Chris Jensen (right), one of Destination Osoyoos’s outgoing directors, was presented with a scenic photograph of Osoyoos by past chair Derek Noske at the organization’s annual general meeting on March 5. Due to his long involvement with the organization, he was referred to as the “Grandfather of the organization” and appointed an honorary director for life. Photo by Laurena Weninger - Click on picture for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-March 10, 2010
By Laurena Weninger – Osoyoos Times
The Olympic Torch Relay may have already come and gone, but there was definitely a sense of “passing the torch” at Destination Osoyoos’s annual general meeting on March 5 at the Watermark Beach Resort.
“There’s nothing more constant than change,” said Derek Noske, now wearing the title of past chair of the Destination Osoyoos (DO) board.
Last year, the Town of Osoyoos made some changes to its funding of and expectations for DO.
This year, the Town took over economic development responsibilities, leaving the role of tourism development to DO.
Now, DO is receiving joint funding from the Town, the NK’MIP Resort Association and the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) for tourism development.
All of the changes have led to a brand new governance structure, explained Noske at the meeting to a roomful of about 50 people, including Osoyoos town council and Area A director Mark Pendergraft.
The new governance policy has been modelled after other organizations – it’s the same as the one in use by the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) – but it’s tailor-made to suit Osoyoos, said Noske.
“We need to get more community involvement,” he said, explaining such participation is key to the new structure.
The new model will be one that could be referred to as a “voter-stakeholder” model.
Becoming a voter-stakeholder for DO involves two facets, Noske explained.
First, one must be using one or more of the programs or services run by DO.
Secondly, the person’s income must be primarily made in the local tourism industry.
There will be an approval process and the approved voter-stakeholders will be the ones to electronically nominate and elect next year’s board, as well as appoint DO’s executive.
“This addresses the challenge we’ve always had – how can we get more involvement from the part of the community (this service affects)?
But the system isn’t quite ready for this round of elections.
“In this new governance it’s going to take us the first year to assemble the voter-stakeholder group,” Noske later explained, adding the outgoing directors all participated in choosing the new directors who will act for the first year.
For the first time, the entire board is made up of those from the tourism industry, excepting Noske who is staying on in the role of past chair.
The new board includes Don Brogan, general manager of Walnut Beach Resort; Paul Scanlon, general manager of Watermark Beach Resort; Gayle Cornish, curator of the Osoyoos Museum; Rob Rausch, Air Canada pilot and owner of Wakepilot Watersports; Jason Parker, owner of McKinney Creek Adventures; Mohamed Awad, general manager of Spirit Ridge Resort; Paul Bueschkens, general manager of the Holiday Inn and one director still to be named.
Brogan was voted chair, with Awad as vice-chair and Bueschkens as secretary-treasurer.
Presentations – scenic photographs overlooking Osoyoos – were made to those outgoing board members who were present, including a large photo to Chris Jensen.
He was called “the grandfather” of the organization and was made an honorary director for life.
Other outgoing board members are Alison Anderson-Gilmour, Lucky Gill, Chris Bower, Terry Deol, Ron Stephens, Alina Lovin and Robert Linttell.
Former chief executive officer (CEO) Glenn Mandziuk spoke at the meeting in his new capacity as CEO of TOTA, touching on the changing face of tourism and the need for tourist organizations to change as well.
One of the big drives by TOTA this year is going to be trying to quantify the tourism market and measuring the regional tourism industry.
“The marketing base measurement is something we badly need,” Noske said at the close of the meeting. “It’s a daunting task. It’s like saying, ‘How high is high?’”
DO’s annual financial documents weren’t ready for distribution at the meeting, explained Noske, partly because all of the changes at the organization put the work a little behind schedule.
But they will be ready within the next two weeks and when they are a notification will be placed in the Osoyoos Times announcing that the documents can be picked up.
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