Looks like there is no plan to hold an AGM. They already posted the reports on the website that we are given at an AGM. We know they can’t answer questions, so they’re content continuing to lock us out. That was the plan all along. They had no intention of ever allowing public meetings.
They have awarded a contract – where is the bylaw to allow this? They are under the impression everything can be accomplished in secret – they don’t think you have the right to know, even if you are the one paying.
Selena Robinson Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing MAH.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Attorney General, David Eby email: AG.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Selina Robinson and Attorney General David Eby were cc’d on the apology letter to Trustee Kaljur from the the rogue board admitting “… there are no provisions under the Local Government Act allowing the Board to suspend an elected Trustee from office” and “is of no force or effect”.
We know there are there no provisions and no Legislative authority to allow an exemption for the AGM to be held after today! Why is Selena Robinson and David Eby turning a blind eye to the numerous unlawful actions taken by 5 landowners who are meeting secretly without the full knowledge of all elected officials?
Paul Allard has just started a blog to keep people informed while offering helpful tips. This is your opportunity to support a community minded individual to create a welcoming blog for all to enjoy.
Good luck Paul. It’s always nice to see information out there.
Once we have a democratic, accountable, honest and transparent board majority, I’m going to start winding down allthingsunionbay.com hoping information will flow freely from UBID with meetings video recorded consistently and meeting minutes that match what took place.
So after months of unlawful actions by this gong show board including unlawfully ‘suspending’ a duly elected Trustee (Susanna Kaljur) who was forced to retain counsel (Jason Gratl) to force the board to re-instate her as a trustee.
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Selina Robinson was cc’d on the letter. Did this cause the Ministry any concern over the actions of this so called board? Nope.
Attorney General David Eby was also cc’d. His email address is david.eby.MLA@leg.bc.ca Mr. Eby was the President of the BC Civil Liberties Association. Maybe start sending him emails and see if someone will pay attention?
We are on our own folks. I’m certainly not going to foot the bill and neither is Susanna Kaljur. You know what they have done and continue doing, making unlawful decisions. What are you going to do about it.?
When you have one group who breaks rules and just makes up their own and another group who abides by the rules, with no one to enforce the rule of law – who do you think has the power?
I sent the following email November 14, 2016, to Minister Fassbender when the three trustees approved a motion to extend the expired 2011 Water Infrastructure Agreement
From: “Mary Reynolds” <> To: “peter fassbender MLA” <peter.fassbender.mla@leg.bc.ca> Cc: “don mcrae mla” <don.mcrae.mla@leg.bc.ca>, “js mattison” <js.mattison@telus.net> Sent: Monday, November 14, 2016 11:27:39 AM Subject: Congratulations on destroying Union Bay
Hello, Thanks to you gentlemen for your contributions in destroying Union Bay. Yesterday the three pro Kensington Island Properties Trustees voted to extend/resurrect the 2011 Expired Water Infrastructure Agreement with Kensington Island Properties in spite of the knowledge Union Bay Improvement District does not have the authority to consent to 500 water connections as it violates our water license. You sided with this developer at the expense of our community. A developer who stood up and lied to the community at the March 2016 meeting at which Brian McMahon stated Mr. Mattison was present. It seems Mr. Mattison accomplished nothing and yet has billed for services in August, September and October when we were without a board. Mr. Mattison was unable to obtain a signature from Mr. McMahon on the agreed Memorandum of Understanding of June 6, 2016. Instead, Mr. McMahon negotiated with trustees Jacques and Loxam on June 7, 2016 to resurrect/extend the expired 2011 Water Infrastructure Agreement. Since nothing has changed from June 7, 2016, what is Mr. Mattison billing for?
Peter Fassbender granted a meeting with David Godfrey, who unlawfully locked out the electorate from January 2011 through April 2011 while they secretly negotiated the expired 2011 WIA. The Ombudsperson’s Office provided a report indicating they did not have the authority and the stunts they tried to pull while the Ombudsperson was investigating. The Ombudsperson report came out after Mr. Godfrey was no longer a trustee and the bylaws were returned to their proper legal status.
Don McRae refuses to acknowledge if he attended the meeting granted with Fassbender for Godfrey, Jacques and McMahon in spite of the fact I have audio of McMahon stating McRae was invited to the meeting. McRae told another landowner he did not want to get involved when the three trustees resigned in July 2016. What exactly does an MLA do for their constituents?
