The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority has rejected a bid by Victoria to appoint whomever it wants to the authority’s board.
Last year, the city called on the harbour authority to hold a general meeting to change its bylaws so that members’ appointees are not subject to vetting by the authority. After giving itself nine months to consult and consider the matter, the harbour authority has rejected the change.
The city found itself at odds with the GVHA — a non-elected, not-for-profit body that manages the capital’s port properties — when Victoria Coun. Shellie Gudgeon was rejected last year as the city’s appointee to the board.
At the time, harbour authority chairman Bill Wellburn said that the board was seeking individuals with expertise in cruises and tourism, terminals and transportation, marinas and harbour-related businesses, commercial marine affairs and First Nations. He asked the city to select someone else.
The authority relented and accepted Gudgeon as the city’s board appointee after a heated annual meeting in which members of the public demanded more accountability.
But at a special general meeting Friday, only Victoria Coun. Pam Madoff, the city’s member representative, and Capital Regional District chairman Alastair Bryson voted in support of Victoria’s resolution for a change in the bylaws. Esquimalt Coun. Lynda Hundleby, who was representing the Provincial Capital Commission, which the province has dissolved, abstained.
After the decision, Gudgeon, Madoff and Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin expressed disappointment.
“I’m disappointed at the outcome of today’s vote,” Gudgeon said. “It doesn’t speak to democratic governance of the City of Victoria’s assets.”
Fortin said the city council will regroup next week to determine its next course of action.
Madoff said the fact that all members of Victoria council attended the special meeting spoke to the importance of the issue.
“We wouldn’t have brought this forward if we didn’t have strong feelings about it and we were totally united as a council and really hoping that what I thought was a really reasonable request would win the day,” Madoff said.
The harbour authority was formed in 2002 after the federal government divested itself of port properties.
Under the founding memorandum of understanding, one director was to be appointed from each of Victoria, Esquimalt, the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, the PCC, the CRD, the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Victoria. Two directors were to come from the Harbour Society and three were to be appointed by the board.
But the authority passed bylaw changes in 2012, giving the board sole discretion over whether to accept nominees from member organizations.
Wellburn said that after nine months of examining the issue and consultation, GVHA member agency representatives decided Friday to uphold the bylaws as passed in 2012.
“A number of them spoke and they spoke in favour of maintaining the bylaws because they believed that would produce a board with the skills required to oversee the GVHA,” Wellburn said.
He said he reached out to Fortin after the meeting to see if any accommodation could be made for the city’s special interest in the harbour.
“I don’t know what that will be, but I’m all for exploring ideas,” he said.
