Bob Mackin
The governance review ordered by Metro Vancouver recommends citizens not be given the right to directly elect directors to the utility, despite concluding that the regional district’s board has “become large and unwieldy.”
Deloitte, hired in February, said in its May 20 report that Metro Vancouver should adopt a hybrid board structure. It should add external directors “with appropriate skills and experience” to sit with the crop of municipal mayors and councillors appointed from local councils on the regional district’s water and sewage boards.
North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant construction site on July 10, 2024 (Mackin)
“Consider four-year terms for the non-elected directors staggered against the current four-year cycle of elected officials appointed to these boards (i.e. two-years after municipal elections),” Deloitte recommended. “These terms could be extended at the discretion of the chair and governance committee to further facilitate the retention of institutional knowledge.”
Metro Vancouver, B.C.’s largest regional district, is running a $3.2 billion budget in 2025, costing the average household in 23 member communities $875 in taxes for water, sewage, waste and public housing services.
Deloitte is one of the world’s big four accounting and audit firms, but did not conduct an audit of any Metro Vancouver “project management, budget and financial reporting processes and internal controls, processes supporting the confidentiality of information, or an audit of individual travel and other out-of-pocket expenses.”
Deloitte said directors are in an “untenable” conflict between their local communities and the region. Lawsuits and confidentiality have resulted in further trouble. “Increasing tensions and political differences are creating a culture of heightened mistrust and frustration.”
The report said there needs to be a governance committee to “increase the integrity, oversight and ethical implementation of the board’s policies, procedures and agenda.”
But the quadrennial cycle of municipal elections causes high turnover and the loss of institutional knowledge, requiring better onboarding and education and “ stronger enterprise risk management and internal audit functions.”
The report downplayed the remuneration of board and committee members, calling it comparable with similar organizations, such as BC Hydro and TransLink, and “minimal relative to the significant investment of time and experience the directors bring to the organization.”
Board chair Mike Hurley, the Mayor of Burnaby, is paid $109,337 a year and vice-chair John McEwen, Mayor of Anmore, $54,668. The 41 directors are paid $547 for a meeting, but that doubles to $1,094 if it exceeds four hours.
Deloitte was hired in February after the March 2024 bombshell that the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant (NSWWTP) would cost $3 billion extra and take until 2030 to complete. The report goes to the Metro Vancouver board on May 23.
An external panel, headed by former NDP Premier Glen Clark, is looking at board remuneration policies. The Deloitte report did not assess the NSWWTP project. Former Deputy Finance Minister Peter Milburn is reviewing that. Metro Vancouver and fired builder Acciona are embroiled in tit-for-tat B.C. Supreme Court lawsuits.
New Westminster Coun. Daniel Fontaine and Richmond Coun. Kash Heed lead a group of non-Metro Vancouver directors who demanded Premier David Eby use provincial power to hold a public inquiry into the NSWWTP and Metro Vancouver governance.
Fontaine and Heed launched a petition May 20, seeking the return of the Auditor General for Local Government. The NDP government decided to close the office in 2020 and did not expand the power of the Office of the Auditor General.
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