Last night at Paddlewheel Park an overflow crowd of about 250 people, mostly residents of Okanagan Landing gathered to vent and plan a reaction to the claimed broken promises of amalgamation. The hall was lined with articles from newspapers, letters both to and from the City of Vernon and various studies etc done over the years stretching from the amalgamation promises of the early 90's right up to articles from local papers as recently as a couple of days ago. The promises of sewer at no cost were highlighted in yellow marker and there was a lot of yellow on that body of evidence.
I was there only from 7 to 8:30 and missed the second part of the meeting having to do with the renewal of license re the new sewer treatment plant but managed to hear most of the discussions, resolutions and votes on the main topic, sewer hookup, costs and perceived inadequacies of the proposed system. As I understood the resolutions that were finally passed the vote to just say 'NO' to the City of Vernon passed with only 4 dissenting votes, while the decision to hire a Vancouver Lawyer proficient in the municipal law to render a judgment on whether the residents had a case against the City was unanimously approved. Basically the residents are determined to hold the City to the promise of amalgamation that they would get sewer connection to a quality sewer system at no cost except for the usual connection fee that any resident would pay from the property line to the house.
I saw a video depicting the 6 and 8 inch connections leading to the Outback, Crystal Resort and Predator Ridge contrasted to the 2 inch lines that were shown in a connection for the residents in one of the affected areas. A demonstration of a T connection that illustrated pumped grinded shit flowing both ways instead of a proper connection that would make it flow only downstream towards the required destination, the sewer plant, was most fascinating, if true. There was anecdotal references to pipe laid in the soil without being bedded and covered in sand and the claim was that this would almost guarantee that the pipes would inevitably fail was voiced and accepted. The moderator Alan Hill quipped (tongue in cheek?) that this would ensure that we would get the effluent to go directly into the lake without using the Outfall Pipe.
When I had to leave the meeting was discussing the mechanics of who to make cheques out to for the lawyer and the committees that had to be set up to advance their position.
There was no mainstream Media present and there was only one City Staff member that I saw. Coun. Cunningham was the only member of Vernon Council present. The moderator observed that she was absent when the 6-0 vote not to listen to request for relief from the costs of grinder pumps etc. was passed in open Council.
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Don Quixote Note: A good layman's Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about Grinder Pumps can be found at http://www.wssc.dst.md.us/info/grinderpumpqa.cfm
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