NORD meets at dusk.
Citing busy personal lives, North Okanagan Regional District directors are shifting their meetings to evenings.
Starting Jan. 14, regular board meetings will move from 1 to 6 p.m. and the primary reason for the change is to accommodate the schedules of some directors.
“There are several people on the board who have jobs other than being politicians,” said chairman Eric Foster.
NORD meetings were traditionally held at night until 2003 when they were moved to 2 p.m. as a way of utilizing staff time better and cutting down on administration overtime.
Foster doesn’t believe there will be a return to that problem as the board will have two meetings a month starting in February and workload will be spread out.
“We want to keep the meetings to a reasonable length,” he said.
Herman Halvorson, rural Enderby director, also isn’t concerned that night meetings will lead to long work days for staff.
“It will be up to the administrator to organize the staff. The meetings shouldn’t be long,” he said.
As one of the retired directors on the board, the time of the meetings isn’t an issue for Halvorson.
“I can be there at 2 a.m. or 2 p.m. It doesn’t matter to me,” he said.
But opposition to the time change came from John Trainor, Armstrong director.
“I find that day meetings are more productive. Night meetings can drag on and people get tired. Things may get pushed ahead just because people want to get home,” he said.
“Staff is also available and on their regular schedules during day meetings. Night meetings can make it difficult to get questions answered from staff.”
Mike MacNabb, BX-Silver Star director, would have preferred to stick with an afternoon meeting, but he is willing to give the new routine a try.
“It accommodates people on the board who are working,” he said.
“But it may create an issue for regional district staff because they will work all day and then attend night meetings.”
Foster is convinced an evening meeting will benefit local residents and make the board process more open.
“The public will be able to attend now because they will not be working,” he said.
That view is also supported by Wayne Lippert, Vernon director.
“I hope it will allow more citizens to take part in the meetings. They won’t have to take time off work to go to meetings,” said Lippert.
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Time on the agenda
One has to wonder if some North Okanagan Regional District directors were more worried about themselves than the actual organization they represent when the decision was made to switch meeting times?
Granted going from afternoon to night meetings isn't the end of the world, but there are potential ramifications for NORD staff that should have been considered.
And primarily it is the length of their work day. Many of them, and particularly the administrative types, will now have their regular duties to perform during the day and then have to sit at a meeting at night — leading to some long hours. And even if they take some time off to make up for the night meeting, that just means the work will pile up on their desks and that benefits no one, including the taxpaying public.
It was entirely because of the burden on staff that NORD moved from evening to afternoon meetings in 2003.
“We can utilize staff time a lot better. In the afternoon they can work at their desk until they are needed to give their two-bits here,” said then-chairman Stan Field in an interview.
Current officials argue there shouldn't be a negative impact on staff because there will now be two meetings a month instead of one and that will prevent any one session from being too onerous time-wise. That sounds good in principle but as someone who has attended meetings for 18 years, it's not very practical. Items get added to agendas so meetings drag on, and then, of course, some politicians like to hear themselves talk, which means the clock keeps ticking. Before you know it, 6 p.m. can become 9 p.m. or longer.
It appears that the primary reason for the change in meetings times is to accommodate those directors who work during the day. Certainly the impact of elected office on personal lives and careers should be minimized as much as possible, but one needs to consider how directors actually get to the NORD table.
There are five directors who are directly elected to the board by the voters of the electoral areas while there are seven directors who are from the member municipalities and are appointed to NORD by their respective mayors. The five rural directors are basically at the mercy of whatever meeting schedule NORD follows, but the municipal representatives have some control over their own destiny.
Knowing that their careers may conflict with an afternoon meeting, the municipal politician could either juggle their work schedule — as most do — or they could refuse the appointment to the regional district. It should also be pointed out that some of the directors are actually mayors and named themselves to NORD, so any difficulties with their personal lives are of their own making.
It's been suggested that evening meetings will make it easier for the public to attend because they won't be at work. However, history doesn't necessarily support that view.
Hardly anyone ever showed up when NORD used to meet at night, but attendance seemed to climb substantially once the change was made to afternoons.
If there is an issue of significant importance to them on the agenda, residents will make the time to show up, but going to council or board meetings are about as popular as having teeth pulled. The crowds will always be small no matter what time of day it is.
Directors should also remember that while most people work during the day, others have night jobs or use that time to put supper on the table, drive kids to sports or pursue their own recreational activities. Just because it's evening doesn't mean residents have free time.
Ultimately, the community's business will continue no matter what time the meeting starts. But there appears to be no reason for this adjustment in the NORD schedule other than some politicians looking after their own selfish interests.
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