We had an efficient functioning board in 2015 under the Chairmanship of Carol Molstad, who brought us back from the brink of bankruptcy. Then Kip and his spokesperson David Godfrey and Peter Jacques (MLA Don McRae refused to confirm if he was in attendance) all cried the blues to Liberal Minister Fassbender (presented a petition with over 400 (I have been corrected and told the total was 360) landowners signatures stating landowners wanted UBID to grant an extension to KIP, who would pay for the Water Treatment facility) in Nov. 2015. After whining that UBID wouldn’t extend an expired agreement, Fassbender appointed a facilitator. Wasn’t that getting involved in the governance of Union Bay?
No one seemed to bother finding out if the expired 2011 Water Infrastructure agreement could legally be extended, including Fassbender, but they went ahead anyway and appointed a Facilitator in Jan. 2016, to get the parties (UBID & KIP) back to the bargaining table because KIP refused to negotiate a new deal with UBID, insisting the 2011 WIA was still in effect.
With the Facilitator in place Jacques and Loxam were elected at the AGM in April 2016 (McMahon/KIP, Loxam and Jacques sat side by side, proud as peacocks at the AGM) and within weeks of taking their oath, they met with KIP behind the other trustees backs, and without the Facilitator’s knowledge (former Chair Carol Molstad confirmed these two did not have authorization to conduct business on behalf of UBID board) and presented a letter dated June 7, 2016, from KIP to the remaining board. See below. Worth mentioning: KIP and UBID along with the Facilitator had come to an agreement on June 6, 2016. Jacques and Loxam met with KIP the very next day to obtain the letter. Note also McMahon states in the last paragraph “…most of it we have discussed for many months.” Well the UBID board hadn’t been discussing this with KIP for many months – just Jacques and Loxam.
I would like to draw your attention to the paragraph that states: “4 acres to the UBID Fire Services as outlined in the KIP/CVRD Master Development Agreement…” So let me get this straight. KIP has always offered 4 acres for the new Fire Hall. When KIP negotiated a new water agreement with UBID, these guys negotiated down to (2.47 acres) 1 hectare from 4 acres? Why was this even included in the agreement since it was always in the Master Development Agreement? These guys have been touting the Fire Hall land as a real accomplishment. They brought in something that wasn’t required and negotiated less land than the developer has offered for a decade?
The three trustees resigned in frustration as the two newly elected trustees were not acting in accordance with their positions. A by election was held in Oct. 2016 with Rick Bitten, Susanna Kaljur and Jim Elliott becoming trustees.
Someone? fired the (Steven Killiher) professional negotiator Molstad’s board had hired along with a water expert (Hew McConnell).
At their very first meeting in Nov. 2016 with 5 neophyte trustees, Bitten, Loxam and Jacques voted to extend the expired 2011 WIA. Refusing to change the motion to seek legal advice as to whether the agreement was still valid. We were informed by UBID’s counsel in Dec. 2016, the agreement could not be legally extended – 2 years after it expired Dec. 31, 2014. Why didn’t anyone check this before getting signatures on a petition?
The majority of the board, Bitten, Loxam and Jacques, were confident in their negotiating skills and yet I don’t think any of them have ever been employed as a negotiator. So they didn’t even negotiate an interest free loan. They got 4 acres of land at the same inadequate elevation as the current waterworks and then negotiated less land than what had been agreed to in the MDA for the Fire Hall. Yay? 😦
This is the page from the Oct. 2017 Agreement with KIP https://allthingsunionbay.com/2017/10/17/kensington-island-properties-aka-34083-yukon-inc-and-union-bay-improvement-district-new-water-agreement-published/ referring to the Fire Hall land. They are very proud of their negotiation skills! Not many people can brag about negotiating for less than what was offered! Well, Godfrey, Royer and De jersey also negotiated basically nothing after the developer offered $17.4 Million dollars for water infrastructure upgrades and Langley Lake, never mind anything else. They negotiated a $1.7 million dollar interest free loan (telling us it was a gift) for a temporary water treatment plant we wouldn’t own until a permanent plant was built and then we would have no use for it. Those three thought they were the great negotiators too!
Fassbender and Tara Faganello are the ones who catered to the whining of a developer who couldn’t get his way and refused to negotiate a new water agreement. They are responsible for the mess and done nothing to rectify the shitshow caused by their Ministry. They don’t know how to get out of it now and want us to believe it’s normal procedure to not interfere and yet they did! Fassbender isn’t there but the Liberal holdover buddy to KIP, Faganello is still there. Just because the NDP were elected – the Liberal flunkies who ran the government all those years are still there.
According to Union Bay’s Letters Patent, the AGM must take place at a date from Jan. 1, to Apr. 30 with no legislative exemption but Faganello is going to make that exemption? Why does Faganello ignore the violations of the bylaws and policies taken that brought us to this mess?
