Vancouver’s integrity commissioner has determined that six park board commissioners violated regulations by holding closed-door meetings to discuss park board matters. These commissioners, all affiliated with the A Better City (ABC) party led by Mayor Ken Sim, were found to have conducted secret caucus gatherings where a quorum was formed.
Both the Vancouver Charter and the Park Board Code of Conduct emphasize the importance of transparency for government officials, requiring most meetings to be held in public with limited exceptions. Following a complaint from Green Coun. Pete Fry against the six commissioners in August, Integrity Commissioner Lisa Southern investigated and discovered that they had an exclusive ABC group chat and multiple meetings that significantly influenced Park Board decisions away from public scrutiny.
Despite arguments from three current ABC commissioners that the meetings were permissible under the charter and outside the park board policies’ scope, Southern’s report revealed that the discussions in February and May 2023 went beyond informal information sharing. Specific matters were strategically pre-agreed upon at the sessions, leading to the formation of a voting bloc among the commissioners.
The secretive ABC-only meetings involved decisions on key issues such as the Stanley Park bike lane and turf fields at Moberly Park, including deliberations on amendment wording. The integrity commissioner’s decision does not impose penalties on the six commissioners, leaving any sanctions to be determined by the park board itself.
During the clandestine meetings in 2023, commissioners Brennan Bastyovanszky, Scott Jensen, and Laura Christensen, who were part of the ABC party at the time, were ousted for opposing Mayor Sim’s initiative to dissolve the elected body and now serve as independents.
Green Party Comm. Tom Digby, the sole non-ABC member on the park board, was excluded from decisions made during the ABC-only meetings, highlighting the lack of inclusivity in the decision-making process. Fry emphasized the obligation of municipal leaders to make decisions transparently in accordance with provincial statutes, stressing the importance of upholding the law.
In response to the investigation findings, Stephen Molnar, president of ABC Vancouver, disagreed with the integrity commissioner’s interpretation, stating that the gatherings were informal strategy sessions without binding decisions, thus not violating open meeting requirements. He emphasized ABC’s commitment to diverse ideas through voting records and public engagement.
Disciplinary action looms as Southern’s investigation delved into the ABC commissioners’ decision-making process regarding contentious issues like the removal of the Stanley Park bike lane. The report revealed extensive discussions and promises made in private meetings, influencing voting decisions by the then-ABC commissioners.
The integrity commissioner also exposed an ABC retreat where school board trustees and park board commissioners were instructed to vote as directed by ABC on various matters, with the threat of disciplinary action for non-compliance. ABC faces scrutiny ahead of a council byelection, following the ousting of a councillor and the departure of the Vancouver School Board chair to sit as an independent.
