The Kamloops Voters Society has released results from its survey on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District’s expenditures over the last couple of years.
The group collected information about how residents within the TNRD felt about a payout to former chief administrative officer Sukh Gill, board chair Ken Gillis and whether the board is transparent about its spending. The survey was answered by 604 people from all over the region, including at least 23 people from the District of Clearwater. About 20 per cent of respondents were from a rural area within the TNRD.
Overall, the survey shows a poor ranking of the TNRD board from residents.
Majority of respondents felt the board failed in providing information to the public about the departure of the former CAO, as well as transparency and oversight about the board’s spending. Just over 93 per cent of respondents strongly disagreed or disagreed with the board members using expense accounts to pay for alcohol and pricey meals at work-related functions.
Respondents were also asked about their confidence in the current board.
“Matters of human resources are delicate and confidential but should never be seen as so secretive that those responsible, or those who reasonably ought to have been responsible, were left uninformed,” reads the report. “A culture of secretiveness, sharing of partial information and silencing of voices who do not agree cannot be permitted to be the normal operating practice of a regional or local government.
“Transparent, ethical stewardship is what is expected. Based on the results of the KVS survey, local taxpayers are significantly disappointed by the TNRD board of directors performance.”
The survey is not meant to be interpreted with statistical significance as it was not sent out to a representative sample and anyone could respond. However, KVS notes in their report that considering the sample size and geographic distribution of survey respondents, results of the survey could be viewed somewhat as representative of the voting public.
The survey report can be viewed on KVS’ website: https://www.kamloops-voters-society.com/2022-2/
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