Commission under review

By Lachlan Labere MARKET NEWS STAFF Dec 08 2006 http://www.saobserver.net/
CSRD: Roles of park operators not clear under bylaws. The Columbia Shuswap Regional District will be hiring an independent consultant to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the region’s parks and recreation commissions. Having recently completed a parks plan for electoral area 'E' (Sicamous/Malakwa), and expecting to have one ready for area 'A' in 2007, the CSRD will be looking to establish parks and recreation commissions for each of these areas. Before this happens, regional district staff want to address outstanding issues with existing establishment bylaws that govern such commissions, the first of which came into existence in 1983 to manage and operate the facilities at Sorrento/Blind Bay Park. There are now four active park commissions, including Sorrento/Blind Bay, one for Area 'C', Area 'F' and Rose Clifford Park. A major problem identified with existing governance bylaws, explained CSRD development services manager Jay Simons at the CSRD board's regular meeting of Nov. 16, is that they are ambiguous in determining what jurisdiction parks commissions have over district staff.
Some directors took issue with Simons' recommendation that the contract be awarded to consultant Dave Morris without first going to tender. ------However, the board approved the allocation of $20,000 for the review to be conducted in the new year.