Two councillors from Queen Charlotte have added their voices to those who think the Misty Islands Economic Development Society ought to hold a public annual general meeting. MIEDS surprised a lot of islanders last month when the Observer revealed it had held its annual general meeting without inviting the public, something the publicly-funded body had never done before. That prompted Port Clements council to vote in favour of asking MIEDS to hold at least one public meeting. And now, two councillors in Queen Charlotte have agreed.”We prefer an open process. I attended accidentally the annual general meeting. …my preference would be to have a more open public meeting,” Councillor Greg Martin said at Monday’s council meeting, while Councillor Leslie Johnson also spoke in favour of public meetings.”I would echo that. I realize societies have members and annual general meetings are for the members.they by right should be open to the public to attend. I think it important that annual general meetings be held in public.” Ms Johnson also said the strategic planning public meetings MIEDS held in late June were “a great step, but they don’t replace a public annual general meeting”. Queen Charlotte Acting Mayor Ellen Cranston indicated she had no concerns with the closed annual meeting, and felt that Mayor Carol Kulesha, who is MIEDS’s vice-chair (and was absent from the council meeting) does a good job informing council of what MIEDS is doing. MIEDS’s board of directors is composed only of regional district and village representatives. It held its first-ever closed annual general meeting May 31 in conjunction with its strategic retreat.
