Commissioner seeks legal tips more than move to abolish board
Inexperienced Party’s Tom Digby: “We are however forced into a predicament not of our creating.”
Green Get together park commissioner Tom Digby strategies to introduce a motion at the Feb. 5 park board assembly to request up to $20,000 be expended on lawyers to find lawful guidance on “the deserves and likelihood of success” of quashing Mayor Ken Sim’s move to abolish the elected board.
The request is in response to Sim’s announcement in December and later on movement authorised by his ABC the greater part of councillors to abolish the board and carry parks and recreation below manage of town council.
“We are unfortunately compelled into a situation not of our earning,” Digby reported. “And we feel there is a sturdy foundation to press back from the mayor on lawful grounds, as nicely as political grounds. But we have to have at minimum these two prongs of the technique doing work in tandem.”
Digby’s motion specifically requests impartial counsel. He discussed that in-home attorneys functioning for the City of Vancouver cannot be tasked with mediating an difficulty amongst the metropolis and the park board.
Tied to Digby’s ask for is a further motion that he and the three former ABC commissioners passed in December 2023 to direct park board staff not to participate in any transition strategies that would guide to abolition of the board.
Digby said he believes his request to search for legal assistance will move, noting he has the assistance of previous ABC commissioners Laura Christensen, Scott Jensen and Brennan Bastyovanszky. Bastyovanszky outlined his assist in a news release from the Greens.
“This difficulty was not on the mayor’s election system, and council has no democratic mandate to abolish a further elected overall body,” he stated in the launch.
Sim’s go to scrap the board needs an amendment change to the Vancouver Charter, which has to be authorized by the provincial governing administration. Leading David Eby has not pushed again from the ask for, but has claimed it’s not his government’s top rated precedence.
“Local democracy is in no way a done deal,” claimed Digby in reaction to Eby not balking at Sim’s ask for.
“Local democracy matters to all of us, and we’ve developed this park process with community enter for 135 a long time. People are indicating it is a done offer, but there’s no foundation for that. It may well just be an undone offer.”
At a news convention very last week, Sim and town supervisor Paul Mochrie explained that session continues with Very first Nations, unions and many others who could or would be influenced by the abolition of the elected board.
Glacier Media requested Sim at the news conference whether abolition was lawful.
He first responded by declaring that he and his celebration were “very clear” before the Oct 2022 election that his crew of candidates was likely to try out to “fix the structure of the elected park board and if it didn’t operate, we would go to the province to make improvements.”
Then he explained: “It’s pretty obvious that all we have to have to do is make a Constitution change in the Vancouver Charter. And that’s the procedure. It is fairly spelled out there.”
In April 2021, in advance of Sim secured ABC Vancouver’s mayoral nomination, he issued a push launch with the matter line, “abolish the park board.”
In August 2022, Glacier Media asked Sim about whether or not he was going to make great on his guarantee to scrap the board. He didn’t offer a of course or no respond to.
“We won’t be able to hold out two to 3 years for legislative variations to the Vancouver Charter [to cede jurisdiction to city hall],” he stated at the time.
“We feel the provincial government is heading to be preoccupied [with the NDP leadership race], so it will not likely get the comprehensive notice that we need to have from them. Our infrastructure is crumbling, and we have to bounce in now. So we pivoted. We are managing a bunch of unbelievably proficient candidates with numerous lived encounters that are going to assistance us reshape our parks.”
In the meantime, Digby’s colleagues on council — Pete Fry and Adriane Carr — will host a town hall meeting Feb. 1 at metropolis hall with OneCity Coun. Christine Boyle with regards to the mayor’s system to scrap the board.
The conference operates from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The Feb. 5 park board meeting, wherever Digby will introduce his motion, begins at 6:30 p.m. at the board’s place of work in Stanley Park.