A B.C. Supreme Court judge has nullified the June 26 annual general meeting of the Riley Park Hillcrest Community Association and ordered a new meeting on or before Oct. 30.
Justice Lisa Warren’s written Aug. 22 verdict overturned the election of 14 directors and restored president Jesse Johl and secretary/treasurer Todd Constant to the board.
Warren ruled that the meeting’s requisitionists were not authorized to call the meeting and that they did not give proper written notice to members as required by the Society Act. It was also not clear that the resolutions passed June 26 reflected the majority of membership, because only a handful of the 95 members on Constant’s list attended the meeting.
“In order to pass, the resolutions required 75 per cent of the votes cast in favour,” Warren wrote. “If only half of the members on Mr. Constant’s list had attended the meeting and voted against the resolutions, they would not have passed.”
Until a new board is elected, Warren ruled the directors would be Johl, Constant, Steve Mah, Nick Despotakis, Peter Thanis, Eli Zbar, Jaimini Thakore, Jennifer Palma and Ken Charko.
Charko, Palma, Thakore and Zbar’s court action filed in April against Johl and the society ultimately led to the contested AGM. The four alleged financial impropriety under Johl and sought their reinstatement to the board.
Both Johl and opponent Art Bomke are declaring victory.
“We’re well on the way of meeting our objective, that is to get us to an open, democratic general meeting,” said Bomke, despite Warren overturning the June 26 board election. “That was not likely to happen prior to the judge’s decision.”
Johl gained notoriety by leading six community centre associations — Riley Park, Hastings, Kensington, Kerrisdale, Killarney and Sunset — opposed to park board’s imposition of the OneCard system. The six not-for-profit associations won a court injunction in January to prevent their eviction.
In his sworn-statement to court, which heard the matter of the contested AGM on Aug. 8 and 11, Johl alleged that park board staff “were visible at the meeting and assisted in selling memberships for the society.” An elated Johl, who is also the founder of the Vancouver First party, told the Courier after the verdict that “the attempted coup by park board and Vision Vancouver has failed.”
Bomke admitted he is a Vision Vancouver member but “not a mover and shaker.” He said Riley Park Hillcrest’s board is diverse and he cited former NPA candidate and director Charko as an example.
“This is not about political ambition, this is community people standing up because the community association has not been operating up to the bylaws,” Bomke said.
Johl alleged Charko aided the ruling Vision Vancouver by meeting city manager Penny Ballem on April 7. Charko said he could not recall the meeting date, but said Ballem wanted information about the dispute and the city was an interested party. Charko also said Johl agreed in an April 14 settlement agreement to authorize Charko as the association’s negotiator in talks with the city. Johl said the truce was never formalized.
Charko and Johl’s April dispute also sparked a May 5 lawsuit against the association by the park board, claiming breach of contract over alleged failure to provide financial reports. An Aug. 29 hearing is scheduled in B.C. Supreme Court, but Johl said claims of malfeasance are false. “The books are clean,” he said.
Audited financial reports provided by Johl show $299,532 revenue and $299,255 expenses for a $277 surplus last year and $302,531 revenue and $251,661 expenses for a $50,970 surplus in 2012. The 2012 figure included a $28,686 park board allocation.
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