Thanks to Mike Chouinard for his continued coverage of dysfunctional Union Bay
Do you remember in Oct. 2017, the pro kip trustees touting they were building the water treatment plant without raising parcel taxes? These brainiacs never had a financial plan in place and the incompetent admin created budgets without input from the financial administrator he had to hire because he was too busy. Fustercluck.
Noticed this post on Susanna Kaljur’s blog. https://unionbay.news.blog/2021/05/13/how-does-a-community-heal/
The division in the community is the result of Kensington Island Properties aka Union Bay Estates who has consistently intentionally misled the landowners when we expected honest communication – what is a good word for someone who does that? It hasn’t stopped and no doubt will continue as it’s worked so well for KIP so far. Predatory developer.
I don’t know how Susanna withstood the years – yes, years of abuse by these men. Would any one of them allow their partners to be treated the way they treated Susanna? Not a chance. These men targeted women who were on their own and had the audacity to question their actions. That’s how brave they are. Also, they run in packs as they can’t stand on their own – gutless one on one.
So many red flags from day 1. Who can forget the planned disruption of the All Candidates Meeting Oct. 2016, because the gutless wonders knew they couldn’t answer the valid questions hey would be subjected to so chose to attempt getting the meeting shut down.
The ‘J’ is Lone Jednorog who was running for trustee at the time and took over the mic, after the facilitator asked the candidates to takes their seats, and wanted to discredit those who hosted the meeting. ‘Bitten’ is Rick Bitten who ran for trustee. Ted Haraldson who was running for trustee is not visible but told me to be quiet – this from a guy who planned a disruption. This is the guy who eventually became chair and unlawfully suspended Trustee Kaljur and adjourned meetings and unlawfully resumed them in secret locations as well as just unlawfully locking out the electorate.
Here’s Bitten’s cover your ass moment. Imagine offering an apology to your co conspirator on behalf of UBID.
This is what looney Jednorog posted on her blog. Compare it to the video.
Here’s another gem from her website. It was comic relief as she couldn’t put together anything close to accurate and eventually removed all but a picture and now the blog is gone. Notice it’s KIP again. This was in response to the over 400 signatures requesting we become a service area of the CVRD. The KIP lapdogs were opposed to this as KIP had far more control when he had his incompetent flunkies as trustees. KIP actually got UBID to negotiate down with the new Water Treatment Agreement in Oct. 2017, that’s how much control he had.
I honestly cannot find fault with Trustee Kaljur for the financial mess we are in. She was verbally assaulted in public when she raised questions at meetings and it was even worse for her at in camera or executive meetings where spineless men didn’t hold back. Kaljur was also excluded from receiving documents the pro kip trustees received.
Trustee Elliott (who was the only trustee who actually had experience and understood the water issues) also did his best to obtain information critical to the landowners and met resistance. When Elliott ran in 2018 he was defeated by Haraldson and we ended up with an even worse board with 4 trustees who ruled in secret and kept Kaljur from receiving information.
This 6 minute clip is a perfect example of why we are in the current financial mess. Trustees Elliott and Kaljur were treated like dirt when they raised questions with trustees Jacques, Loxam and Bitten supporting the incompetence of the administrator. They appear to have no concerns over costs.
Listen to the admin being allowed to speak to a trustee asking a question about the finances with such disrespect with a useless Chair allowing it. Remember, this is when they are planning on building a water treatment plant after reaching a water agreement with KIP in Oct. 2017. This is when there should have been a clear plan in place and landowners advised – incompetence.
From the same Mar. 22, 2018 meeting with Trustee Kaljur stating the figures provided at the Open House in early March were in fact incorrect. Listen to the Admin break down the costs of the WTP. The admin refuses to answer questions and Jacques says she’s out of order.
This is Haraldson at an All Candidates Meeting in Apr. 2018, one month after the incident above and prior to the AGM and election answering my question as to whether the admin should be required to answer questions from Trustees – Haraldson says “no”. Haraldson ranks up there with the worst Chair title along with Jacques.
You might want to read the report by the consultant the current board hired to find out why the Water Treatment Plant cost us $5.3 Million instead of $4.2 like we were told. Simple answer: they didn’t have a f*cking clue what they were doing.
We were being told by Jacques, Loxam and Bitten that the admin was doing a great job and working overtime and far too busy to answer correspondence from landowners. They encouraged the admin to refuse to respond to questions and yet they themselves didn’t have a f*cking clue what their responsibilities were to the landowners.
Water tolls will have to increase along with parcel taxes. We don’t have enough money to fund the purchase of the washroom/office at the Water Treatment Plant – will likely have to borrow funds. These are the same guys who told you that the Water Treatment Plant costs would be covered by raising the parcel taxes $46. Originally, they claimed it was being funded without raising the parcel taxes.
The kiplets never had a plan, never believed landowners questions were warranted, never thought landowners had a right to attend meetings and obviously never read or researched anything, including the Improvement District Manual. Lots of secret meetings conducted by the gong show because they couldn’t face the landowners and honestly answer concerns. They were just keeping the seats warm and doing KIP’s bidding including conversion. These same guys refused to give any thought to the petition presented to them at their first meeting in Nov. 2016 and look at the financial mess we are in because of their incompetence.
The report is near the end of the agenda for May 20, 2021, meeting. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DYLmp9q3Uo1V26faezc0vJZGzZoQnliM/view
Do these people think they are telling us something new when they claim they will inform the landowners and be transparent? This is the same song sung by the many individuals who claimed to represent the landowners and there is only a handful that actually followed through on these promises for the last 15 to 20 years. Just words to stop people questioning them and they all adopt the same tactics to prevent transparency.
We still have trustees who are ignorant of UBID’s bylaws and policies bumbling through month after month, year after year. CVRD is looking better every day.
Where are all the other COW Meetings for the last couple of years? Again, they throw in one and expect landowners to be satisfied. It’s just another shitshow..
What are the costs of running the new treatment plant?
Is there peat sludge that has to be trucked away?
Who is the female reading the water meters? This job was not advertised – it’s a buddy of someone. That’s how UBID has always operated – give friends and relatives jobs that are not posted.
This board, like the previous one, is not capable of providing information because they simply have no idea how to run an Improvement District. They have had zero training and like the admin that was finally removed, they are just as incompetent and ill equipped for the task.
There is a reason why there is never ever any new improvement districts created. It is not a fair and accountable form of governance. It is outdated.
The Ministry replied to my question as to why UBID wasn’t arranging for electronic meetings during the pandemic.
Received this from Chair Munro. Note the line about 2 consecutive technology failures – the failures are due to incompetence and a lack of interest in keeping up with technology and being trained. We had a professional admin until Feb. 2017, who took pride in their position and could be relied on to answer all enquiries and if he didn’t know the answer, would find out. The position was his first priority – not secondary while performing another job at the same time. Since this new admin was hired, new deputy hired, new computers purchased, new $40,000. billing software, new camera to record meetings but is unable to operate the camera so a guy is hired to turn it on and off. Not to mention the ridiculous wages being paid for 1/5 the service we had. We are being taken to the cleaners.
