The City of New Westminster is watching the drama unfold at the Hyack Festival Association but isn't taking action at this time.
The Hyack Festival Association's board of directors has called a special meeting of the members of the association for Sept. 10, at which time it will consider removing the group's president, treasurer, president-elect and vice-president. The move comes after the Hyack executive fired the association's executive director Douglas Smith, who has since been reinstated by the board at large.
"It's very difficult for us to know who is running the shop and how it is working," Mayor Wayne Wright told The Record. "We will give them that leeway to find out."
The results of the meeting will provide the city and Hyack with the foundation for future discussions, Wright said. "It's hard to continue on giving funding without knowing that the organization is in good administrative shape," he said.
As part of the city's annual grants process, the City of New Westminster provides the Hyack Festival Association with funding to organize a number of events on the city's behalf, including the Hyack Festival and the Santa Claus Parade of Lights. Hyack members also travel with the group's float and represent the city at parades in the Pacific Northwest and B.C. In recent years, the city has given Hyack Festival Association more than $150,000 in funding and inkind services to organize events on the city's behalf.
Wright said the city may request financial information from the organization, but it's waiting to see what happens at the special general meeting at the special general meeting before making any decisions.
"They have given us information over the years," he said. "What we will do is we may be requesting to get more information on it if we need it, but we won't do any of these things until after Sept.10."
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