In order to provide open, transparent, and timely communication to members of the public, the NPCA is sharing their recent communication regarding its Board Appointment process.
To assure residents, the NPCA has provided clarity to member municipalities requesting that their appointments to the NPCA Board comply with the Conservation Authorities Act. To provide the same clarity to the residents, we are sharing the following communication that has been issued to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MOECP), and Heads of Council. We have also circulated the correspondence to Councillors from the City of Hamilton, County of Haldimand and Niagara Region:
Dear Honourable Ministers and Heads of Council:
This email is to advise that I am in receipt of many emails from a few of the Niagara Regional Councillors respecting their disappointment with an email I issued to the Niagara Region Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and Clerk and forwarded to the CAO’s and Clerks of the City of Hamilton and County of Haldimand. The email that I reference was my response to the most recent, December 6, 2018, Regional Council appointment of 12 members to the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority Board (attached for your review).
The NPCA is not disputing the Niagara Region’s ability to replace (Sections 14(4.2), 14(4.3) and 2) and appoint; however, that must be pursuant to the Conservation Authorities Act (CAA), which, based on Section 2(2), indicates five members from Niagara, four from Hamilton, and two from Haldimand. The letter confirming such was issued to the Region of Niagara CAO and Clerk on Wednesday, December 5th, 2018 from both the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks and Interim CAO, and it is also attached for your review.
The CAA does not allow for the appointment of 12 members from Niagara; for certainty, the NPCA is not obstructing a Niagara Region motion, we are beholden only to the Conservation Authorities Act.
I would like to acknowledge that I understand that Regional Council appears to be unified on the issue of replacing the current Board. An appointment of the appropriate number of members (five) will accomplish this.
We will be pleased to welcome the five members that Niagara is entitled to appoint under the Act as soon we receive that correspondence from the municipality.
In closing, I look forward to meeting and working with our new Board and will continue to do our good work while we await the results of the City of Hamilton, Haldimand County and, Niagara Region appointments.
I look forward to a continuous dialogue and to keeping residents of Hamilton, Haldimand and Niagara informed.
Sincerely,
Lisa
- Pursuant to the Conservation Authorities Act, where no agreement exists between all three funding partners, as is currently the case, we must uphold with integrity, the formula in the CAA as it pertains to Board Member appointments.
- Should Niagara Region want to increase the numbers of representatives, all three participating municipalities must agree on the composition and carry motions from their respective Councils.
- There is no mechanism which exists to allow NPCA to call a meeting at the request of Niagara Region. Our next scheduled meeting is our Annual General Meeting on January 16, 2019.