By David F. Rooney
Corin Flood, executive director of the Revelstoke Community Housing Society, has pulled the pin and resigned from what he says has become “a frustrating and demoralizing task.”
“It was with excitement, commitment and integrity that I accepted the position of executive director for the Revelstoke Community Housing Society in February 08,” he said in his March 17 letter of resignation.
“Two years later, working for an adjunct committee of Council has become a frustrating and demoralizing task. The board of directors has created an environment, despite the best efforts of some members, in which the execution of tasks assigned to the executive director have been hindered, undermining the effectiveness of the position and work of the Society. Divisions within the board have too often led to rehashing past decisions and agreed-upon direction resulting in wasted time, effort and money. Since the dissolution of the board at the aborted AGM held March 1, significant changes in direction have been undertaken at the sole direction of Council members without consultation or recourse to a fully constituted Board of Directors.
“As a result of Council’s decision to direct the work of the Society I am unable to fulfill the terms or objectives of my contract with the Society. Therefore I tender my resignation…”
In an interview Wednesday, Flood said “certain elements on the board were not making it easy to progress” and he was deeply bothered by comments at the AGM-that-wasn’t. (That’s the meeting that failed to materialize because there wasn’t a quorum. You can read about it here and here.)
He said the society board was prepared to proceed with the construction of two houses on CPR Hill and had actually given preliminary approval to the project. The board was prepared to give it the final nod after the AGM they were supposed to have. Of course, that didn’t happen because the directors failed to notice until they gathered around the table that they didn’t have enough directors for a quorum. When questioned by members of the public who had attended the meeting some directors indicated that the society was not close to making a decision. That deeply bothered Flood.
“We were perhaps a month away from proceeding,” he said.
Now the Clearview Heights project is off the table completely. In a memo to City Council on Tuesday Community Economic Development Director Alan Mason said the two rental units will be built at Bridge Creek. (You can read that story here)
The other thing that he finds demoralizing is the sense that the four Councillors who sit on the Community Housing Society are not championing affordable housing at the Council table or in public.
Mason said he did not know what the Society will do now. It will need “a project manager” at the very least to oversee the rental housing units’ construction but as to whether the Society will actually find — and fund — a new executive director remains to be seen.
And Flood? He says he won’t lack for work.