Newly elected trustees begin their terms at the Annual General meeting – when it is conducted according the the election policy (which they violated) because the election is supposed to happen after the AGM.
“Newly elected trustees begin their terms at the annual general meeting.”
Elected official are expected to conduct themselves responsibly – but if they don’t – tough -the Ministry isn’t going to step in.
“Elected officials are expected to conduct themselves responsibly to serve the communities they represent,” read a statement from the ministry.
Union Bay trustees Peter Jacques and Glenn Loxam are pictured in a pair of Vista Radio file photos. Image by James Wood/98.9 The Goat/Vista Radio
UNION BAY, B.C- The trustee board in Union Bay won’t be getting changed soon.
The Union Bay Improvement District (UBID) has been having a chaotic week. After last weekend’s election, in which Paul Healey and Hein Vandenberg were elected to the two empty seats on the UBID trustee board, neither of them have been sworn in and the district has yet to hold it’s annual general meeting.
It has also been confirmed by board chair Ted Haraldson that the two trustees who would have vacated their seats, Peter Jacques and Glenn Loxam, remain on the trustee board.
In order to get clarity on the situation, the MyComoxValleyNow.com newsroom reached out to the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs.
The ministry responded by saying they were aware that trustees have had disagreements on issues affecting their community.
“Elected officials are expected to conduct themselves responsibly to serve the communities they represent,” read a statement from the ministry.
“If trustees cannot meet these obligations, ministry staff are available to provide information about best practices for the conduct of board meetings and other procedural matters. Ministry staff continue to be available to Union Bay Improvement District staff to assist, where appropriate, as it works through its challenges.”
The ministry also said that the terms of the new trustees will begin at the district’s annual meeting, which remains postponed for fear of violence as of this publication.
“Under the legislation, at least once a year, an improvement district must hold an annual general meeting and this meeting must be open to the public,” read the statement.
“Newly elected trustees begin their terms at the annual general meeting.”
Asked if the ministry would be assisting with the appointment of a facilitator for the annual general meeting, which Haraldson had suggested earlier this week, the ministry indicated Union Bay was in charge of finding one.
“The Ministry continues to be available to assist UBID, where appropriate, as it decides its path forward for holding the AGM,” read the ministry’s statement.
“Please check with the UBID on timelines for their AGM.”
As for whether or not trustees were conducting themselves responsibly, the ministry said they couldn’t make comments on the specifics of individuals conduct.
There has been no new date for the annual general meeting released as of this report.
Trying to give us a laugh with the ‘featured image’ while we go through this crap after we were so delighted with the outcome of the election. 🙂
By the reasoning of this imitation board, a trustee who was not re elected Apr. 20, 2019, and one who didn’t even run, stays on as trustee until the newly elected trustee is sworn in.
So if Hein and Paul were elected on April 20, 2019 and both went on vacation Apr. 21 for a couple of weeks, Jacques and Loxam would still be trustees until the newly elected trustees returned?
That’s the screwy reasoning. Anyone want to bet mr. research, the dictator and the admin didn’t lift a finger to find out if what they are spouting is true? Sure as hell hasn’t employed his model of Research, Evaluate, Negotiate, Act. – never gets to the first one – Research. You can only get by spouting that bullshit on gullible people.
Glen and peter and still elected trustees until the other candidates are sworn in. I believe that UBID should discuss charges with the RCMP. These planned disruptions are intenional and should be considered as that. I am embarrased by the landowners that create these problems. This behaviour would not be tollarated any where else why should we accept it. Trustee Rick Bitten
“The new trustees that were voted in, they haven’t been sworn in, so they’re officially not trustees until they’re sworn in as trustees and do the oath, which they wish to do after the AGM,” said Haraldson. Asked if that was a process laid out in a bylaw for Union Bay, Haraldson stated that the new trustees were “not official” until they swear an oath of office, under rules laid out by the province. This means Jacques and Loxam will remain in office, until the community’s annual general meeting. “You usually have an inauguration, and you welcome Paul and Hein in, have them swear the oath, and they become trustees,” said Haraldson. “It’s quite simple.”
He was also comfortable with Loxam and Jacques remaining as trustees. “Until their term is up, the term is up when we swear in the new trustees,” said Haraldson. “Their term is not completed until the new trustees are sworn in. All trustees have to be sworn in, before they begin their term.”
It’s time to start petitions to send a clear message from the landowners to these incompetent trustees that they are not representing the wishes of the landowners. And the admin has to go as well. Completely breached/violated his position numerous times and is unfit to hold the position any longer.
Having five men (4 trustees and the admin) secretly meeting and planning the future of Union Bay while intentionally excluding a duly elected trustee can not be tolerated any longer.
