Six new board members will now be attending the Squamish Oceanfront Development Corporation (SODC) meetings.
Squamish Council voted on Tuesday (Oct. 25) at a special council meeting to restructure the board of directors by appointing Mayor Greg Gardner, Councillor Paul Lalli and Drew Stotesbury to the board. Bill McNeney, Matt Fraser and Gregg Smyth were reconfirmed as board members while Mike Jenson, Natalie Pereman, Carl Ingraham, Tom Bruusgaard and Mike Robertson have been dropped from the board.
Lalli and Gardner are not seeking re-election. Stotesbury is a former SODC chief executive officer and McNeney is currently the board chair.
One spot on the board remains vacant at this time.
Councillor Doug Race was appointed by the members of Squamish Council to represent the District of Squamish in appointing the new members on behalf of the District, the lone SODC shareholder.
"I did not support this direction," Councillor Patricia Heintzman wrote in an Internet post soon after the matter was dealt with in the special meeting. Councillor Bryan Raiser also indicated he also didn't support the direction council took with the SODC board.
Heintzman said she is concerned the SODC board has once again been politicized at a time when it needs to "take flight on its own."
Heintzman added that she believes Gardner and Lalli took on the appointments with the best of intentions and will do good work on the SODC board.
She also noted that the new council would likely fill the vacant seat.
