METRO Vancouvers recent meetings have been an appalling waste of time and money, according to West Vancouver Mayor Michael Smith, who recently decided to skip a two-day board meeting in Chilliwack.
The more time I spend in the public sector, the more I shake my head, Smith said, discussing the dearth of real issues addressed at Metro Vancouver meetings.
Weve had three meetings that Ive attended. None of them lasted more than about an hour. Theres no business discussed, Smith said.
The 37-member Metro Vancouver board, made up primarily of Lower Mainland mayors and councillors, oversees the provision of drinking water and sewer service to municipalities and works with TransLink through the Mayors Council on Regional Transportation. That work involves a lot of in-person meetings, but many of those get-togethers accomplish little, according to Smith.
He was particularly chagrinned recently when he received an email in advance of the Chilliwack meeting that featured questions such as: If you could be anywhere else but here, where would you be? and What three guests would you invite for dinner? (Living, dead, or fictional.)
They sent out a bunch of. . . these kind of warm, fuzzy questions. Im not going to drive out to Chilliwack, even though I get my stipend, and put in for expenses, and waste two days sitting around talking about if I was a tree, what kind of a tree would I be? Smith said. Ive spent 42 years in business; Ive never even heard of a business conducting a meeting like this.
Smith said he first thought the email was a joke sent out to rookie directors.
I said, Is this a serious email? Smith said. I said, if it is, please let me know when the business part of the meeting begins, and I will attend then. Well, I didnt even get a response.
But Metro Vancouver Board chairman Greg Moore rejected Smiths claims.
Theres a lot of substance that occurs at our meetings and a lot of passionate debate, and working together to drive solutions, Moore said.
The first transportation meeting of the term involved electing a new chair and vice-chair, as well as appealing to the provincial government to put TransLink under the purview of the forthcoming office of the Municipal Auditor General, according to Moore.
The questions that were distributed ahead of the Chilliwack meeting were a simple getting-to-know-you exercise, and played no part in the actual meeting, according to Moore, who sent the email.
What I wanted to do, and this doesnt take much time for anybody, is just to get everybody to know each other a little bit. . . and then just to have a little bit of fun and ask some out-of-the-box questions and learn each others personalities, because were going to work together quite closely over the next three years, Moore said. We didnt spend any time on it. It was put into a booklet that people could read at their own leisure, so it wasnt an item on an agenda.
Moore said he made several attempts to contact Smith.
I phoned him four times, Moore said. When we had that agenda finalized it went out to every board director, so he could completely determine what parts (of the meeting) he would like to attend.
Metro Vancouvers place in the global economy, what the board needs to accomplish over the next three years, and methods to integrate land-use and transportation planning were a few of the topics discussed, according to Moore.
By refusing to participate, Smith may be shortchanging his constituents, he said.
On the North Shore, its extremely important that were working together as a board and with the senior levels of government so that we can get funding for the Lions Gate wastewater treatment plant, Moore said. If we cant work together, and if we cant get money out of the federal and provincial governments, that has a huge impact on (Smiths) taxpayers, and its important he be a part of that conversation.
Smith didnt see it that way, however. Heading to Chilliwack and collecting his stipend would have been disrespectful to West Vancouverites, he argued.
Smith agreed that many of the issues Moore cited were important, but he said Metro Vancouver and TransLink are ill-equipped to handle those challenges.
We should be able to assure our taxpayers that the money that goes to Metro Vancouver and TransLink is responsibly spent, Smith said. How could anybody say that when theres no overview that I can see?
Look at the issues facing Metro with sewer and water costs. . . with a faltering economy, with federal and provincial government debts which could impact their ability to help us with these big infrastructure projects like the Lions Gate treatment plant. This is what we should be talking about.
Smith said not attending the meeting in Chilliwack was his best option.
Ill probably be a minority of one, but at least Im going to stand up and be counted. So anyway, to make a long story short, I didnt go.
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