Councillor Loveday's post from today:
Today I will be sworn in as a CRD Director and we will have our first meeting. One of my priorities regionally is improving governance and transparency. To start the term off right, I’ve submitted the following motion with Councillor Ben Isitt which will be coming forward at our first meeting today.
That the Capital Regional District Board:
1. Endorse in principle the following best practices in governance and transparency.
- Introduce a Director Voting Dashboard, to ensure transparency of the voting record of each director on each item of Board and Committee business, adopting the best practice from the City of Vancouver;
- Publish Directors' annual Financial Disclosure Statements (submitted according to the requirements of the BC Financial Disclosure Act) online and update these disclosure statements on an annual basis, adopting the best practice from the City of Vancouver;
- Improve Proactive Disclosure of Closed Meeting Business, including decisions and reports of the Board and Committees, as soon as the need for confidentiality has ceased to exist, adopting the best practice from the City of Vancouver;
- Endeavour to publish information on Directors' Expenses on a quarterly basis, adopting the best practice from the City of North Vancouver;
- Publish a Board Highlights Report following Board meetings, to make information on key Board decisions accessible to the general public, adopting the best practice from the City of Victoria;
- Provide clear and accessible Summaries of Financial Information in the CRD's Annual Report and in annual financial planning documents, and provide prominent, easily accessible links to this information on the CRD website, focusing on clarity and transparency in the presentation of this information to the public.
2. Direct staff to report back to the Governance Committee with recommendations for the timely implementation of each of these items.
3. Request that the Chair, on behalf of the Board, forward these recommendations to member local governments, encouraging favourable consideration and action.