Council appoints 6 City of Regina staffers to REAL board of directors after resignations
Council voted 6-1 in favour of city manager's recommendations during special meeting
Six City of Regina staffers have been appointed to serve on the board of directors of Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL), replacing those who resigned from the municipal-owned corporation Wednesday.
REAL's voting board members resigned Wednesday, shortly after city council narrowly elected to remove them at least in part due to concerns about the company's financial future and complaints about oversight.
Council held a special meeting Friday afternoon to pick the board's replacements. Despite some fiery debate, councillors passed recommendations made by city manager Niki Anderson, which included appointing a handful of city administrators to fill the vacancies.
"It went where I hoped it would, where we would get to move ahead with the recommendations," Anderson told reporters after Friday's meeting.
"I'm just happy that we have what we need to start moving forward with next steps."
REAL, which is responsible for hosting events and maintaining facilities such as Mosaic Stadium, has dealt with mounting scrutiny this year due to Tourism Regina's failed rebrand, its significant deficit and questions about the conflict of interest posed by CEO Tim Reid's private consulting firm.
City administration has transitioned tourism from REAL's jurisdiction back within that of the city.
Anderson submitted a report ahead of Friday's special meeting, containing multiple recommendations regarding the REAL board of directors, including a list of potential appointees — all civic employees — to serve on an interim basis until July 31, 2024, or until successors are found.
The report listed Anderson, her chief of staff Ly Pham, executive director of financial strategy and sustainability Barry Lacey, manager of sport and recreation Jeff May and executive director of corporate services Jennifer Johnson to be appointed.
During Friday's meeting, Anderson asked for an amendment to add a sixth person: Maria Burns, manager of client services and labour relations.
Council voted 6-1 in favour of Anderson's recommendations Friday. Coun. John Findura was the sole dissenter.
Coun. Jason Mancinelli attended the meeting, but left before the vote. Mayor Sandra Masters and councillors Bob Hawkins — currently a non-voting REAL board member — and Landon Mohl did not attend the meeting.
Unusual, but practical to appoint city staff: report
Appointing city employees typically isn't recommended because it could create a conflict of interest. Board members must act in the best interest of their organization, not the municipality, Anderson's report said.
This situation is "unique," though, because the entire board resigned, the report said. Appointing city employees as board members is a potential "practical solution" in the interim.
"The risk of potential conflict is expected to be outweighed by the knowledge and experience regarding municipal objectives and policy directions that these employees will bring to the board," the report said.
"These board members will have to exercise their duties with diligence and awareness of this duty to the municipal corporation."
Multiple councillors voiced their agreement with Anderson's position Friday, while recognizing the task ahead.
"[I'm] happy to have them at the helm, but they have some heavy lifting to do," said Coun. Dan LeBlanc during the meeting.
Interim board to operate differently: Anderson
The collection of people Anderson selected gives the interim board a wide range of expertise, she told reporters, but they're also used to the administrative work with the city.
The previous board worked closely with REAL CEO Tim Reid and focused primarily on strategic planning, Anderson said. The interim board, however, will seek to answer councillors' questions about the recent MNP report.
The city contracted accounting firm MNP to conduct a financial review of REAL. Its report painted a bleak picture of the organization's financial future and offered several recommendations.
"This is not just a strategic board," Anderson said. "We have to actually have a lot of outputs and council reports and recommendations that come out of the work that we do."
Anderson expects the new board members will serve until the end of the proposed term, she told reporters after Friday's meeting.
The interim board members will work for REAL while city administration develops a report outlining potential operational changes to the company, such as dissolving REAL and transferring full management of its assets to the City of Regina, Anderson's report said.
She selected July 31, 2024, as the interim board's end date because they would have to report to city council about possibly folding REAL by the end of the second fiscal quarter, Anderson told reporters.
Anderson didn't speak to Tim Reid's future specifically, but she said "anything that is a board's responsibility would fall into [the] scope of the work that we would do."
Through its vote Friday, council opted to reduce the number of REAL's board of directors from nine to six, and the number of voting members from seven to three.
Council also elected to direct the city to draft indemnity agreements for the interim board members. The agreements protect the interim board members from any liability that they might otherwise be exposed to as a result of the good faith exercise of their duties on the board.
A similar agreement is already in place for individuals on the board of Economic Development Regina Inc.
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