children and families.
We train Tuesday nights at 7:15 orientation and dispatch at 7:30.
Fireman Roy S. Jones Jr.
Skidegate
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Fiesta or fiasco?
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Go Canada Go! Amazing hockey games and 14 gold medals - a record-breaking achievement. The 2010 Vancouver Olympics was definitely a party. From here on Haida Gwaii, everyone looked like they were having fun. Heck, we even had fun watching it on TV.
There were several disasters of course, including the tragic death of one Olympian before the games began. The weather seemed like it wasn't going to cooperate too, much like that fourth arm of the Olympic cauldron, but all in all it was a hugely successful event.
Trouble is Vancouverites, along with everyone else in BC, are going to be paying for this event for years. Some say the improved global image of Vancouver and newfound pride among Canadians is the lasting benefit of these games. Is that enough?
Closer to home, is our own Olympic spending spree going to realize any direct benefits? Will Haida Gwaii House and a new website (projects with an approximate $200,000 total budget) bring more tourists to the islands? Or was the Misty Islands Economic Development Society's gamble on a destination marketing presence during the Olympics a half-pipe dream?
We understand some agencies, like Travel Alberta which spent millions on a pavilion and a train that swooshed the elite between Vancouver and Whistler, feel theirs was money well spent. Travel Alberta reportedly got so much media coverage that it's pleased with the investment. But whether the taxpayers are happy is another question. They're calling for proof that touring people through BC's scenery was a good way to promote Alberta.
We'd like to see some similar proof from MIEDS. Sure, Haida Gwaii House volunteers reported it was a success. They say they talked with 50,000 people and many will make travel here a lifetime goal. But how will we ever know if they show up?
At the least, MIEDS has a responsibility to track this. Ask the tourists who come how they heard about the islands and prove to us this was a good investment.
Also, we want to know how this economic development society - one that most of our communities invest significant dollars in - turned into Tourism Haida Gwaii. Most of the results it has crowed about over the past couple of years have dealt with tourism: Art Route (a project handed over to MIEDS from the QCI Arts Council), the art and craft fair for the World Cruise Ship arrival last summer (how many cruisers came by let alone purchased?) and a few collaborative ads for the region that showed up on TV.
Is tourism our number one priority? When did we decide that? Large grants are going to be fewer and farther between in the future. BC is facing a $1.7 billion deficit and cuts are already expected in many sectors (including rumours of huge civil service layoffs). We'll see what the future holds with the new provincial budget. Let's start by being careful about our spending priorities here.
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