Duties and Responsibilities

The board has the authority to make decisions that will affect the services being provided to the residents by a majority vote. Each trustee has a single vote and their power lies in the ability to convince the other trustees to agree with their point of view. Therefore, one trustee cannot commit the district to any particular action, not even the chair. The powers of trustee are collective, rather than individual. For example, a trustee negotiating an agreement or contract on behalf of the district cannot make a commitment until the rest of the trustees have had the opportunity to review and vote on the matter.
Trustees are expected to act in the best interest of the community and strive to govern in the best interests of the residents. Trustees must not use their position to benefit personally or they may be in a conflict of interest.
Trustees should strive to attend every meeting. A meeting can only be held, and decisions made, as long as a quorum is present. If a trustee is unable to attend meetings for an extended period of time they should consider resigning their position so that another person can be elected to fill the position. It is not possible for the other trustees, the landowners, or any other person, to remove a trustee from office because of poor attendance or for any other reason.

The duties of a trustee are statutory and cannot be delegated to anyone else. These include:
• Electing one of themselves as chair at the first meeting in each year and at the first meeting after a vacancy occurs in the office of the chair (Section 738).

• The appointment and dismissal of officers or employees and deciding the terms and conditions of their employment (Section 738.4).

• The passage of bylaws and resolutions, to exercise any of the powers granted to the trustees (Section 746).

• Sending a tax notice to every owner of land with sufficient information on assessment to show how the taxes were calculated (Section 758).

• Appointing three of themselves, or other persons, to constitute the Court of Revision to revise the assessment roll and consider complaints about assessment (Section 754).

• Fixing the date, time and place for a tax sale if a property has taxes that are more than 24 months in arrears (Section 762).

• Calling a meeting of the landowners once a year within the period stipulated in the district's Letters Patent and presenting them with the audited financial statement for the preceding calendar year (Section 741).

• Furnishing the Inspector of Municipalities with a true copy of the audited financial statements by May 15 each year (Section 741.1).

 There is no requirement for a trustee to disclose his or her financial holdings under the Financial Disclosure Act.

The term of office for all trustees is three years unless they were elected to fill the remainder of the term for a position that became vacant before the end of the term. Any remuneration (honorarium) paid to the trustees must be decided at each year’s annual general meeting by the landowners and trustees.

The Board of Trustees meet on a monthly basis to address the on going business of the district. The Qualicum Bay Waterworks District is responsible for the delivery of water and all related infrastructure. Periodic meetings are also held throughout the year with regards to specific committees such as Maintenance. Trustees also attend the AGM and any special public meetings.

The Trustee positions are strictly volunteer with an annual honorarium as determined by the ratepayers at each AGM.

As outlined in our Letters Patents, persons qualified as candidates must be:

• A Canadian citizen
• Eighteen years of age, or older
• An owner of land in the improvement district
• The spouse of someone who meets the above criteria is also a qualified candidate.

The responsibilities of an elected trustee are outlined in the Improvement District Manual.

If you have any questions regarding this information, please do not hesitate to contact the office or any of the trustees.