Martin Millerchip News Reporter martin@nsnews.com THE only way North Vancouver District residents will know that their council is meeting tonight is if they are reading this story or had the intestinal fortitude to sit through Monday night’s four-hour meeting. And council watchers and councillors alike are exasperated that, as in previous summers, the district will be holding unadvertised meetings to complete its agenda _ “There was io excuse for not having planned it our better. They knew how many agenda items there were when thev published the agen- da. The mayor and everyone else knew they couldn’t handle it,” said Edgemon resident and long-time councif-watcher Corrie Kost. “The worst part is that they don’t publicize As the clock ticked past 11 p.m. Monday night, council voted unanimously (with Coun. Pat Munroe absent on vacation) to adjourn the meeting and reconvene on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in order to complete the unfinished portion of the agenda. The Municipal Act requires that council meetings be advertised in advance, but allows for meetings to be adjourred and reconvened without further notice. A representative of the North Shore Arts Commission who was just setting up a slide pre- sentation on a public art policy after a four-hour wait was asked to return on Wednesday evening. Besides the 29 items of business on Monday’s agenda (Coun. Trevor Carolan added one more item at the start of the meeting — the Cleveland Dam access road — to make 30 in total), there were also three delegation appear- ances, including a long presentation by the Waterfront Task Force. There was also a hearing held under the Municipal Act to_ determine whether private works on Badger Road should be determined a “nuisance” as defined under the act. Unlike delegation appearances, such hear- iNys are not time limited. Council usually manages to complete between 12 and 15 agenda items in a meeting Mayor Don Bell told the News that he is 10 longer responsible for setting the agenda after council changed its operating policy last year. He said he began to speak to councillors last week abour helding another meeting as soon as he realized the length of the agenda. Nevertheless, a halfpage advertisement. ¢- mailed to the News trom the district’s clerk’s office on Thursday afternoon made no mention ofa second meeting. Commented Coun. Lisa Muri, “The mavor just can’t seem to get it together on managing these things. He waits to the last minute. He can't plan a week ahead, he can only work a day ahead.” Coun. Ernie Crist, a longtime advocate of weekly summer meetings instead of the district’s bi-weekly schedule, was more blunt: “It's manipulated. There are certain items that the mayor does nor want to be on TV.” ‘Monday's meeting was televised live on Rogers Cable. The Wednesday continuation will not be broadcast. Three of the unfinished items of business relate to a charge that Bell acted in a conflict of interest when he voted in favour of a develop- ment, since collapsed, on the site of the Avalon Hore. The hotel was owned by Ken Hutchinson, who reportedly contributed to Bell's 1993 municipal election costs. Asked if he thought part of the agenda was deliberately orchestrated away from the cameras, Kost commented: “That might have been coin- cidental, But I offen say to peopie 1 don’t believe in coincidences.” Counci] will debate 15 unfinished items of business starting at 7 p.m. tonight. Job action considered by guards From page3 fast ferries’ bill. “We never thought it was going to take this long, because in the case of private companies — like, violations of the act —- they were enforcing i it pretty good and quickly,” Lashgari said. “But this time, because it involves a gov- ernment project, they cither don’t have the power to do it or they don’t want to do it. “The thing is Employment Standards is a government agency and (so is) CFI, which is part of BC Ferries Crown corporation. So real- fy we don’t have anybody defending us,” said Lashgari. He said the dilemma has left the guards with no recourse but to go to the media. “We're just giving this report to tie media and make people aware of the problem,” Lashgari said. “If nothing happens shortly we're probably going to consider some job actions or maybe launch a class act (lawsuit).” sree ea Reet returns, auto.,iraudes ait, am/tm cass 233,995 A North Vancouver teenaper who was stabbed outside the Park and Tilford movie theatres last Wednesday is expected to survive. The = 17-year-old was stabbed twice in the back with along, butcher knife. The vouth’s name was not released by police. His alleged assailant, a 16 - year-old North Vancouver res- ident, was arrested shortly after the incident. He can't be named as it would contravene the Young Offenders Act. 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