Mayor Corner’s comments in his year end interview by Jennifer Smith deserve some in-depth rebuke. The Mayor is quoted:
“...all the debate around the once proposed sports complex on Aberdeen Road is a sign of a healthy, democratic community, says Mayor Gary Corner.”That s
ounds almost to be true. However, we remember the attempt by Mayor Corner to have an end-run around Council and the entire community of Coldstream by authorizing a letter to the ALC (Land Commission) requesting permission for the alternate use of the land in question (click on letter). That does not sound very democratic to me. I am sure I am not the only one thinking that way.When his ruse did not work he tried to ram the request through Council. Fortunately, some Councillors objected publicly and the Ratepayers Association responded. The meeting organized by the Ratepayers had a huge turnout and the tremendous opposition subsequently forced the majority of Council to reject the plan of sending the request to the ALC.
That did not suit the Mayor and he brought the issue back within the month (which was his legal prerogative). By this time one Councillor changed her mind and decided to opt for a referendum. The reason offered for this flip flop was a petition presented by the "yes" side and included such names as Dr Suzuki of the Suzuki Foundation (ironically, the signer did not know the correct spelling). The Councillor insisted that she compared the names to the Voters’ List (turned out we have no voters’ list) and found around 600 legitimate names. Was this a real democratic process?
That did not suit the Mayor and he brought the issue back within the month (which was his legal prerogative). By this time one Councillor changed her mind and decided to opt for a referendum. The reason offered for this flip flop was a petition presented by the "yes" side and included such names as Dr Suzuki of the Suzuki Foundation (ironically, the signer did not know the correct spelling). The Councillor insisted that she compared the names to the Voters’ List (turned out we have no voters’ list) and found around 600 legitimate names. Was this a real democratic process?
The Official Community Plan already laid down the law that Coldstream protects agriculture land. We did not need to reconfirm that just because some people from Vernon questioned that plan. So we spent probably up to $30,000 to get the “democratic decision”. Too bad it still bothers the Mayor as he “...is disappointed with the loss of the sports complex opportunity this year”. Our Mayor appears to love democracy – if it suits him!
Water appears to be a reluctant subject for the Mayor, understandably so. He states: “The plan always was to upgrade that plant (Duteau Creek) sometime”.
Not so fast Mr. Mayor. The original plan (2002 Master Water Plan) only mentioned the Duteau Creek plant in passing and rejected it as inefficient and too expensive and discarded it. That MWP was “...developed by some of the best water engineering minds in Canada...”(Mayor Harvey, click on Letters) yet they did not like the DC plan. That plan was not always “on the books”.
Furthermore, the second MWP (presumably developed by lesser water engineering minds most of whom have already gone to greener pastures) produced a plan that was used to browbeat taxpayers to vote for the borrowing of $35 million. This plan detailed where these funds were to be expended complete with timelines. According to those timelines (click on image on right) that plant should have been completed by 2006 an
d should be providing second rate treated water to the former VID customers. This “We’ll hopefully start construction this winter” is a poor excuse and instead of boasting, major apologies should be in order. Mayor Corner, a major promoter of the plan and present Chair of GVS, and the rest of the proponents have never accepted any responsibilities for misleading the public and not delivering the goods.
Note that the sale pitch set the cost of the DC plant at $16 million (not $19 million). There was no mention of it being a “basic plan”. Let’s not invent terms not used in the sales pitch. Today’s projected cost of $28.6 million is almost 80 percent higher. The buck should stop with the politicians but it seems like the only buck that stops there is the buck that comes from us (300% wage increase! NORD increased the base salary for the eight municipal directors from $1,523 to $6,240 a year).
One more tidbit: there is no plan in place yet to improve the water for customers residing on the west side of Swan Lake. Should the Chair of GVS not address that issue?
“Corner says the delay is not a result of politicians.” ‘They just think we’re dragging our heels but we’re moving as fast as we can.”
Not so. GVS has been debating the governance issue ad nauseam spending countless staff and politicians time, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars, without resolving those issues to date. Resolving the water problem after Vernon got everything they hoped for seemed to be a secondary or even tertiary issue. If this is the speed they can generate when they are “moving as fast as they can” I would hate to see them dragging their feet. The 300% wage increase was a reward for ineptitude.
I grant the Mayor that the Centennial Park development was a positive move that we all appreciate.
