Two Powell River Regional District board meetings have been held with directors participating over the telephone, even though the procedure bylaw does not authorize electronic participation at regular board meetings.
The Local Government Act and its associated regulations permit electronic participation by board members who are unable to attend a regular meeting, provided they are authorized by a procedure bylaw. Local governments are required to adopt a procedure bylaw, which ensures that meetings are run in an orderly and lawful manner.
The regional district board adopted an amended procedure bylaw in November 2010. It allows, on authorization of the chair, for a special meeting to be held electronically. As well, it permits directors from Texada and Lasqueti islands to participate electronically in meetings of committees of which they are members, if they can’t attend because of poor weather conditions or lack of transportation.
However, the bylaw does not contain a provision for electronic participation in regular board meetings by directors who can’t attend the meeting.
At the November 2011 board meeting, both Dave Murphy, Texada Island director, and Merrick Anderson, Lasqueti Island director, participated over the telephone. At the December 2011 meeting, Anderson again participated over the telephone.
Directors have been grappling with the procedure bylaw since the fall of 2010. However, the fact that the procedure bylaw doesn’t authorize electronic participation at regular board meetings seems to have been overlooked, until Peter McGuigan, who publishes and writes the Texada Gazette, brought the matter to light in the November 2011 and December 2011 issues. He also brought the matter up during question period at a number of meetings. After his questions at the December board meeting, directors passed a motion which stated the procedure bylaw would be considered at the first January committee-of-the-whole meeting. But it was not on the agenda for either of the committee meetings in January.
When contacted by the Peak, Patrick Brabazon, chair of the regional district’s committee of the whole, agreed there was no prescription in the bylaw other than for special board meetings. “There’s no actual proscription because my interpretation is that a special meeting of the board may be conducted electronically and Section 3.3 specifies who’s got to be present,” he said. “We’re dealing with the problem of Merrick over there on Lasqueti. I’ve been willing to interpret it liberally, so that he could attend in cases where it is difficult.”
Section 3.3 states, “Where the chair has authorized a special board meeting to be conducted electronically, at least the administrator or another regional district officer must attend the meeting at the specified meeting place.”
Brabazon also said the regional district has received legal advice about the bylaw, but it was more confusing than explanatory. He told Mac Fraser, the regional district’s chief administrative officer, that they should clear up the legal issues and deal with everything properly. “He agreed and he’s gone back to the lawyer,” said Brabazon. “The way he laid it out to me was that he would have all the legal issues clarified in January and we would deal with it at a committee of the whole in February.”
