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Changes to Bruce Telecom board forwarded to new council
By Liz Dadson

Kincardine council

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Kincardine council has some recommended changes to the Bruce Telecom board, but because its mandate is almost over, it is reluctant to act on them.

Instead, the current regime would rather forward the report from its Bruce Telecom transition committee to the new council and allow it to deal with the recommendations.

In committee-of-the-whole last night (Oct. 13), chief administrative officer John deRosenroll explained the recommendations outlined by the committee which he sat on, along with mayor Larry Kraemer, deputy mayor Laura Haight and councillors Gordon Campbell and Randy Roppel.

The five recommendations for changes to the Bruce Telecom foundation policy, include the following:

  • Staggered term limits, such as four-year and two-year appointments. This would retain the board corporate memory by having three members with four-year terms and two members with two-year terms.
  • Two-year chairman term (to be selected by the board members). The ex-officio position would not be eligible for the chairman's job.
  • Board composition - five voting members of the public, one voting member being the mayor, three non-voting staff positions being the president/chief executive officer, the chief financial officer and the chief administrative officer.
  • Re-appointment (10-year maximum term). Once a board member completes a 10-year term, he sits out a two-year term before re-applying for appointment. A member of council must also sit out a two-year council absence before being eligible for a board appointment.
  • Meetings - move the meeting details to the Bruce Telecom procedural bylaw.

Councillor Ron Hewitt said council shouldn't even be dealing with this issue at this late stage in its mandate. 
He also asked how the four-year terms work into a 10-year term maximum appointment.

"I don't support this and I don't see why we're dealing with this right now," he said.

Mayor Larry Kraemer said the 10-year limit was recommended so that those who serve an initial two-year term are not disadvantaged. They would be able to serve two more four-year terms.

Councillor Randy Roppel said there are some issues to address, but these are just recommendations to the new council. He noted the  interview process was fair. As for the appointments, he said that current board members can apply but there is no guarantee they will be appointed.

Councillor Marsha Leggett objected to the mayor being a member of the board. She also disliked having Kraemer and deRosenroll sitting on the interview committee.

Councillor Gordon Campbell asked what salary the mayor would make for sitting as a board member.

Kraemer said he received only his per diem for attending the board meetings.

"But what would that mean for you as a board member?" asked Campbell.

"It recognizes the mayor as an ex-officio on the board," said Kraemer.

"That's the reason we asked to have the mayor included," said Roppel. "Under the (Bruce Telecom board governance) bylaw, there was nothing that said the mayor was part of the board. He was only there because he received the permission of council to sit on the board."

"These are only recommendations, right?" asked deputy mayor Laura Haight.

Council has two choices, said deRosenroll, either make the changes to the bylaw now or put forward the recommendations to the new council.

He added that the municipal solicitor said the intent of the bylaw is that the new council would appoint the Bruce Telecom board for 2010-2014 term. The transition committee's recommendations would go to the incoming council which would decide by the Dec. 8 meeting who would sit on the board.

 

Campbell said adding the mayor as a voting member means there are six on the board. "It should be an uneven number in case of a tie vote," he said.

Councillor Kenneth Craig said the first two-year term is just to begin the staggered rotation so there are always people on the board who are completing a four-year term, to provide continuity.

"So, the four-year term is the norm," he said, "which means the two-year term is not important except to get this started."

That's right, said deRosenroll, noting that after two years, council would have to appoint two new people to the board, so it would require interviews. Then, it would make recommendations to the next council for appointments to the board for the next term.

He stressed that having a board in place right away is very important because much of the business is done in January and February.

Roppel said, according to the bylaw, if a new board were not in place by early December, the current board would continue until its successor was appointed to office.

"Why are we even discussing this?" argued Hewitt. "Let the new council make these decisions."

"It's appropriate for us to make these recommendations," said Kraemer. "It's good succession planning. We received the same from the last council."

"We're wasting our time here," said councillor Guy Anderson. "The new council members will have to have everything explained to them before they discuss all this anyway."

"We were directed by this council to form a committee and bring back recommendations for the next council," said Roppel. "That's what we did. If you don't like it, fine, move on."

"I don't want my name attached to these recommendations," said Leggett.

Kraemer said it's important that the staggered terms be implemented; otherwise, the entire board would be done on Dec. 1, 2010. "At least accept the recommendations and forward them to the next council," he said.

Council agreed to refer the transition committee's recommendations to the first regular meeting of the new council.

The committee also urged council to recommend to the incoming council of 2010-2014 that the following individuals be appointed to the Bruce Telecom board on Dec. 8, 2010:

  • Holly Robinson-Colley - four-year term
  • Richard Martin - four-year term
  • Doug Hunter - four-year term
  • Tom Scott - two-year term
  • Barry Schmidt - two year term

Plus, it urged council to recommend to the new council that Donna Pettigrew-Pegg and Allen Wickert be considered for replacement of the two-year committee appointments in 2012.

Council agreed to recommend the existing board, but not Pettigrew-Pegg and Wickert.

The recommended policy changes and appointments to the Bruce Telecom board will go to the new council for consideration.


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Wednesday, October 13, 2010