A special meeting called by the Hyack Festival Association to deal with dueling camps in the war to win control over the organization has been cancelled as a result of the resignation of five directors, the Hyack president told The Record.
Gavin Palmer said the meeting was cancelled as a result of what was written in the resignation letter he received today.
“In the letter received from the five resigning directors, it stated that since most of the issues at the special meeting be special resolutions requiring a 75 per cent majority vote it’s unlikely that any of these motions will pass. It is therefore logical for the board to cancel the meeting slated for tonight as it seemingly will not accomplish anything positive,” Palmer said.
When asked to expand on what he meant, Palmer said, “If we are not going to be able pass any of the motions, why even discuss them?” He did not provide further comment.
The association has been dealing with an internal dust-up between those who support the former executive director and those who wanted him fired.
Directors Patti Goss, Bill Radbourne, Stephen Loyd, Ron Unger and Mariane Kazemir issued a letter today stating they are leaving their posts because they "fervently fear" that if Hyack president Gavin Palmer, vice-president Alan Wardle and treasurer Gloria Munro, along with a group of past presidents, continue to control the direction of the organization it will destroy Hyack.
Their letter says since most of the resolutions require a 75 per cent majority vote at the special meeting, it’s unlikely that any of motions – specifically the ones calling for the resignation of Palmer and his cohorts – would pass and status quo would likely be maintained.
They criticized the Palmer camps’ management of Hyack, which hosts the city’s largest and most popular annual parade and related events. The city gives the organization approximately $150,000 annually.
The decision to fire former executive director Douglas Smith cost the association and was done without board approval, says the resignation letter submitted by the five former directors.
Palmer had also put forward a motion for tonight’s meeting to have the five letter writers removed from the organization. The Hyack brouhaha began when Smith was fired on July 31 and later reinstated. He then left the organization when Palmer and his fellow executive members did not resign.
