Official Election statistics -- 2008.

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Council ready to tackle duties -- By Jennifer Smith

Coldstream’s new council members are eager to take the reins of their community.

Along with Mayor Jim Garlick, the familiar faces returning to council are Doug Dirk and Bill Firman. Another councillor, formerly from the neighbouring jurisdiction of Vernon, is Pat Cochrane. Gyula Kiss is also a recognized name, as he was mayor for three years and councillor for six in Coldstream during the ‘90s. The other candidates who will make up council are lawyer Richard Enns and retired geologist Maria Besso.

Besso and Kiss are the two Coldstream Ratepayers Association members on council.

“There definitely will be some challenges,” said Cochrane of the new council. But, he adds: “I think we will work well together.”

Yet, other candidates say the new council members will work better than the last.

“I like the new council, I have more in common with them,” said Firman, who is confident they will be able to manage development better versus his prior feeling that development was running the community.

Firman also shares the delight of several of the new councillors to see Garlick voted in as mayor.

“I didn’t think there was anyone in the Coldstream who could beat him,” said Firman, a criminal lawyer who is entering his second term on council.

Firman says there is a great group of professionals on the new council. The fact that two of them are lawyers (himself and Enns), leads him to believe people must really like lawyers, despite what they say.

“I think secretly they do because they know they’re all going to need one sooner or later.”

Besso is also pleased to see the level of professionalism on the new council.

“I think it’s got quite a lot of experience on it. It’s a very strong council,” said Besso, who will be sitting down to her first term on council. “I think I can learn a lot from all those people.”

Besso was also pleased with the results of the mayoralty race, with Garlick beating Glen Taylor by more than 1,000 votes.

“It could’ve gone either way but it was very comforting that the decision was so decisive.”

Kiss is equally pleased with the election outcome, along with its popularity on his blog website.

His Coldstreamernews site had 830 hits Sunday, 350 of which were new hits. Kiss says the CRA news blog will be a link between council and the rest of the community.

Having worked with three different councils, Dirk has no reservations about starting a new term with a new group of people.

“It’s a new opportunity with some new faces.”

Dirk, who has the same council experience as Cochrane (12 years) lends this advice to the newbies.

“There’s lots to learn. You need to be a good listener and you need to not have your mind made up before you go into something.”

Mary Malerby, who was not voted back onto council, wishes the new mayor and councillors well.

While she is a great believer in democracy she is surprised by the election outcome.

“This whole set up was really something. They (CRA) ran their slate of these people. Then they ran all these extra people.”

The mayoralty outcome was also a shock to her.

“I didn’t think there’d be that much of a division.”

Enns could not be reached for comment by press deadline.

Most of the candidates agree that a priority is examining the situation with the Coldstream Fire Department.

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Thank you -- Gyula Kiss

I wish to express my heartful thanks to all voters for entrusting me with the business of Coldstream. I will do everything in my power to ensure that you'll have a democratic, transparent and fair Council. I will also make every effort that your hard earned money will provide you with the services you need at the fairest prices.

Thanks again.

Gyula

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Readers write -- Maria Besso's message.

A sincere thank you to all Coldstream voters for your wonderful support!

To see some more pictures of the excitement at Coldstream Municipal Hall last night click on the link below:

http://www.besso.ca/

Looking forward to working with/and for all of you in the next few years.

Sincerely,

Maria Besso

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Now the real work begins

The people have spoken and there are new municipal councils, school trustees and regional district directors across the North Okanagan.

But Saturday's elections should only be seen as a first step in the democratic process and not the end. As the new or returning politicians launch their three-year terms, it is incumbent on the public to closely observe their activities because everything they do impacts you directly, whether it's taxes, enforcing bylaws or digging up roads.

Beyond those broad issues, there are important matters specific to each individual community.

In Vernon, questions still swirl around the plan to develop the city-owned Hesperia lands, while the new official community plan must be implemented. The election campaign also highlighted the ongoing perception among some residents that city hall is not as open and transparent as it could be.

For Coldstream, mayor and council will be left trying to balance growth with the rural lifestyle, and coping with the financial challenges created by the closure of the glass plant. The dismissal of the volunteer fire chief will also continue to dominate the agenda.

In Spallumcheen, issues of preserving agriculture and establishing an expanded industry base will be major items for the new council, while Enderby will keep pushing for improvements on Highway 97A.

