An inquiry at the Sept. 15 Gibsons Town council meeting brought up an interesting question: Why aren’t any of the councillors – or the mayor – attending the public information session for the proposed George Hotel and Residences project?
The inquiry came from Judith Bonkoff. She asked – in a non-accusatory way – for clarification on why the mayor and council wouldn’t be attending.
“It is an information meeting, it’s not a meeting for submissions to council. That’s a meeting that will follow,” mayor Wayne Rowe said in response.
Coun. Jeremy Valeriote said he would feel awkward speaking on behalf of the proponent.
“It is staff and proponent answering questions, so the idea is that everybody gets the same information, and that gets taken to the public hearing where councillors will get to hear what people think about that information,” Valeriote said.
Bonkoff was disappointed. She said so. “I thought this was a meeting where residents could express their concerns – other than at the public hearing,” she said. “There are a lot of issues here.”
A lot of issues is correct. Two thousand anti-George signatures or not, the Town has been divided on the George for the last ten years.
And it still is, judging from the impressive turnout to hear director of planning André Boel’s update on the development agreement overview, which still has to go to third reading.
Valeriote’s argument that councillors will be informed of the residents’ concerns after the fact, doesn’t really cut it.
The Townspeople didn’t elect staff and they certainly didn’t elect the George proponent. They elected the mayor and council to serve their interests.
Whether or not any councillors will be answering questions at the information session is irrelevant in this case. In fact, it’s more important that councillors be in attendance in a situation where they wouldn’t be allowed to answer questions.
For once council could take on the role of observer and simply watch the process unfurl. Hopefully, by watching and listening, it would give them a different perspective on a tired issue.
Instead, all of the councillors and the mayor are going to get a written report on the meeting that they can skim through at their leisure. It’s not the same as being there and seeing it for yourself.
If there isn’t a single councillor in the room for the information session – even just to hear and observe – then council isn’t serving the interests of the people.
