New board at Ingamo Hall
Second year of wholesale change among organization's directors
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, November 13, 2014
INUVIK
What a difference a year made between annual general meetings, but there is still some wholesale change happening at the Ingamo Hall Friendship Centre.
For the second consecutive year, Brenda Jerome, the executive director of the Ingamo Hall Friendship Society, will have a nearly a brand-new board of directors to work with following the annual general meeting Nov. 5. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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The centre elected a new board of directors during its annual general meeting on Nov. 5 in a mostly uneventful meeting.
That's quite the contrast to the tumultuous 2013 meeting, when a grassroots uprising resulted in the mass forced resignation of the existing board and the unscheduled election of a new one featuring almost all-new faces following community unrest
While the meetings might have been very different in tone, the results were much the same because the new six-member board elected on Nov. 5 represents nearly a total turnover once again from the existing leadership.
Shirley Elias, the chair of the board for 2013, finished out of the running in the voting results announced by executive director Brenda Jerome.
The board was elected on an at-large basis, with the chairperson and vice-chairperson to be selected internally at the first meeting of the board.
Jordan Peterson squeaked into the last available position in the election. He had been the youth representative. He joins Bernice Furlong as the only other member returning to the board.
The new members are Sandra Ipana, Shawna Kaglik, Debbie Gordon Ruben and Scotty Kasook
It was the first time Elias had been in charge of such an organization, she said, and called the term a "real learning experience."
"This year has been real challenging for me," she said. "It's the first time I've sat in a position like this.
"We've been struggling with our board," Elias continued.
"Sometimes we didn't have enough quorum to go on with our meetings, and some of our members had to step back because of family and work (commitments). I hope after these elections we have some more stability of members."
Elias said the hall is "a good place to do activities and programs for the community."
New location
She pointed to the new location for the soup kitchen at the parish hall of the Igloo Church as one of the highlights of the year, along with renovations to the kitchen.
As well, she mentioned the hiring of some new staff, including a youth co-ordinator, as important steps forward.
Jerome, who was hired on as executive director in mid-2013 not long before the contentious annual general meeting, said it had been a "very busy year."
"It's been a long year," she said.
"When I came on board my vision was to bring Ingamo Hall back to the community. It's been long, it's been hard and I'm tired, but we've done well. We started out with five staff, and we're up to 10 now.
"We've put a lot of work into this and developing programs and finding funding," Jerome added. "We all work together and we work well as a team, and I think we're accomplishing what we set out to do. And it can only get better."
