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DNV's lines of communication cloudy

Open letter to District of North Vancouver mayor and Council: I find it strange that all of council expressed concern about the low voter turnout in the recent municipal election, but the actions of this council over the past few years has been getti

Open letter to District of North Vancouver mayor and Council:

I find it strange that all of council expressed concern about the low voter turnout in the recent municipal election, but the actions of this council over the past few years has been getting more negative towards the residents with respect to credible communication and input into district matters.

Council mostly alternates formal meetings in the chamber where public input is allowed and council workshops in the committee room where no public input is allowed.

The district no longer advertises what is on the agenda for the council meetings in the North Shore News though they still have a whole page on a regular basis for the District Dialogue. On that page in the Sunday, Jan. 8 issue they advertised that the mayor had a new Facebook page and that the council meeting dates for 2012 were on the district web site. There was enough empty space left on that page to say the week's council meeting was "cancelled," but you only found that out if you had a computer and went to the website. The district website now also informs that the Jan. 16 and 17 workshops are "cancelled."

When they do have a council meeting, there are many agenda addenda items added on the night of the meeting now.

The district has Facebook and Twitter pages, but they can still not respond to all the emails in a timely manner.

Perhaps when council recently changed many committees of council to be committees of staff it was not aware of all the legal ramifications. The one that could have the greatest impact on the public is that, while council committees are statutorily open to the public, committees of staff do not have this requirement. The abrogation of council's fiduciary requirements to uphold the interest of the public who elected them is thus considerably weakened.

I have heard that the district gave short notice to the community associations about future use of the meeting rooms at district hall on a regular basis for their meetings regarding the communication of district issues between the community associations.

I wonder why approximately 80 per cent of the residents do not bother to take an interest in their municipality and come out to vote.

Trust, credibility and respect take a long time to get but are lost in an instant and take a lot of time and effort to regain.

David Knee North Vancouver