A member of Maple Ridge city council wants the province to review the system of governance for the Metro Vancouver regional government.
His council colleagues decided to see if Metro will get its house in order first.
At the Sept. 24 meeting of Maple Ridge city council, Coun. Ahmed Yousef put forward a motion calling for an independent review, noting the model of governance is more than 50 years old. His motion asked that the mayor write a letter on behalf of city council, to the premier and the province, and that the province:
• Immediately initiate an independent review of Metro Vancouver's governance structure, and
• Initiate an inquiry under Section 764 of the Local Government Act regarding massive cost overruns at the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant.
"This motion is the result of what's hitting the news lately," said Yousef, referring to the treatment plant issue and other Metro spending issues.
"It's quite timely that we offer the province our support in pursuing a governance review of an organization that hasn't been revisited in over 50 years, and then of course to also initiate an inquiry into the massive cost overruns, it's gone from $1 billion to $3.86 billion and that's public funds," said Yousef.
Metro is governed by a board of directors made up of elected officials from across the region, with weighted votes based on the population of their municipality. In July, Yousef joined a group of elected officials from across the region calling for a governance review in the media.
Metro announced in a review in June. The original cost of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant in 2018 was $700 million, and it was expected to open in 2020. The cost has ballooned to $3.86 billion, and the timeline for completion is now 2030.
Metro's CAO Jerry Dobrovolny also made headlines, as it was reported he earned almost $675,000 last year, and had another $37,000 in expenses.
Coun. Korleen Carreras countered that Metro is already dealing with the issue of the treatment plant overruns.
"There is an independent audit happening already about this, and so my concern with this is I worry that there's duplication," she said.
Carreras said another review could cost more than $5 million.
She made a motion that council postpone Yousef's motion until the independent audit from Metro Vancouver is received. That passed by a 5-1 vote.
