Regarding the article [“Powell River Council outlines resignations from city committees,” January 22], I don’t know how to express my disappointment in being dismissed so easily.
On November 19, I sent a five-page letter to mayor Dave Formosa outlining most of my reasons for resigning from the Emergency Services Facility Selection (ESF) committee. I resigned because I disagreed with a city councillor being the chair, ex-city councillor being the vice-chair, a member of the fire service keeping the minutes, and a fire chief who was supposed to be there as a resource to answer our questions but was recognized by the chair anytime he wanted to join the discussions.
I don’t believe minutes of the meetings correctly reflected our efforts and I came to believe this committee was being led and it was nothing but a “rubber stamp” committee.
I disagree with councillor George Doubt’s assertion that a committee with more than six people is too large. Two of the three board of directors I’ve been on in the past had upwards of 10 or more directors and we had no problem. Perhaps I’m wrong but I think the more opinions, the more discussions, the better the decisions.
Most of the many committees I’ve been on had more than six members, most subcommittees had fewer. Maybe that’s just the old way of doing things but it worked.
I hope councillor Jim Palm is not saying that since I’m no longer on the committee, that I didn’t have those attributes he referred to. I spent many hours researching building codes, fire hall designs, design and costing of other fire halls in BC, across Canada and the US, as well as all the material given to us.
I voted yes when I agreed and spoke up when I disagreed. That is how a committee moves forward. To have one member resign, I agree it happens, but to have three or four, that means there’s trouble either with the members or structure of the committee. Members of city council should know that and if they gave a hoot for the citizens who trusted them with their votes, they would do something about it instead of dismissing it out of hand.
I would not believe it if anyone on city council tells the taxpayers that this ESF committee is representative of their wishes.
Arthur Richards
Gordon Avenue
Powell River
