UPDATE: Chamber president offers clarification
By Trail Champion
Updated as of 6:22 p.m. Nov.30:
Trail and District Chamber of Commerce president Lisa Gregorini was able to shed some light on a murky announcement sent to members within the past hour.
First, and most importantly, she said many of the rumours surrounding the departure of former executive director Maggie Stayanovich are patently false.
“Any speculation that there was any sort of criminal wrong-doing on anyone’s part is absolutely off-the-charts incorrect,” she said, but added privacy precludes her from providing a specific explanation.
As for the election, in the less than a week, of a new interim board, she said six of the existing 11 board members are staying (enough to make a quorum), but they felt it would be better to hold an election now.
“We had several board members decide to step down as a result of the decision to release the executive director,” she said. “We lost five altogether, but two of those were before the decision was made. We decided to have an election to build our board back up again before our AGM in the spring.”
She reiterated, as well, that the board’s decision to release Staynovich was unanimous.
For details about the special general meeting and election, please see the story below.
Previous story:
After calls for an explanation regarding the abrupt departure of former executive director Maggie Stayanovich on Monday, the Trail and District Chamber of Commerce has sent out a letter to members that answers few questions, while raising many more.
The letter, signed by chamber president Lisa Gregorini, reads, “The Board of Directors has received requests for information following on its announcement of November 26, 2012. The Board, as it continues to respect confidentiality, is not prepared to disclose information that could be prejudicial to third parties. The Board has acted and will continue to act in the best interests of the Chamber and its members.
“The Board received confirmation from two independent sources, legal opinion and the BC Chamber of Commerce, indicating that the Board of Directors remains a duly constituted Board satisfying quorum and able to carry on business.
“Moving forward, the Board will begin its recruitment of staff early next week. As well, rather than exercising the option to appoint Directors to the Board, the current Board of Directors is asking the membership to elect interim Directors at a Special General Meeting. Please refer to the accompanying Notice of Special General Meeting.”
Accompanying the letter was a notice of a special meeting scheduled for Dec. 14, beginning at 4 p.m. at the Teck Interpretive Center (within Chamber office) at 1199 Bay Ave.
“This meeting of the membership is called by the President of the Trail & District Chamber of Commerce to elect up to six (6) Directors to serve on the Board of Directors from the date of election to the next Annual General Meeting.
“The nomination process is being conducted according to Robert’s Rules of Order. Nomination instructions and forms are available at the Chamber office. There will not be a recommended slate of candidates by a Nominating Committee presented at the meeting nor will nominations from the floor be accepted at the meeting.”
Gregorini was not available for comment at the time of this posting.
