The man at the centre of the Hyack Association power struggle left his post last Thursday and says he plans to take legal action against the organization for wrongful dismissal.
Former executive director Douglas Smith was tight-lipped about his reasons for finally moving on after he was fired and rehired a month ago.
“I’ve been wrongfully dismissed. I was brought back for a month. I’ve decided to move on,” Smith said.
Asked if he would come back if the four executives who wanted him fired were let go, Smith said, “I have no idea.”
Smith confirmed he was taking legal action against the association but wouldn’t say what type of damages he was seeking. Smith’s assistant, Lillian D’Souza, also resigned as of Thursday as event coordinator for Hyack.
Smith – who some say breathed new life into the Hyack Festival – was fired on July 31 but was reinstated after the board at large voted to ask him back. The agreement was that he would return to work for a period of one month without prejudice – which meant Smith could still take legal action against the association for his dismissal.
As a result of Smith’s firing, the Hyack board also passed a motion calling for the four executive members who wanted Smith fired – president Gavin Palmer, treasurer Gloria Munro, vice-president Alan Wardle, and incoming president Nadine Proulx – to resign. But they refused to give up their seats.
A meeting for the membership at large to vote on their fate was scheduled, but that meeting was later cancelled and a new one was never rescheduled. Instead, Palmer said the board was hoping to work out the situation internally.
“I think we are moving forward in the right direction. There are still a few things being hotly debated. It’s all in camera so I can’t tell you anything at this point,” Palmer told The Record earlier this month.
Smith said he had been informed he was being let go because of an incident that occurred on Canada Day during a live music performance at the Concerts on the Quay. A group was being disruptive during a performance, and Smith intervened, with one of the group members accusing Smith of assaulting him.
Smith, who was never charged for the incident, speculated his firing may have been related to the strategic planning work that had been taking place, including a name change for the association. Instead of being called Hyack Festival Association, a proposal would have seen the organization renamed Festivals New West to better reflect that the group organizes festivals year round, not just the Hyack Festival in May.
The City of New Westminster provides the Hyack Festival Association with $150,000 in funding each year.
