SHOULD a volunteer who spends six consecutive years on the North Vancouver recreation commission receive a lifetime pass in recognition of their service?
That was the question debated by the City of North Vancouver's council Dec. 12.
The commission had such a policy for many years before dropping it in 2007. At last month's meeting, Coun. Craig Keating attempted to revive the practice for city volunteers through the municipality's funding of the commission.
"I believe that service on the recreation commission - of all the boards and agencies that the city asks the public to serve on - is quite distinct," he said. "First, the scope and scale and the kinds of programs and financial responsibilities that members of the commission are in charge of: It has a budget that approaches $20 million, the size of a small municipality. Unlike many other boards and committees we have in the city, members are asked to sit on all kinds of sub-committees: the personnel committee, policy committee, financial committee, audit committee, a wide variety of other committees."
Keating said volunteers usually have a meeting every week.
"It's a very substantial obligation that citizen members have," he said.
Coun. Don Bell acknowledged the size of the commission's budget, but said it's unfair to reward volunteers on one board and ignore the city's other volunteer bodies.
"I don't see the need to distinguish between them, unless we want to establish a policy of some kind," he said. "I don't want it to be the plum where you get on there and get a lifetime pass."
Bell said the commission could reward "an exceptional contribution" if it chose to.
"I don't think it's exceptional to simply serve for six years," he said.
Coun. Pam Bookham said the price of an adult pass, multiplied by 20 years, came in at $7,798.93.
"I consider that to be extremely generous," she said. "I too am not comfortable with this. . . . I just do not see the need to recognize this one group of citizen volunteers when we do not do that for other citizen volunteers who provide us with valuable insight and advice."
Coun. Guy Heywood, a former commission chair, said it was misleading to use the price of the pass to determine the cost. He noted that both Bell and Mayor Darrell Mussatto had been awarded such passes and rarely if ever made use of them.
"The opportunity cost isn't $380 per year," he said, adding that no current or former commission member had lobbied or requested any reward for their time.
But, he continued, "I think there's a broader question of recognition that is appropriate to deal with in a larger forum. . . That's something we don't do enough of."
Coun. Rod Clark recalled his 10 years as a volunteer on the board of Lions Gate Hospital.
"It was a $50-million operation in 1981," he said. "It dwarfed the City of North Vancouver. That involvement was, I would suggest, even more strenuous and demanding than the recreation commission. We had to talk about implants and all kinds of healthcare issues. . . . I was on lots of committees: the audit committee, the healthcare committee, the facilities committee, the volunteers committees, tons of different committees.
"It was a very involved time, but I don't get free healthcare. I can't go and check myself into Lions Gate because I spent 10 years on the board and I would never expect that. I did it because I loved my community."
Following Mussatto's suggestion that the city could potentially pay for former commissioners' individual visits rather than buy a pass, Keating's motion was amended to ask for a staff report on ways of rewarding recreation commission service. It passed by a 4-3 vote, with Bell, Bookham and Clark in opposition.
balldritt@nsnews.com