Unfortunately, the sewer issue is another stinker (pun intended). It seems the Mayor and his cohorts believe that those sewer customers who led the way in environmental protection by paying for the “Specified Area 1" sewer system should now foot the bill for the sewering of the rest of Coldstream. To this end they confiscated a total of nearly $900,000 of the funds (unwillingly) accumulated by those sewer customers to extend the sewer line from McClounie to Aberdeen Road so a favourite son could have a shorter connection line to carry out his multi million development. I will elaborate on this issue in future reports. Suffice to say that an audit was requested by this writer and awaiting the results of that audit.
It is interesting that the Mayor and Council admitted their error by belatedly initiating an environmental assessment two years after they awarded the contract for the sewer line extension. Results of this environmental assessment will be suspect as the major pollutants are farms in the upper reaches of Coldstream Creek but it may give Council a belated excuse for the sewer extension.
I am not opposing sewer extension if it is warranted, however, I am adamantly opposed to the idea that the present sewer customers should fund the sewer projects for the rest of Coldstream.
Water appears to be a reluctant subject for the Mayor, understandably so. He states: “The plan always was to upgrade that plant (Duteau Creek) sometime”.
Not so fast Mr. Mayor. The original plan (2002 Master Water Plan) only mentioned the Duteau Creek plant in passing and rejected it as inefficient and too expensive and discarded it. That MWP was “...developed by some of the best water engineering minds in Canada...”(Mayor Harvey, click on Letters) yet they did not like the DC plan. That plan was not always “on the books”.Furthermore, the second MWP (presumably developed by lesser water engineering minds most of whom have already gone to greener pastures) produced a plan that was used to browbeat taxpayers to vote for the borrowing of $35 million. This plan detailed where these funds were to be expended complete with timelines. According to those timelines (click on image on right) that plant should have been completed by 2006 an
d should be providing second rate treated water to the former VID customers. This “We’ll hopefully start construction this winter” is a poor excuse and instead of boasting, major apologies should be in order. Mayor Corner, a major promoter of the plan and present Chair of GVS, and the rest of the proponents have never accepted any responsibilities for misleading the public and not delivering the goods.Note that the sale pitch set the cost of the DC plant at $16 million (not $19 million). There was no mention of it being a “basic plan”. Let’s not invent terms not used in the sales pitch. Today’s projected cost of $28.6 million is almost 80 percent higher. The buck should stop with the politicians but it seems like the only buck that stops there is the buck that comes from us (300% wage increase! NORD increased the base salary for the eight municipal directors from $1,523 to $6,240 a year).
One more tidbit: there is no plan in place yet to improve the water for customers residing on the west side of Swan Lake. Should the Chair of GVS not address that issue?
“Corner says the delay is not a result of politicians.” ‘They just think we’re dragging our heels but we’re moving as fast as we can.”
Not so. GVS has been debating the governance issue ad nauseam spending countless staff and politicians time, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars, without resolving those issues to date. Resolving the water problem after Vernon got everything they hoped for seemed to be a secondary or even tertiary issue. If this is the speed they can generate when they are “moving as fast as they can” I would hate to see them dragging their feet. The 300% wage increase was a reward for ineptitude.
I grant the Mayor that the Centennial Park development was a positive move that we all appreciate.
Unfortunately, the sewer issue is another stinker (pun intended). It seems the Mayor and his cohorts believe that those sewer customers who led the way in environmental protection by paying for the “Specified Area 1" sewer system should now foot the bill for the sewering of the rest of Coldstream. To this end they confiscated a total of nearly $900,000 of the funds (unwillingly) accumulated by those sewer customers to extend the sewer line from McClounie to Aberdeen Road so a favourite son could have a shorter connection line to carry out his multi million development. I will elaborate on this issue in future reports. Suffice to say that an audit was requested by this writer and awaiting the results of that audit.
It is interesting that the Mayor and Council admitted their error by belatedly initiating an environmental assessment two years after they awarded the contract for the sewer line extension. Results of this environmental assessment will be suspect as the major pollutants are farms in the upper reaches of Coldstream Creek but it may give Council a belated excuse for the sewer extension.
I am not opposing sewer extension if it is warranted, however, I am adamantly opposed to the idea that the present sewer customers should fund the sewer projects for the rest of Coldstream.
*******************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment