Watchdog finds Vancouver ABC park commissioners flouted policy with secret meetings [Video]

Vancouver’s integrity commissioner has found that six park board commissioners flouted policy by conducting meetings on park board matters out of the public eye.

The six commissioners, who were then all members of the A Better City (ABC) party headed by Mayor Ken Sim, were found to have conducted multiple clandestine caucus meetings in which they formed a quorum.

The Vancouver Charter and the Park Board Code of Conduct both have sections that state that government officials should behave in a transparent matter, with the former saying that commissioners should conduct nearly all meetings in public with rare exceptions.

After a complaint from Green Coun. Pete Fry against the six commissioners last August, Vancouver Integrity Commissioner Lisa Southern investigated and found they had an ABC-only group chat and numerous meetings that “materially advanced Park Board decision-making out of view of the public.”