Frequently the public only shows an interest in politics at election time, but there is a need to be informed all-year long and to let your elected officials know your thoughts at any time.

In the end that is why they are there. They are supposed to be your representatives.

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Readers write

In apprecation of the voters of Coldstream I offer the following:



A Besso Cochrane Dirk Enns Firman Garlick KISS to all of Coldstream.

Steve Heeren

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Garlick races past Taylor in Coldstream -- By Jennifer Smith.

Coldstream residents made their wishes clear Saturday.

Message being: Jim Garlick is the man for the top job.

Garlick clearly beat Glen Taylor in the mayoralty race with more than double the votes. Garlick had 1,899 votes versus Taylor’s 874.

The result came as a surprise to both parties.

“It’s a pleasant surprise,” said Garlick, moments after seeing the total numbers roll in Saturday night and shaking the hands of his supporters.

“I was a little surprised there was that much a difference,” said Taylor, who while obviously disappointed, will keep his councill-less future busy with his business and invention progress. “I was up against quite a machine that was out there in force.”

Garlick and his new council start Dec. 1 and run three years, to December 2011.

The new councillors who will join him at that time are (in order of votes received): Richard Enns (1,437), incumbent Doug Dirk (1,379), Maria Besso (1,347), incumbent Bill Firman (1,255), Gyula Kiss (1,215) and Pat Cochrane (1,204).

Getting the new councillors up to speed on not just the workings of council, but the workings of Coldstream, is a priority for Garlick.

“I am looking forward to moving forward as quickly as possible,” said the 47-year-old Clarence Fulton Secondary teacher.

Recalling his own introduction to council three years ago, Garlick wished he had been given a better education of everything from water to sewer and projects on the books.

Another item Garlick says his council will play an important role in is his desire to re-instate Leo Lecavalier as a firefighter.

“It’s part of a process to heal some wounds.”

Garlick has also shown interest in an Official Community Plan review.

But when it comes to any plans the most important thing is “we have to engage the community.”

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My personal thanks to all my supporters!

Gyula.

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IT'S ELECTION DAY!

Don't forget to VOTE!!!

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Pete McIntyre, News Director, KISS FM responds.

Just to respond to the comments that are questioning my journalistic integrity.

I stand by my story.

'Heads could roll' is a figure of speech that means people could lose their jobs.

It's a very common phrase and by no means was it sensationalism. In fact, if you listen back to the tape of the actual show, I said right after Jim talked about the issue, "So heads could roll if Jim Garlick becomes the new mayor", and Jim said nothing in response.

I have the tape if anyone wants to hear it.

I have no problem and absolutely no bias against Jim Garlick. I respect his opinions and think he's a fine candidate for mayor. My job is to report the news and quite frankly, his comments made for a hell (of) a good news story.

But don't be blaming the messenger for creating the controversy.

Peter McIntyre

News Director

KISS FM

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KISS FM debate re: Coldstream Mayor

One statement made by Mr Taylor on the KISS FM debate seems to have been lost in the shuffle. This statement was: "our staff do our dirty work"!

I wonder to what Mr Taylor referred!

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Readers write -- Response to KISS FM.

Hi Pete,

I just wanted to let you know that I thought that your latest report (Nov.13th, 2008 Candidate Pledges Management Changes), was unfair and biased... I'm not sure if that was your intent but that is how it came across. I would have thought that you would have picked up on the fundamental differences between the candidates, instead of sensationalizing a comment taken out of context. Glen Taylor has stated in the Morning Star that his reason for running is that he is on the opposite side of the spectrum from Jim Garlick. Yet throughout his campaign he has tried to confuse voters by taking on Jim's platform "smart growth, thoughtful development, adhering to the OCP, transparent government, democratic process, cooperation not amalgamation, fiscal responsibility etc.. If these positions were really Glen Taylor's then perhaps he would have chosen to run for Council with Garlick as a popular Mayor and saved himself a lot of money, trouble, and ultimately humiliation. I hear he bought about 100 hot dogs to win the Home Depot Hot Dog Poll - it may not be that easy to buy the Coldstream electorate.

sincerely yours,

Maria Besso

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Goofiest statement of the day!

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Election 2008 -- The other side of a testimonial!

The following testimonial for Mr Taylor is from former Mayor Brian Postill.

