Media Release, RDNO - Re Delcliffe water advisory

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Media Release, RDNO - Re: Okanagan Rhythmic Gymnastic Facility

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Media Release - RDNO. Important flood water warning!

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Call for Volunteers -- RDNO

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Gym Gets Support For Non Farm Use

Packed house at Regional District of North Okanagan meeting, with an estimated 150 supporters of the Okanagan Rhythmic Gymnastics Club

Pete McIntyre/Kiss FM photo

 

Posted on 1/4/2017 5:21 PM by Pete McIntyre

  

It was one of the biggest turnouts for a regional district meeting in recent memory.

 

About 150 people packed RDNO's boardroom and foyer, showing their support for the Okanagan Rhythmic Gymnastic Club.

 

The club had faced having its gym on East Vernon Road in the BX shut down due to a zoning conflict, but the board's electoral advisory committee unanimously agreed to work with the business to allow non-farm use, pending approval from the agricultural land commission.

 

Owner Camille Martens is pleased they can keep operating, but wonders why they have to get building code approval.

 

"We've given them reports from engineers saying its safe. The fact that now we would have to conform to new building permit rules, I don't totally understand the implications of what that means. I hope it's good news," Martens told Kiss FM and other media.

 

Board chair Bob Fleming says he would be surprised if the ALC didn't support the non farm use, noting the huge support the club has.

 

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A small victory!

At the October 18th meeting of the North Okanagan Regional District Board of Directors the following motion was passed:

"13. Transfer of Water Licenses

RECOMMENDATION 18

(Customized Stakeholder Vote – Includes Coldstream, Vernon, Electoral  Areas B and C)That as recommended by the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee, staff be directed to submit an application to the Ministry of Environment to transfer the existing Greater Vernon Water's Kalamalka Lake Water License from Coldstream Creek to the Kalamalka Lake intake."

Yours truly has been promoting this action for many years with no success. The response from consultants and staff has always been that this would not be approved by the government agencies. This argument was inconsistent with the Water Act which permitted the transfer of the “Point of Diversion” (PoD) of a water license to a different point within the water course provided it did not affect adversely the system. Moving the PoD downstream within a system is environmentally beneficial and it should be encouraged.

If this transfer request is successful then it would serve as precedent for future PoD transfer requests to Okanagan Lake.

Let’s hope that this small victory is a harbinger of greater victories in the future!

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Notice to Greater Vernon Water Customers - RDNO

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Job Posting - RDNO

 

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Latest news on Greater Vernon Advisory Committee!

Further to my earlier comments on GVAC issues here are the newest developments:

Above are the recently re-discovered Terms of Reference for the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee. As it turns out we have been carrying on business in contradiction of that Terms of Reference. Only two people were eligible to be on the GVAC and the RDNO Board of Directors. In Coldstreams' case it was only the appointed Director and his Alternate could sit on both bodies. Thus, effective today I am out of a job as the Director on GVAC and am only appointed as an alternate, in case the two appointees are not able to attend.

It appears that only Coldstream is affected by this strange rule. Four members of Vernon Council are eligible for Directors of RDNO each of whom are eligible for directorship on GVAC.

Another wrinkle of the RDNO rules is that neither the RDNO Director nor his alternate can advise Coldstream Council of any discussions or decisions made in camera at the RDNO in-camera meetings unless specifically authorized by the Board. 

So as a result of these rules I am afraid I cannot represent your interests on the GVAC. I can sit in at the meetings but I cannot vote unless one of the two Directors are absent.

I wanted to let all of you know before you hear it from the Media. I guess it is fair from RDNO's point of view but I am not so sure it is fair for Coldstream. It all depends on whose ox is being gored!

Cheers!

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Media Release - RDNO -Hazardous waste.

 

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RDNO Press Release - Composter Rebate

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RDNO Information Bulletin - Operating hours of Landfill

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RDNO Press releases - Happy New Year!

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Information Bulletin - GVWU

Please see attached REVISED Information Bulletin for immediate release. The venue name for the September 29th session has been revised.

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RDNO Public Notices - Recycling news.

 

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Press release - RDNO Board of Directors

The following message is being forwarded on behalf of the Board of Directors.

The Board of the Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) regrets to announce that Trafford Hall is no longer employed by the RDNO.  We wish him well. The RDNO will be commencing a search for a new Chief Administrative Officer. In the meanwhile, Rob Smailes (General Manager of Planning and Building) will continue as acting CAO.  As personnel matters are private and confidential, the Board is not in a position to provide any further information relating to Mr. Hall’s cessation of employment.

Enquiries are to be directed to Mr. Rob Smailes.

Thank you

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Anyone interested?

 

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RDNO Information Bulletin - Holiday Waste Reduction!

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Ground Breaking Set For Sports Venue - Kiss FM News

Ground Breaking Set For Sports Venue

Written by Peter McIntyre  

Tuesday, 22 October 2013 12:00 

 

Work on the new sports facility next to Okanagan College in Coldstream is ready to proceed.

The Regional District of North Okanagan will hold a ground breaking ceremony Wednesday at 3:30 at the site.

Voters approved borrowing up to 7.5 million dollars for an Olympic sized running track, and natural turf and synthetic turf sports fields, back in April, by a margin of 52%.

Since then, contracts for design and project management have been awarded and studies to check for military ordinances and archeological items have been conducted on the site.

The facility will also be lighted and include change rooms and washrooms.

The college is leasing the land to the regional district for one dollar a year in a 40 year deal.

RDNO officials say the facility should be completed by the fall of 2014.

The Agricultural Land Commission has mandated construction be done by November 2014 as a condition of using farm land for the venue.

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RDNO sentencing delay - Castanet News

Vernon Judge Mayland McKimm held off on his sentencing of the Regional District of the North Okanagan Wednesday afternoon because of something he heard in the media.

The RDNO is awaiting to hear what financial penalty it will face after being found guilty of failing to provide potable water, allowing contamination of drinking water, introducing foreign matter into a well and operating a well in a manner to cause adverse impact in connection with the contamination of the Antwerp Springs water source in January 2010.

McKimm is frustrated and insulted by numerous media reports that suggest the RDNO does not take responsibility for its actions and continues to claim innocence in the case despite the guilty verdict.

The District of Coldstream has also maintained its innocence in the matter despite the fact it plead guilty to the charges.

In particular, McKimm says comments by RDNO Board Chair, Patrick Nichol in many media publications as well as the one he heard on the radio while driving home just two days after he gave the guilty verdict,  left him unsettled.

McKimm says Nicol and the RDNO continue to claim they have done nothing wrong and that they have somehow been disserved by the justice system.

“The comments I heard that day showed a contemptuous attitude towards the findings of the court and more importantly it may well reflect the motivations of the RDNO. This, along with a number of comments made during the trial about the district's sincere concern with respect to providing the district clean water shows a complete indifference from the district,” said McKimm.

"If I made a comment regarding our lack of responsibility in the case (which I don't know if I did entirely), I don't think that would be too unreasonable given were in a position of defense," claimed Patrick Nicol (more)

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