City of Vernon officials travelled down to Kelowna Tuesday to meet with Community Services Minister Blair Lekstrom, but the session wasn't worth the inflated price of gas.
In fact, one has to wonder why three council members found it necessary to complain about the North Okanagan Regional District's repealing of governance authority for the Greater Vernon Services Committee?
First off, it's likely NORD did follow appropriate procedures when it came to the necessary bylaw. It was the full regional district board that granted GVSC authority to handle some issues, so why wouldn't it take the whole board to remove it?
Secondly, GVSC under the former structure wasn't working and the proof is that most jurisdictions were trying to get out of various functions. In the case of Vernon, it threw GVSC into chaos by deciding to withdraw from water distribution. If the city was so committed to GVSC, why did it want out?
And thirdly, significant time is being spent on a matter that most Vernon residents could care less about. As long as critical services like water and parks and recreation are still provided, who administers them is irrelevant. It should also be pointed out that the city is wasting substantial dollars on lawyers' fees over a fight it's going to lose.
Lekstrom likely only met with Vernon council Tuesday because he was in the region and he felt obligated to do so after receiving a request for a meeting. NORD's repeal bylaw has received formal approval from the ministry and it's highly doubtful that Lekstrom will do anything to overturn that now.
With so many key issues facing the city, including an upcoming municipal election, there must be better things for Vernon's politicians to focus on?
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