Metro Vancouver votes to cut number of board members

Metro Vancouver votes to cut number of board members

Surrey directors opposed the change, but majority of representatives vote in favour

Metro Vancouver will move ahead with reducing its board size by almost a quarter next term, cutting the number of directors from 45 to 34 — but one big city mayor is pushing back on the details.

The regional district voted in a 107-36 split Friday to seek provincial approval for legislative changes to cap the number of directors to three per jurisdiction while keeping the current weighted voting system.

Vancouver and Surrey, which currently have seven and six sitting directors respectively, will expect to see their number of directors cut to three.

Board chair and Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley said in a news release that the district had gone through a "thoughtful process" to improve the organization's governance.

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"I realize this is a start but … there needs to be greater change to the structure of the board," Hurley said at Friday's meeting.

Metro Vancouver Regional District, which deals with regional planning, parks and emergency management, is currently made up of 41 board directors representing 21 municipalities, one electoral area and one treaty First Nation.

Updated census data expected to come next year could increase board representation based on projected population growth, potentially bringing the total number of directors to 45 in the next term, according to a district spokesperson.

Metro Vancouver also includes three other boards with slightly different memberships, including the Greater Vancouver Water District for drinking water services, the sewerage and drainage district for sewer and solid waste services, and a housing corporation board for non-profit rental housing.

Board directors from Surrey and Langley Township opposed the cap at the meeting.

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said at the Friday meeting she couldn't support Vancouver and Surrey losing seats as the province's two biggest municipalities.

"This is just skirting what is a much larger issue that we have to look at at Metro Vancouver," she said, acknowledging that most directors would like to see a reduction in the number of seats.

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She said she struggled to sit at a table alongside villages that don't have the same impact on provincial or federal GDP as larger municipalities.

In a news release Monday, Locke noted Belcarra has one vote for less than 700 residents, while Surrey has 29 votes for a population of almost 570,000, using Metro Vancouver data.

But Pitt Meadows Mayor Nicole MacDonald, representing a city of about 19,000, disagreed.

"We have a duty to all citizens and residents of the region, that they have a voice here at Metro," MacDonald said. "And for me, it doesn't matter if it's a community of 20,000 or hundreds of thousands, or a small one."

"I don't want a board that's sitting here that is just the big cities. That is not representative of the region," she added.

The process of engaging the province to make the necessary legislative changes could take about two years to complete, according to the district.

The changes come after an independent review by Deloitte Canada on Metro Vancouver's governance structure.

The report found that board size was a structural issue constraining effective governing, but directors also said the size wasn't the "primary driver of governance challenges."

The regional district has been facing a number of criticisms, particularly after the cost of the North Shore wastewater treatment plant project ballooned from $700 million in 2011 to $3.86 billion.

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The board also voted Friday to advance a "Major Projects Oversight Board," made up of elected officials and appointed technical experts, to share oversight on the "largest and most complex water and wastewater infrastructure projects."

Christine Boyle, minister of municipal housing affairs, said in an emailed statement that Metro Vancouver "needs to be an effective organization."

"It has too many board members," Boyle said. "If necessary, the province will step in."

The province said it will review Metro Vancouver's requests when received.

Lauren Vanderdeen is a Vancouver-based reporter for CBC British Columbia. She formerly worked for community newspapers, including the Burnaby Now and New West Record. You can reach her at lauren.vanderdeen@cbc.ca.