In 2002 the City of Vernon, the District of Coldstream and Electoral Areas "B" and "C" agreed upon a set of principles for NOWA Restructuring and Services as follows:
On June 8, 2009 in an open Council meeting Vernon Council passed the following motion:
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If anyone is wondering what this means let me try to explain.
Before I do that, I must make it abundantly clear that I am only speaking for myself and not for Coldstream Council.
With that preamble the short explanation is: the City of Vernon's Council is trying to screw the other partners by going back on an agreement they made with previous politicians. Not unlike the situation the Mayor of the City bemoans regarding the Native Council's decision to cancel planned improvements to Lakeshore Road. Only this involves many millions of dollars.
When the original agreement was penned the City of Vernon was desperate for water. They have exhausted their water licenses and developments, such as the Rise and Turtle Mountain were on the back burners.
Coldstream and NOWA had licenses with extra capacity and the City was eager to sign on the dotted line in order to get a hold of more water. Unfortunately, the rest of the politicians were trusting in the goodwill of the City's politicians.
Note statement in the statement of principles under "Financial":
This is “deja vous” for Coldstream. Our friendly politicians from the north “stuck it to us” before. Some of us remember the “extra policing charge” for signing the sewer agreement ($200,000 in addition to the basic costs).
As the saying goes: “cooperation is a two way street”. City Council should remember that when they talk about cooperation.
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For a nostalgic travel down memory lane visit http://members.shaw.ca/mayorkiss/ and continue on to http://www.members.shaw.ca/kiss35/ to refresh your memory on the highlights(?) of the saga of the Master Water Plan. You will find scans of news reports, letters to the Editor and other sundry documents. To view the scanned documents right click on the document then left click on "view image" and left click on the new image again for best clarity .
If anyone is wondering what this means let me try to explain.
Before I do that, I must make it abundantly clear that I am only speaking for myself and not for Coldstream Council.
With that preamble the short explanation is: the City of Vernon's Council is trying to screw the other partners by going back on an agreement they made with previous politicians. Not unlike the situation the Mayor of the City bemoans regarding the Native Council's decision to cancel planned improvements to Lakeshore Road. Only this involves many millions of dollars.
When the original agreement was penned the City of Vernon was desperate for water. They have exhausted their water licenses and developments, such as the Rise and Turtle Mountain were on the back burners.
Coldstream and NOWA had licenses with extra capacity and the City was eager to sign on the dotted line in order to get a hold of more water. Unfortunately, the rest of the politicians were trusting in the goodwill of the City's politicians.
Note statement in the statement of principles under "Financial":
"Rates are standardized throughout the service area regardless of political jurisdiction."We followed that principle paying through the nose since 2002 even though our water quality was sometimes atrocious. Vernon benefited tremendously from the Master Water Plan, the rest of us not so. In fact, my water quality is inferior to what it used to be before the MWP. So now that the City achieved its goal and have plenty of water, have the separation of domestic and agricultural water completed within the City, they decided to break the agreement. They do not wish to subsidize agricultural rates even though the water came from the former VID.
This is “deja vous” for Coldstream. Our friendly politicians from the north “stuck it to us” before. Some of us remember the “extra policing charge” for signing the sewer agreement ($200,000 in addition to the basic costs).
As the saying goes: “cooperation is a two way street”. City Council should remember that when they talk about cooperation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For a nostalgic travel down memory lane visit http://members.shaw.ca/mayorkiss/ and continue on to http://www.members.shaw.ca/kiss35/ to refresh your memory on the highlights(?) of the saga of the Master Water Plan. You will find scans of news reports, letters to the Editor and other sundry documents. To view the scanned documents right click on the document then left click on "view image" and left click on the new image again for best clarity .
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1 comment:
As background to this story, readers may want to read the new Monster Guide feature:
Inland Water Shortage Looms as Drought Creeps Northward
Will we overcome flawed community forecasting and a lack of political action?
Will water for food production be placed at risk first?
What people in the Okanagan need to know is that south of the border the Colorado River system will face flow reductions of between 10 and 30 percent over the next 30 to 50 years, which could affect the water supply of between 12 and 36 million people in the US.
Where will they get their water in the future?
Here's the story link:
http://www.themonsterguide.com/2007Pages/Features2009/EEarth1InlandWaterShortfall.html
Thanks Coldstreamer!
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