Sechelt looks to next steps as mayor 'refused' to apologize

As the District of Sechelt works towards recommendations laid out in a recently released governance audit, Sechelt council recognized that Mayor John Henderson “has refused to provide an apology as per Council resolution.” 

As such, council directed staff “to bring a report to Council about potential next steps given the George B. Cuff Governance Audit and its recommendations,” in a closed meeting July 24. The resolution was then released to the public. 

Before the council meeting closed to the public July 24, Henderson looked to have the discussion in the open meeting. “I think that the items that are on this closed meeting agenda do not need to be discussed and do not warrant being discussed in a closed meeting based on the information I’ve received,” he told council. His motion was not seconded. 

Further resolutions July 24 saw the audit’s preliminary implementation plan endorsed and instruction for staff to lead the mayor and council through the performance review process for the municipality’s chief administrative officer (CAO).

Henderson comments

Reached for comment July 25 regarding the resolution stating that he had “refused” to apologize, Mayor John Henderson said he had made a public statement July 3 and made a private statement to council in June. “Those expressed my regrets about things that I felt…that I can learn from, and I hoped that we could move forward,” he told Coast Reporter.

Henderson said that focusing on the one recommendation of an apology is “unhelpful.” 

“The report is, off the top of my head, a couple hundred of pages, and there’s a lot of different things for us to work through,” he said, later adding that there are “numerous recommendations relating to our CAO, senior staff, individual councillors and Council, as a whole.”

“We need to deal with all of these as a package, to deliver the best for Sechelt,” he wrote in an email.

“I believe I’ve delivered an appropriate response in public,” said Henderson in a phone call. “If council has some other beliefs, of course, they’re entitled to them.

“I’m focused on figuring out which of the other recommendations are good for Sechelt and getting those done.”

Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s civic and Indigenous affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

With files from Bronwyn Beairsto