A watchdog group is accusing the Island Corridor Foundation of limiting public access to its board meetings after a request by the group to attend a Jan. 19 meeting was denied.
Jack Peake, spokesman for the E&N Railway Action Group, said he intended to bring concerns forward regarding how the ICF is being run, but was told his attendance was only being considered for meetings after Jan. 19, and that the ICF’s board of directors was deciding if he would be able to attend future meetings at all.
Peake said he notified ICF’s administration on Jan. 15 that he wished to attend the meeting, but received an e-mail on Jan. 17 stating his request would be placed on the agenda for the next meeting “for consideration by the directors.”
Peake helped found the E&N Railway Action Group in December to monitor the actions of the ICF, which he said he feels is now “being poorly run.”
Peake is also a co-founder of the ICF, a public non-profit organization, and served as co-chairman until two years ago.
“The whole ICF seems to be run by one person now. I am very disappointed in the way ICF continues to run since my departure,” said Peake by e-mail.
He added that under his leadership, ICF policy and plans were “always to be open and transparent and include public input,” and that “the Community Advisory Committee and the Rail Operations Committee, as well as many public input meetings and updates, was the plan.”
The 12-member board of directors has not changed since Peake co-chaired the ICF.
Graham Bruce, ICF executive director, said the board’s policy on considering public input also has not changed since Peake was at the helm, calling Peake’s public attacks unfortunate.
Bruce added that ICF continues to move forward with its work, including anticipation of a bridge and trestle report due in mid February.
“It’s a key piece moving forward,” said Bruce. “There are 48 bridges and trestles between Victoria and Courtenay and the $7.5 million the province approved of the $15-million infrastructure, $500,000 of that is for bridge and trestle audit. We’re feeling very confident about it. Now we’ve got a very good handle on the state of repair and on top of that, the weight loading for each of the structures.”
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