Vernon Morning Star Published: September 18, 2008
The City of Vernon has made the case that the North Okanagan Regional District botched governance changes.
Mayor Wayne Lippert and Councillors Jack Gilroy and Patrick Nicol met with Community Services Minister Blair Lekstrom Tuesday to discuss NORD’s repealing of governance authority for the Greater Vernon Services Committee.
“We believe they (ministry) didn’t have all of the information so we’ve asked them to take a look at it and hear our side of things,” said Lippert of the meeting, which took place in Kelowna.
In August, all 13 members of the NORD board voted on repealing GVSC’s governance authority. Vernon’s three representatives and Coldstream’s director were opposed.
The city claims it should have only been a stakeholders’ vote among Vernon, Coldstream and Areas B and C, and that with two-thirds of the partners opposed, any move to scrap GVSC should have been defeated.
But NORD officials have insisted that repealing a bylaw is a corporate vote, meaning all directors are involved.
The regional district had also separately approached the jurisdictions of Vernon, Coldstream, Area B and Area C, and only the city wouldn’t support the GVSC repeal bylaw moving ahead.
Gilroy stands behind the city’s concerns about NORD.
“It should have been a stakeholders’ vote instead of a vote of everyone,” he said.
Nicol is confident Lekstrom and the ministry will take the matter seriously.
“He’s doing what you should do and listening to all points of view,” said Nicol.
“He wanted to hear what we had to say.”
Lippert doesn’t believe Greater Vernon’s governance authority had to be removed from overseeing water supply and parks and recreation.
“That structure was one everyone was familiar with,” he said.
“We didn’t need to get rid of it until we know what the new structures are like. With the new structures, they are removing the authority of the stakeholders.”
GVSC has been replaced by an advisory committee that provides recommendations to the regional district board for consideration. Most issues will be handled by the stakeholders, according to NORD.
Stan Field, Area C director, says the city was within its right to meet with Lekstrom, but he believes it’s off track.
“They can state their case to the minister but everything done by the regional district was legal and proper,” he said, adding that it’s time for the city to move on.
“Their whining and crying should come to an end soon.”
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