Mayor Postill distinguished himself for having been in conflict and had to excuse himself every time Coldstream Meadows issues came up in Council. Not to worry, Mr Taylor faithfully supported the development against all the negative input from the taxpayers. He also ensured that the sewer extension was carried out at taxpayers' expense.

The total sewer cost to Coldstream Meadows was $540,000. That covered the 2.5 km long sewer extension. Taxpayers cost was $1,390,515. This expenditure was supported by Mr Taylor.

No wonder Mr Postill would consider such faithful ally worthy of retaining as Mayor! Could taxpayers consider him an asset to manage their finances? I would hardly think so!

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Candidate pledges management changes -- and the candidate's response!

By Peter McIntyre

Heads could roll at the District of Coldstream's office if Jim Garlick becomes the new mayor.

Garlick told KISS FM's open line show, he would consider a management restructuring.

"What you do is start your council in a direction, and if your staff joins in and goes along with you, then they're part of your staff and part of your team. If you have staff that you end up battling all the time, then you're probably better off to replace those members."

The other mayoralty candidate, Glen Taylor, doesn't have a problem with the staff.

"I think we've got a great staff. We've been building that team for a number of years now and we've been working well with developers and we've been able to get them to work towards a greener community."

Garlick also says, if elected, he would support the reinstatement of fired fire chief Leo Lecavalier.

"What I'd like to see is a process to reinstate Leo back into the fire hall. I think that was a mistake removing him from the fire hall as a fireman. That whole process could have been managed much better."

Taylor says its not appropriate to comment on the issue.

"It's a personnel matter and by provincial legislation, we're not allowed to talk about it. It was a council decision and that decision was to remove the fire chief. There were underlying issues that lead to it."

Garlick is ruling out speculation he's running for office with a slate of candidates.

He admits he has asked certain people to run, but it's not a slate, and he's no longer a member of the Coldstream Ratepayers Association.

Taylor says Garlick's endorsement of several candidates sounds like a slate to him.

(Nov 13, 2008)

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Jim Garlick responds!

Hello Mr McIntyre (107.5 KISS FM)

Firstly, I would like to thank you for hosting the open-line show yesterday, Wednesday, Nov. 12.

I would however like to say that I read the article on the KISS FM website today with a little concern. I have no problem with the quotes in the article but take issue with your interpretation of my statements contained in the headline (Candidate pledges management changes) and opening line (Heads could roll at the District of Coldstream's office if Jim Garlick becomes the new mayor). Your interpretation I take it was from my statement:

"What you do is start your council in a direction, and if your staff joins in and goes along with you, then they're part of your staff and part of your team. If you have staff that you end up battling all the time, then you're probably better off to replace those members."

Your interpretations are great headline attention grabbers but go a little too far in the artistic license used to create them. I would hope that your radio station sees itself as giving unbiased facts to the public. I will go on record to pledge to look carefully at all district staffing levels and services as it is prudent in these economic times and with every new council. Unfortunately our current council did not go through such a process. I feel this knowledge would have been very beneficial in our decision-making processes for budgets during this term.

With regard to staff dismissal, as in any organization, the decision is made through a process of documenting in writing any incidences in which an employee does not meet the standards set by council and contained in contract or like documents. I would say that a staff member not carrying out council's direction would be an example of such an incidence. If this was an ongoing problem, staff could be dismissed with or without cause as decided by council. Notice that I believe that documented proof is required to present to all of council to carry out such an decision and is not taken lightly.

If you are saying that if elected, I am pledging that I will move to change how the District of Coldstream will be managed you are correct, but with your comment of "Heads could roll..." I doubt that was your intent.

Please contact me if you need clarification.

Thanks

Jim Garlick

Councillor

District of Coldstream

9901 Kalamalka Road, Coldstream, BC V1B 1L6

Email jimgarlick@msn.com

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Civic Election -- Vote '08!

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Coldstream Ratepayers Association's Goals and Objectives.

Once again I wish to publish the "Goals and Objectives" of the Coldstream Ratepayers Association. There is not one of those objectives that would render the Ratepayers a special interest group. So don't be fooled by the continued repetition of Mr Taylor calling the CRA a special interest group. None of the members would have any individual personal benefit from any of those objectives. In fact, when a member of Council takes the oath of office those are the principles he/she promises to uphold while in office. He/she promises under oath to act in the best interest of the taxpayers of the community which includes financial responsibility. Giving away nearly $1 million of taxpayers' money to provide cheap sewer system to a development is NOT considered to be fiscally responsible!

