MOTION ON NOTICE

3. Property Endowment Fund Board Meetings (File: 3131)

At the Council meeting, Councillor Louis submitted the following Notice of Motion which was recognized by the Chair:

WHEREAS, the Property Endowment Fund Board (PEFB) is comprised of Mayor Philip Owen, Councillor Jennifer Clarke, Councillor George Puil, the City Manager, and the Director of Finance;

AND WHEREAS, the PEFB was established by resolution of Council on June 17, 1975 for the purpose of managing the Property Endowment Fund (PEF);

AND WHEREAS, the objectives of this fund are:
· to manage and develop the Fund's holdings in order to generate a reasonable economic return;
· to buy and sell lands in order to assemble a land inventory that offers the best possible opportunity to preserve and where possible increase the real value of the PEF's assets;
· to support the City's public objectives; and
· to develop a program to accomplish the conversion of non-strategic holdings to strategic ones;

AND WHEREAS, all Councillors are elected to ensure the public's assets are prudently and wisely invested;

AND WHEREAS, Mayor Philip Owen stated to Councillor Tim Louis in July 2001 that Councillors who are not on the PEFB are not legally permitted to attend meetings of the board;

AND WHEREAS, Section 164.1 to 165.7 of the Vancouver Charter requires that the public be informed of the PEFB meetings;

AND WHEREAS, all Councillors not appointed to the PEFB are not given notice of PEFB meeting;

AND WHEREAS, despite requests to City staff, Councillor Tim Louis has not been given access to minutes of previous PEFB meetings;

AND WHEREAS, Section 168 of the Vancouver Charter requires that a bona fide request for the inspection of any record or document of the city, subject to reasonableregulations as to the time and manner of such inspection, or for a copy thereof, shall be complied with, unless for good cause the Director of Finance otherwise directs;

AND WHEREAS, a Vancouver citizen recently applied under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and won access to the agendas and minutes of the last four PEFB meetings;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, Vancouver City Council:

(a) give public notice of the agenda and date of meetings of the Property Endowment Fund Board;
(b) make the Property Endowment Fund Board open to all Councillors; and
(c) make the minutes of Property Endowment Fund Board meetings public, except where it is appropriate to keep minutes In Camera.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver