Vancouver’s park board should be able to hire its own general manager, the city’s lone NPA councillor said.
Suzanne Anton said she is concerned about the “emasculation” of the Vancouver Park Board following an email from the city manager suggesting that she would help choose the new park GM.
The board’s chair, however, Vision Park commissioner Raj Hundal, said there is no threat to the park’s autonomy and it would choose its own general manager to replace retiring GM Susan Mundick.
“The hiring of the general manager will be done by the park board, consisting of all the commissioners,” Hundal said.
Anton, who put forward a late motion on Friday, said she is concerned by the fact that the park board took a $3.6-million budget hit this year, “and we did not see or hear from the chair saying that was a bad idea.”
She accused the commissioners of being part of the “mayor’s team” and failing to speak independently for the park board.
Hundal said he’d heard some concerns about the board’s future in the face of the city’s pending review of shared services, but vowed it would remain an elected, autonomous body.
