The results were in and it was unanimous. Sixty-four people voted with coloured cards to expel five directors from their neighbourhood society.
Trouble was, the society had already been dissolved – and it didn’t take a single vote to do it.
Neighbours of Nob Hill Society, a nine-year-old community group in downtown Nanaimo, was dissolved last month and its members are now working to restore it.
It was one of 18 neighbourhood associations listed on the city’s website, which can bring neighbours together to act as a voice for the community and liaise with the City of Nanaimo.
The Nob Hill group was closed after former directors Stathi Tsangaris and Doug Hiltz, who claim there was infighting and a refusal of mediation, took matters into their own hands Jan. 27, signing documents to start the process of dissolving the society through the B.C. Registry Services.
Members on both sides of the issue have painted a picture of divided leadership in the months before the dissolution and the attempt to expel members.
An extraordinary meeting on Jan. 29 was held to expel five members including Hiltz and Tsangaris, according to Tereza Bajan, co-chairwoman of the now defunct society, who claims they were on a review committee for the association’s constitution and bylaws and submitted documents to B.C. Registry without votes by the membership.
Hiltz, however, said they gave people four opportunities to voice their opinion on the constitution before it was sent.
Bajan said there was no previous discussion about the society dissolving and she found out it was shut down through an e-mail she says was accidentally sent to another member. She was in shock.
“The society belongs to the membership ... you can’t do anything. You can’t spend the money. Everything has to come to a vote,” she said.
Under the B.C. Society Act, societies can apply for a voluntary dissolution with an ordinary resolution passed at a general meeting and an affidavit sworn by two directors that sets out how the assets, if any, were distributed.
The affidavit Tsangaris and Hiltz signed said the society parted with all of its assets, donating them to the Women’s Centre of Nanaimo and the Community Action Team. It also gave a copy of an ordinary resolution to request the government dissolve the society.
But Tsangaris and Hiltz told the News Bulletin the assets are still at the bank in an account previously frozen by some members of the society and the issue never went to vote.
Hiltz’s interpretation of the Society Act is that two or more directors had to sign off on the dissolution and said he was advised by the B.C. Registry on the process. It’s “legal and binding,” according to Hiltz.
“What prompted it was there was no transparency, no responsibility or accountability on the other side’s part at all,” he said, noting mediation was called for several times. “At the time I was thinking, well, that’s going to be the best way it’s got to go because other than that you are going to have both groups fighting over everything.”
Tsangaris also said there was no need for a meeting under the act and that they were guided by the B.C. Registry.
“We didn’t submit any minutes, there was no meeting and [B.C. Registry] approved it,” said Tsangaris. “It’s because it came from them. It was a request from them. It wasn’t from us.”
The Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services stated to the News Bulletin that the B.C. Registry did not require the dissolution – it was voluntary, which means the society requested it. In an e-mail, the ministry also says in this case, the required documentation was received and there was no reason to question the authentication of the documentation and therefore the society was dissolved.
Bajan, who is now involved in trying to restore the society, said currently people check off boxes and don’t have to show proof.
“It’s not a very efficient system that they have. It has a lot of holes in it, but definitely the government does not take any responsibility,” she said.
Bajan said a message has been sent to members that they are in the process of restoration and a meeting is scheduled for the end of February. Hiltz and Tsangaris are part of a new organization, the Nob Hill Community Association, which they say has 29 members.