Restructured PNE board may add 12th member, Coun. Andrea Reimer says

Vision Vancouver councillor Andrea Reimer has said newly restructured board of the Pacific National Exhibition, which is to have 11 directors, could soon have 12 members.

“I think it’s definitely worth considering come September, once we’ve passed through this appointment process,” Reimer told the Straight by phone May 26.

Reimer and five of her Vision colleagues voted—in a 6-2 split—for the change in structure to the current interim board at the May 21 meeting of the city services and budgets committee.

According to Reimer, the plan was to have 12 members on the board, including one dedicated to environmental issues, but logistical issues prevented this.

“[Deputy city manager] James Ridge actually clarified to me that, in fact, there was in fact a material difference between 11 and 12,” Reimer explained. “So, six of the board is staff of the city and elected officials that already exist, and we know who they are. Six out of 11 is 50 percent plus one, so that board can function as of the end of this month and appoint the [five] new members of the board from the community.”

Reimer addressed one concern, expressed by COPE councillor Ellen Woodsworth, that the green component would be lost with the move from 12 to 11 slots on the board.

“Well, we don’t, because the direction to staff is that, of the five community people that they are looking at, to ensure that one of them has green credentials and more,” Reimer said. “Then once we have a quorum again of a new board, then we can add the 12th person back on. I specifically mentioned that. I didn’t move it as a motion, because we would be into fairly shaky legal territory to reduce the status of a board with a clear intention to increase it....We would bring it before council and ask to change the terms of reference.”

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