There is an old saying: “You can fool some of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.”

400 landowners showed up at the annual meeting of the Union Bay Improvement District to elect two new members of the board of trustees.

Change was in the air and change came in the form of a 63% vote for new trustees Carol Molstad and Anne Alcock. They crushed incumbents Dennis Royer and David Godfrey. Carol Molstad was elected chair of the new board.

A new dawn for Union Bay today, with 4 trustees committed to open and transparent government while demonstrating fiscal prudence and responsibility.

- no more financial and legal adventures on behalf of individual landowners,
- no more closed ‘public’ meetings,
- no more disrespect for landowners in the office,
- no more secret meetings of a select few trustees,
- no more illegal disconnects of water to landowners.

Al deJersey becomes the lone wolf on the board and it will be interesting to see if he tries to continue his obstreperous, insulting, boisterous and bullying ways. Will he turn into a silk purse and co-operate with the will of the people? Will he be able to keep quiet about confidential matters?

And of course, there is Kensington. There is consensus in the community that this development should go ahead.

BUT, there needs to be more transparency in the process and there needs to be an end to a select few in the community being ‘consulted’ and informed while the majority sit by and watch. The representatives of these insiders were rejected by the community on April 30.

The new board’s first order of business is to meet with Kensington and start doing what needs to be done to get this show on the road. Time for conflict is over, time to roll up the sleeves and start working co-operatively on behalf of all of Union Bay.

The second order of business, no, the first at the inaugural meeting on May 3, is to take the UBID out of the legal quicksand mess the old board started.

No more tax dollars for legal aid to a few individuals. And the new board will have to figure out how to get back the $118,000 already spent on behalf of these individuals, so that a new fire truck can be purchased, or set aside for a new fire hall.

I have suggested some options in a previous article.
Hats off to the winners, the challenge begins and landowners wish you well.

Vote results of the Union Bay Improvement District (UBID) AGM elections, April 30:

Anne Alcock 248
Carol Molstad, 247
David Godrey 147
Dennis Royer 143