Remember the motion put forward by Councillor Suzanne Anton calling for an affirmation of the Park Board’s independence? How about the accompanying press release, which claims that “the General Manager of the Park Board has always been hired by the Park Board independently of the City,” even though:
That legal opinion was released, by the way, when Anton was a Park Board commissioner who stayed silent about the interpretation at the time.
Suzanne Anton carves out her line in the sand, conveniently in the shape of the number of seconders she was able to attract for her important and pressing motion.
Regardless, the motion was finally up for debate yesterday. Anton, however, was unable to find a seconder, which means it died on the order paper without debate.
Why did that happen? Well, let’s examine the facts about what Anton claims is the “emasculation” of the Park Board.
As publicly stated by Park Board Chair Raj Hundal:
The Park Board will be conducting an open recruitment and hiring process.
The exercise will included input from City of Vancouver staff.
However, the final decision on hiring a new General Manager will be made solely by the Park Board.
Yesterday, Anton was able to secure a measure of independence as a result of her motion. Unfortunately for her, it had absolutely nothing to do with the Park Board, whose independence is not in question by anyone but the lone NPA councillor.
