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More member involvement sought by TW board

Four director positions being contested by nine candidates

By Andrew Mitchell

For an organization with over 7,000 members, the annual Tourism Whistler board elections have been low-key, low turnout affairs in the past, with representatives for different business sectors typically earning spots by acclamation at the annual general meeting.

This year things will be different, as Tourism Whistler has worked to include as many members as possible in the nomination process, and to register members to vote. They have also increased the ways that members can vote, now allowing mail-in ballots and online ballots as well as votes at the AGM. Proxy votes, such as a commercial landlord voting on behalf of their tenants, will not be allowed.

The first package was sent out to members in early February, which included the nomination forms. The nomination period wrapped up in early March, with multiple candidates for most board positions.

Rick Clare, the current chair of the board as well as the Commercial Director for the past eight years, now has two challengers for his position — something he considers a good start for more community involvement.

“This year there is an actual election in every category except for Single Managed Lodging where (Chateau Whistler GM) Michael Kaile will fill the position,” he said. “We’ve made a real effort of expanding our reach and letting people know that they can be involved. Our nominating committee also did a great job, coming out with a list of 18 to 20 names just for the commercial director position.

“In the past a lot of businesses didn’t even know they have a vote. Years ago I remember there were only 23 votes for the commercial sector, and they were the people that owned the properties and that’s about it. Few of their tenants exercised their votes.”

Clare welcomes the challenge, and is running again for the position for a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons is continuity, and building on the progress made in recent years. Another reason is to provide a voice for small business on the board, as well as to represent the large Commercial portfolio that includes all restaurants, retailers, tour operators, and other local businesses.

“What it comes down to, and I’ll say this very carefully, is that when things are going well for the resort there’s no use for Tourism Whistler, and when things are going badly it’s Tourism Whistler’s fault. That’s just the way it is, because people don’t always see what’s going on behind the scenes or understand the role that Tourism Whistler plays,” he said.

“One advantage I have is that I’m in my store (Whistler’s Foto Source), and people walk by and I do have interaction with people, visitors and locals, on a regular basis. I bring a different level to that board table.

“I do have a history with the board, I do understand how it works, and recognize that it can seem like a weird beast at some levels.

“To my level, we need to be supporting the small businessmen, but to be successful in the big picture we need to be able to say ‘that campaign didn’t work well because there were no retail traffic features’, or ‘we didn’t involve our members enough’.”

Running against Clare are Jay Wahono, owner of the Taman Sari Royal Heritage Spa, and Mike Wintemute, general manager of Re/Max Sea to Sky Real Estate Whistler. Both have different things they would like to accomplish in the role of commercial director.

Wintemute, who just wrapped up his eighth year on the board of the Chamber of Commerce, is keen to be involved in Tourism Whistler and sees some opportunities for changes to governance to create more board turnover and member involvement.

“I’ve been a board member on the Chamber of Commerce for eight years, and just finished my last year as the past chairman. I felt it was right for me to move on to something else, and I’ve always been involved in volunteer work in the communities I’ve lived in,” he said.

“I feel that fundamentally Tourism Whistler does a good job and is an important asset to our community, and one of my reasons for running is that I’m not totally up to speed on everything Tourism Whistler does. For me this would be an opportunity to learn that, and share it with the community.”

As for governance issues, Wintemute is in favour of a consistent turnover of people.

“It’s seems that (Tourism Whistler) doesn’t have any kind of system where there is a turnover of directors. On a lot of organizations you can only serve so many terms and then have to step aside, which goes for the executive as well as the board,” he said.

“In a small community where everybody knows everyone else and there’s no mandatory time limit… people stay for long periods of time. And people don’t get involved or run because it’s the same people all the time. I think there’s a benefit to having a governance model that causes or forces change.

“If people feel they can join an organization and play a role in making changes and bringing new ideas in then, yes, we’ll be getting a better cross-section of individuals to stand up for the organization.”

For Wahono, the commercial director position will provide an opportunity to re-energize the commercial sector, and to bring an international perspective to the board. He is also concerned by the lack of member involvement, and believes that the commercial portfolio could be split into two positions — one to represent businesses that provide services, like activity operators and spas, and one to represent businesses that provide products, including retailers and restaurants.

“The first reason I’m running is that I feel the activity operators’ side of the commercial sector has not been represented at the Tourism Whistler board, meaning the activity operators have not voiced their own interests,” he said. “Activity operators are only one sector, but it’s a big part of the overall, whole experience, and the main attraction for people coming to Whistler.

“To be honest, a lot of people don’t know what they want to do in Whistler other than going skiing or biking, and we need to change all that and let people know that Whistler is a year-round destination, and a lot of our activity operators are 365 days a year. Do people know that now? I don’t think people in Vancouver even know that, and it’s crucial to get that message out there.”

Wahono believes that there are also untapped opportunities for developing the international travel market, which is becoming more important with the softening of the U.S. market.

“For me, Whistler also needs new Tourism Whistler ideas in their marketing, and what I’m hoping to do is to contribute by bringing in a new perspective… both from my background as a spa operator in town, and as part of a company that has experience operating in seven countries and three continents. I feel that I can bring an international perspective to enhancing Tourism Whistler’s marketing strategy in the future.”

Wahono is also concerned by the level of member involvement in Tourism Whistler. With many businesses paying their Tourism Whistler fees as part of their rents, they have not been engaged in Tourism Whistler through board elections, the annual general meetings, or other meetings held to discuss various resort initiatives.

“Businesses are not involved at the level they should be, and they’re not voting and getting involved,” said Wahono. “Part of the reason is that their only connection in the past has been through their landlords, but we have to change all of that.”

Wahono also asked Tourism Whistler to extend the annual deadline for filing Statutory Use Declaraton Forms, which are required to vote in the Tourism Whistler elections. The deadline for submitting the forms was March 20, but was extended to March 26.

Typically half the elected board positions come up for election each year, but the departure of two board members mid-term resulted in a pair of appointments. As a result almost all of the elected positions are available.

In the Multi-Managed Lodging – Benchlands position, Paul Sanderson and Kerry Wallace are both running for the board. For Multi-Managed Lodging – Village, the race is between Rick Browning and Kimberely Hughes.

For Single Managed Lodging – Large, Michael Kaile was acclaimed.

For Single Managed Lodging Small, the choice of candidates is between Jim Allard and Scott Taber.

Other board members are appointed by Whistler-Blackcomb, the Resort Municipality of Whistler and Whistler Chamber of Commerce. The chamber position is ex-officio.

Directors are nominated and voted in by their peers (commercial operators vote for the commercial director position).

A second package of information, with details on candidates and voting instructions, will be sent to registered members in mid-April. The annual general meeting is scheduled for May 17.