Equimalt’s heritage advisory committee is history, for now at least.
Esquimalt council has been forced to suspend the committee after a call for volunteer members produced no takers.
The heritage advisory committee’s role has been to provide advice and to make recommendations on issues including heritage designation of buildings, heritage trees and heritage policy.
Staff had recommended that the committee be disbanded but councillors decided this week to instead suspend it for a year and to try to breathe new life into it in time for next year’s committee appointments. In the meantime, they also will lean on the township’s archives for support with heritage issues.
“I hate getting rid of something because sometimes it’s hard to get it back. Whereas, if it’s suspended, we can re-offer next year,” said Coun. Meagan Brame.
Coun. Tim Morrison said heritage is important but it has been a struggle in the past to find volunteers willing to give it a policy focus.
The problem the lack of volunteers presents, he said, is simply a governance issue and the duties will now fall to council.
“Clearly, I think it has to be stated by council that we are not disbanding heritage as an issue and a priority. We are simply disbanding the way it is governed,” Morrison said.
Coun. Lynda Hundleby was the only councillor to vote against suspension. She favoured re-advertising to try to find volunteers.
Hundleby said she’s not sure why it has been a challenge to find volunteers interested in sitting on the heritage committee.
“I would actually like to see that we re-advertise because I don’t know if people understood the fact that if there wasn’t people coming forward it would be gone — either disbanded or suspended,” she said.
Coun. Susan Low doubted that running the advertisements again would have much of an impact. She noted the heritage committee vacancies were advertised exactly like all the other committee vacancies.
“We did receive a number of applications and did, in fact, fill all of our other committees. So it’s not that people weren’t aware of the opportunity. Perhaps the people who are passionate about heritage don’t have the time this year to serve, in which case we might be beating a dead horse this year,” Low said.
Mayor Barb Desjardins said the situation provides “a huge opportunity” to consult the township’s archives on playing a bigger role.
“They are doing a fabulous job in emphasizing heritage at this point. There may be more that they have to offer. I don’t know,” Desjardins said.
Under township policy, the committee is to be comprised of eight full voting members appointed by council including a youth representative and four non-voting members, including two councillors, a staff liaison and a recording secretary.
