Here we go again.
What is going on at Comfor?
That has been the question of the week and so far Lakes District News has met with closed doors regarding the matter.
And why restructuring now? We should have restructured Comfor Management Services Ltd. (CMSL) back when there was millions of dollars being spent with no accountability. That is when they should have cleaned house - got rid of the existing board and brought in new faces.
The restructuring plan is not completed as of yet and won’t be for about a year, but they start off by firing two long term employees?
That makes no sense at all.
If the plans aren’t completed yet, how can they make such a rash decision?
Restructuring the company shouldn’t result in the company releasing two long term senior employees, after all it is the board of directors that make all the decisions and management that simply implement them. So how is it that these two employees get the raw end of the deal?
Why were the employees let go, and why has there not been any answers from the board? The community has the right to know.
A survey that was taken to establish the community forest, and verified again in a 2008 community survey, agreed that the community forest must be held at arms length from the village.
Not only has this not happened, but in fact the village has moved closer by inserting councillors and in the past a mayor, as members of the board. Initially this was announced as a temporary measure, but that was approximately a year ago and nothing has changed.
The village, being the sole shareholder of our community forest, should definitely be letting us know what is happening behind the closed doors.
About three years ago Lakes District News went through the Freedom of Information Act process and fought for over a year to get information from CMSL for the community. Unfortunately the Freedom of Information Act does not cover employee information, so our hands are tied.
As a community though, we can do something.
We should be banging on the village’s door demanding answers - call your elected officials and let them know you want to know what is going on now. The community has a right to know and this information should be open and available, after all it is our ‘community’ forest.
The CMSL website states that CMSL is recognized as one of the most successful community forest tenure holders in British Columbia.
If this is the case, I would not like to see how the other community forests operate.