The group of seven people responsible for overseeing Initiatives Prince George has resigned.
IPG's board of directors – consisting of Steve Nycholat, Greg Stewart, Bob Redden, Doug Bell, Alice Downing, Sonya Hunt, Charles Jago and Citizen publisher Colleen Sparrow – tendered their resignations last week.
On June 12, the city announced its decision not to renew the contract with IPG, the arm's-length economic development arm, once it expires at the end of the year.
Members of the board and IPG CEO Heather Oland said the news came as a surprise and the board released a statement expressing their regret over the city's decision.
The volunteer board of directors was in place to oversee Initiatives Prince George.
Former board chair Nycholat said the group has performed their duties by giving notice to the staff and wrapping up affairs as much as they could.
"The organization is formally wrapping up at the end of December. We're not in a position to create new plans or start new initiatives because we don't know what that is," Nycholat said, adding the group didn't feel it was in a position to carry on. "So it was a logical point in time, by our assessment, this was a good time to for us to step back from the organization."
According to IPG's articles of incorporation, the city, as the organization's sole shareholder, can "elect or appoint directors to fill any vacancies on the board of directors" if there are no directors.
If the company has no directors or fewer directors in office than the number set pursuant to these articles as the quorum of directors, the shareholders may elect or appoint directors to fill any vacancies on the board of directors.
On Monday, city council will vote to approve city manager Kathleen Soltis as the corporation's sole director.
"Appointing Ms. Soltis to the IPG board is a logical step to facilitate and ease the transfer of economic development services to a city department," said a report from administrative services general manager Walter Babicz.
"The staff at IPG has just been phenomenal under the leadership of (IPG CEO) Heather Oland and it's been a great pleasure working with the current and past board members," Nycholat said. "It's been a great opportunity to learn and collaborate with some really high-calibre people in the community. It's been a great experience."
The city has had some sort of external economic development branch for the past three decades.
Reasons for the change given by Mayor Lyn Hall included saving up to $500,000 and giving city council and staff more of a direct connection to the economic development process.
On June 15, city council approved the formation of a new committee to advise on the staffing and resource levels required to meet the city’s economic development goals as well as finalize the transition plan to switching the operations from IPG to the city’s planning department.
The committee is mandated to make its final report to council by Sept. 30, but hasn't yet met.
Members of the IPG board were invited to sit on the committee plotting the future of economic development activity as an internal city hall operation, but that committee's membership has yet to be finalized.
Nycholat said it's up to individual board members to make that decision as to whether they will join the committee. For his part, Nycholat said he was still unsure as to his own participation, given his schedule.
