A public glimpse into Islands Trust operations offered by its chief administrative officer (CAO) painted a picture of an organization whose reach in many ways may be exceeding its grasp.
And that situation is neither unique nor a surprise, according to Islands Trust CAO Rueben Bronee, who delivered a detailed verbal report to Trust Council at its quarterly meeting Tuesday, Sept. 16. Bronee said that since starting the job last year he’d heard a repeated message from both elected officials and staff that the Islands Trust was “overextended in its capacity to deliver on some of the work that is before it.”
“And as I dug into this a little bit more over the last couple of months,” said Bronee, “so far I unfortunately haven’t found anything to disabuse me of the notion.”
That capacity is seemingly strained despite a robust and growing number of staff employed by the Islands Trust; Bronee noted that although staff and benefits costs have remained relatively consistent as a share of the year-over-year budget, staff in 2024 were tasked to support a total of 189 meetings — or about one meeting every 1.25 business days — of Trust Council, various committees, the Islands Trust Conservancy and Local Trust Committees,
“Over the past five years it’s averaged about 175,” said Bronee. “And again, this is important work, this is what you do and how we govern and fulfill the mandate of the Islands Trust.”
But, he added, that translated to 4,342 hours spent by administrative staff preparing for those meetings — things like logistics and agenda packages, Bronee said — and didn’t include time spent writing and researching material or the hours actually spent in those meetings.
“Those 189 meetings, if you’re interested, work out to about 640 hours of meetings,” said Bronee. “And almost always you’ll have multiple staff [attending].”
That’s close to 12,000 hours a year supporting meetings, he said — the equivalent of seven full-time positions spread across the Islands Trust’s 65 staff members.
And unfortunately, those staff members are also choosing to leave the organization at a higher rate than employees do elsewhere, even in the private sector. Bronee reported that out of 65 staff, there were 15 voluntary departures last year — including seven who left for jobs elsewhere in the provincial public service sector and three retirements — or an exit rate of about 23 per cent.
That’s against a backdrop of an average exit rate among all employers in Canada of 12 per cent, he said — and of just 8.5 per cent within B.C.’s public service sector.
Perhaps paradoxically, Bronee said staff surveys indicated a higher percentage were satisfied with the Islands Trust as an employer than in comparable organizations, according to data gleaned from the provincial government, and Bronee said staff were “particularly passionate” about the organization’s mandate and the value of its work.
“And yet we nonetheless see that high turnover rate,” said Bronee.
The resulting organizational instability of such a high departure rate is likely made worse — if perhaps with the best of intentions — by the Islands Trust’s tendency to fill empty positions by reorganizing current staff, usually in ways that advance their careers. Last year there were 87 total “staff movements,” he said, more than the total number of staff because each vacancy filled would usually precipitate another.
“In my almost 30 years of public service, I have yet to find an organization where there isn’t more work than there is available time, money and staff to complete that work,” said Bronee. “I’d love to tell you that we have a plan, [but] we’re not there yet.”
Bronee said an “employee group” had been meeting in an effort to provide ideas to improve the experience of working for the Islands Trust, and that senior staff were working to identify areas for efficiency. Even so, he said, the underlying capacity problem could only realistically be solved two ways: either by adding capacity, or by doing less — stopping or delaying work, or refocusing on a narrower set of priorities.
“The most effective path is often a combination of both of these things,” said Bronee. “As I said, it’s 12,000 hours a year, but it’s also important, essential work; we just need to make sure it’s well spent.”
Salt Spring office to open in October
Trust Council also learned some 11th-hour grant funding may help the nearly-complete remodel of a Ganges retail space for the Islands Trust’s new Salt Spring Island office, according to staff, who said the space could open to the public as soon as this month.
The Islands Trust’s Accessibility Committee (AC) held a special meeting in September on a staff proposal seizing an opportunity for potential provincial Local Community Accessibility Grant program funding — which can provide a one-time grant of up to $25,000 to help local and regional governments remove barriers for people with disabilities.
The relatively-new committee signed off for a letter of support for the grant, which legislative and information services director David Marlor said would be turned around and submitted quickly.
“We expect [the remodel] to be completed by October,” Marlor told AC members.