Judge it for yourself if these objectives are those of a special interest group.

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Readers write -- Peter Peto.

As much as I try not to contribute to the Eagle's Blog I find it difficult not to put my opinions and ideas out into the 'blogoshere' in my attempt to influence the Coldstream elite who follow this blog. As you know I am a chronic thinker and analyzer and I use this blog as a means to give my thoughts some outside expression. Since my last blog submission I have been thinking about the elections, not as a candidate councilor or competitor but rather about the election process itself. Let me share my thoughts with you one more time.

1. As I exited some of the all candidate forums I noticed a few people came away still not knowing who to vote for. A daunting task with 18 candidates to choose from, last election there were ten. On issues of policy there was considerable overlap and I would say no single issue candidates are in the running. Most voters feel they have an obligation to select 6 councilors, about 24% of voters in the last election chose less than six, so on average each voter chose about 4.5 candidates. On average only a third of the eligible voters come out to vote in municipal elections in the province, about a quarter in Vernon but nearly a half in Coldstream. Cynics might attribute this to apathy, alienation, etc but it might also be possible because the voters feel overwhelmed by the demands placed on them by the ballot. Voters who take their civic duties seriously and go out to vote make their decisions by

a. seeing and listening to the candidates at public events,

b. follow media advertising,

c. pay attention to candidate signage and mail outs and

d. use the name order or name recognition on the ballot in order to make their choice. [ On that point, 4 of the 6 councilors elected in Vernon in the last election where chosen from names beginning with B and C. In Coldstream 4 out of the first six listed were elected. Moreover the successful candidates were either long time residents and could claim a high public profile, newcomers or low profilers were shunned. As I recall in the last election I had no idea what the candidates stood for because they didn't even make an effort on that score, it was more about who I am and what I have done. I used my intuition to eliminate those I didn't 'like' and I was right in every case!] All of the above begs the question:what can be done to make voting a more rational and meaningful exercise?

2. So to make the choice easier for voters some broad distinctions should be made among the candidates along political and ideological lines, as in the party system. That is, candidates should fall into natural groupings, having shared interests, which allow the voters to contrast and compare their interests with political groupings. This would also enhance cooperation between candidates once elected because they are already aligned before they are put into office. In the present election we have the CRA candidates who are naturally aligned because they support the community charter by their intended actions rather then by spouting empty words when they take their oath of office. They oppose the undeclared business interests of the Corner and Postill pro-growth at any cost, movements. As far as I could tell the pro-growth party may only be represented by Taylor, Cochrane and Malerby[?] this time around so they will be routed from the corridors of power at municipal hall, after 6 years of unimpeded abuse. This brings me to the unfortunate decision by the CRA executive not to endorse a "slate" of CRA approved candidates. Plainly that's because the CRA executive don't want to be seen as a partisan political organization which might lessen their influence and credibility in the future. So they let the candidates who supported the CRA run on their own individual merits and therefore there was no CRA "slate" in spite of Taylor's insistence to the contrary. Perhaps that might have turned out to be a wise choice, time will tell. [ As VP of the CRA and a candidate I stayed away from the issue.] Now that the election is nearly on us I can say that I think Andy Danylu's idea of a CRA endorsed 'slate' was a good one inasmuch as voters sympathetic with the views of the CRA membership would have found their choice of candidates easier to make. Andy quit in protest and I think this is very unfortunate because I think he is, in my opinion,the most experienced and knowledgeable former politician in the Coldstream and he would be a huge political asset if he could be persuaded he was still wanted by the political community. Have you thought about the next mayor after Garlick yet?

I also noticed a general aversion to intra-candidate endorsements, no doubt to the emotional fallout and hard feelings it might provoke among the candidates. So What! It's natural for primates or hominids to make alliances, alignments, etc and unnatural to insist that candidates act solely on rational self interest, to act as a kind of inert political atom that will be forced to make bonds once the electorate have chosen which atoms to throw into the mix and not really knowing what the political compound will do in office. The apolitical untested way of forming councils seems to me like a very dumb way to create a working consensus!

