Changes being dictated by the province as to how societies operate may create “issues” for the city, according to one councillor.
The new Societies Act is being imposed on the Museum at Campbell River and will directly affect the museum’s relationship with the city, according to Elle Brovold, the city’s property manager. At Monday’s council meeting, Coun. Ron Kerr said he needed more time to look over the changes and suggested council delay signing off on the changes until they can be further discussed at council’s next Committee of the Whole meeting.
“I think there’s some issues involved here that would be better researched and then discussed at the next COW meeting,” Kerr said.
One notable change is that the Act will not allow council to have a liaison to the museum’s board of trustees.
“The first proposed change to the museum’s bylaws is the removal of the requirement that a city councillor be appointed to the museum’s board,” Brovold said. “This amendment was recommended due to the conflict of interest it creates.”
The second change mandated by the new Act is the removal of a clause that dictates what should happen to the museum’s possessions should it cease to exist.
Brovold said the clause currently states that it is the City of Campbell River that would take over the museum’s assets should it dissolve its operations.
She added that even with that clause removed, it would still follow logic that the city would become the primary recipient of the museum’s materials should it ever close its doors.
“The primary purpose of this process is to ensure that the assets remain within the public domain,” Brovold said. “As such, should the museum cease to exist, the city would remain the logical recipient of these assets even without the inclusion of this clause.”
The museum’s board approved the new changes to its constitution at its board meeting in September.
Now the museum is waiting on city council to approve the changes so that the museum can bring the changes to its members at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled for April, 2017.
Coun. Larry Samson suggested that council invite either a museum staff or board member to council’s Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss the changes which are expected to go into effect Nov. 28.
