It was all very cordial, but there was an elephant in the room.
You might remember that this space two weeks ago was filled with a discussion of our objection to Downtown Salmon Arm’s ban placed on reporting content from the board’s regular meetings, which take place once a month.
The board informed us that as members of the organization we were welcome to attend the meetings, but not report on what took place — a policy we believe is not in the public interest from an organization that is created by city bylaw and is funded through a mandatory levy on members within the designated area.
Despite months of correspondence and a meeting with the executive about this issue, the board did not change its stance and neither have we. And so reporter Martha Wickett and I attended this month’s Downtown Salmon Arm meeting last week.
Everyone was polite, bid us good morning, and after we waited close to one hour for the board’s in-camera session to finish, we were invited in.
As the “open portion” of the meeting began, board chair Cookie Langenfeld made a statement affirming that we were welcome as members of the organization, but “confidentiality is still part of the meeting here today.”
We were not asked to agree to or sign a non-disclosure, nor would we. I think it is pretty clear, if we attend these meetings, we will report on them. Being a group of prominent businesspeople, I doubt the Downtown Salmon Arm board was under any illusions about our intentions either. In our minds, we respected the right of the board to have an in-camera discussion, but the open board discussions should be exactly that — open.
And so you will read in today’s newspaper about the introduction of a pilot recycling program planned to launch downtown, about street trees and plans for a new digital sign (location is still to be determined) to replace the hanging banners at Alexander Street.
Hardly front-page news, but still interesting, and the coverage speaks to our purpose, which is to inform the community.
Part of our role as journalists is to represent the public by covering events or issues that members of the public can’t attend. Many community meetings do not get huge audiences, but citizens are still interested in what is going on.
We have been reporting on the discussions at Downtown Salmon Arm (formerly known as the Downtown Improvement Association) for more than 15 years. Directors would have known this when they volunteered to let their names stand for election to the board, but now they have become uncomfortable with having their thoughts and opinions put forward with their names attached.
We believe that is what community leaders do.
Tracy Hughes is editor of the Salmon Arm Observer