3. Finally, let's take in implications of the socio-economic heterogeneity of the district of Coldstream. The population is not homogeneous and thus Coldstream represents a plurality of interests that cannot be adequately addressed by nonpartisan candidates drawn from the population at random and without regard to local within-district divisions. Is it realistic to expect the rural interests of Lavington to coincide with the suburban interests of Kalview or Middleton Mtn? A political science professor at Simon Fraser, specializing in local politics, says that more municipalities should avail themselves of the "ward system", as it would address the interests of individual wards and make candidate selection ward specific. I can think of five natural wards in the district of Coldstream: Lavington, Coldstream proper, intervening Rural Lands, Middleton Mtn and Kalamalka lake. Many of these wards have conflicting interests and who on council speaks for any of these ward interests and how do you go about reconciling the differences between these wards in the current council system?You don't, the current system is inherently unrepresentative and dysfunctional. The current controversies over the ALR, Kalavista boat launch and the turf wars between the Lavington and Coldstream Fire Departments illustrate my point. Think of how much simpler it would be for the voters to chose candidates from in their ward rather than the whole. However it would not remedy the inevitable inter-ward rivalry which would require compromise and consideration on the part of a ward council to find solutions satisfactory to the aggregate.

Like any innovation there is going to be a lot of resistance to these ideas or proposals but the present imperfect electoral system needs to be reformed and improved if only to get more voter participation, rational candidate selection and policies that address 'special interests' rather than running rough sod over everybody and satisfying no one! Think about it, Coldstreamer elites and future council officers: there are more than a few contentious issues at stake here, its about electoral democracy itself and how it is implemented in Coldstream.

Peter Peto

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Election 2008! KISS FM open line.

KISS FM is presenting the Coldstream Mayoralty candidates debate

this morning from 11 AM to 12 PM today. Your questions to the candidates are

welcome!

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Readers' write -- Re: "Comments off base" by Jim McEwan, Executive Director, Funtastic

Re: "Comments off base" by Jim McEwan, Executive Director, Funtastic Sports Society, in the Morning Star, November 9

Mr. McEwan has launched a diatribe against me, a mayoral candidate, by misrepresenting what I have said at public forums and on the KISS-FM phone-in for mayoralty candidates. He talks about me "taking aim at the Funtastic Slo-pitch Tournament" and goes on to great lengths promoting his organization and their financial contributions while denigrating this mayoral candidate in a most inaccurate manner. I have never said anything about their financial contributions to the community. Mr. McEwan states he "would like to set the record straight". By this media release, I am setting the "record straight".

So, what are the facts?

At the SENS Forum held at the Knox Presbyterian Church, I stated that the Funtastic Sports Society was a business. Mr. McEwan states in his letter in the Morning Star, "Funtastic does operate on a strict business model". So he and I are in agreement on that. At the SENS Forum I suggested that Funtastic needed to address "a small element of participants" who were causing trouble through drunkenness and rowdiness which necessitated the intervention of our RCMP on more than one occasion. These are facts that were reported in the media.

At the mayoralty forum at the Schubert Centre I stated my full support for the Funtastics and I offered them a suggestion to play their sport on the fields and use facilities like the Multiplex for their concerts, socials and beer gardens. That. I suggested, would be a win-win situation for everyone.

Another fact is there have been complaints about Funtastic concerts and the noise levels into the early hours. Hence, my suggestion to go indoors for those.
On the KISS-FM radio programme, I again offered the suggestion in a constructive spirit to Mr. McEwan, that they needed to deal with these problems to produce a win-win situation for the community and the Funtastics.

I also offered the opinion that, since the Funtastics organization are into promoting sports, the behaviour reported in the media was not a good example to young people. So I suggest that any reasonable person looking at the facts of what I actually said would conclude that it is a reasonable position for a mayoralty candidate to take; one given with constructive recommendations to the Funtastics.

I am involved in sports in Vernon year round on a volunteer basis as a boxing coach (NCCP qualified) and have been involved in sport in Vernon since 1974, so my support for sports is clear.

In conclusion, I will remind everyone that in the past, events that were economically appealing such as the Kelowna Regatta and the Penticton Peach Festival had to be cancelled because bad behaviour was not nipped in the bud.

Antony Stamboulieh
250-260-1082

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KISSFM poll re: Coldstream Mayor

KISS FM is conducting a poll for Coldstream Mayor!

http://www.1075kiss.com/

Your opportunity to express your preference!


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