BURST
A second Surrey police board director has resigned, after a whirlwind week that saw the city’s police chief ousted and the board chair also resign.
James Carwana, who has served on Surrey’s police board since its inception, resigned Thursday morning, confirmed Jason Kuzminski, executive director of the board.
Board chair, Harley Chappell, resigned June 2.
It is unclear why Carwana quit, but sources close to the situation say he was the sole vote against terminating Lipinski, at the special police board meeting on Friday. Chappell was not at that meeting.
Since Chappell’s resignation as chair, Rob Stutt has assumed the role, having previously been vice chair, board director Hanne Madsen confirmed to Postmedia.
Stutt is the city council representative on the police board. He is also part of Mayor Brenda Locke’s slate, Surrey Connect, and a former Surrey RCMP officer.
Carwana was appointed to the municipal board by the B.C. government in 2020. He practised labour, employment and administrative law in Vancouver for over 25 years, according to Surrey’s police board website.
The now-former police board director is a mediator and arbitrator and previously served as vice chair at the B.C. Labour Relations Board.
With file from Kim Bolan
More to come …