Strange happenings at City Council Today.

• The decision on the GVSC Governance meeting was deferred to a future meeting after discussion that was released from In-Camera indicated that the staff and the City's Lawyers had some concerns about the matter.
• In a unrelated matter the Council approved the raising of the Legal Budget from $150,000 to $200,000 in 2006 as about $131,000 had already being spent.
• Released from In-Camera was the decision to turn over the Coldstream Parking Lot site to the VERNON LAND CORPS to investigate possible public - private partnerships.
• In an unrelated matter the Council did not make any appointments to the Land Corps despite applications closing July 14. There are 2 additional spots authorized as well as any resignations that may occur.
• Council authorized the hiring of a Long Range Planning Assistant to a full time position to facilitate the OCP timeline, hopefully by Christmas of 2007. The word permanent was struck from the original resolution.
• Council authorized the staff to proceed with a Sewer Grant application for 5 areas of the Okanagan Landing. The pre-design engineering for these areas was authorized at an estimated cost of $50,000.
• In a surprise move the S.I.R. question of how the City of Vernon could mitigate and leave the program if that was their desire was turned over to the Local MLA Tom Christensen to follow up and hopefully report back.
• It was revealed that the Polson Grandstand was insured for replacement value of $645,000. This should prove interesting if the GVSC decided not to replace the struture but opts for another addition to Park or nothing at all to go with their desire for a passive park. Insurance companies tend to settle at a lesser value when there is replacement.
• In another related move the Polson Park Grandstand was removed from the Heritage List.