Council must heed vote on both questions (PENTICTON)

Sep 20 2006 EDITORIAL http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/
Mayor Jake Kimberley, who on occasion is prone to punctuate his pronouncements with a glimmer of anger, was all smiles Saturday night after city clerk Cathy Ingram had read out the final result of the South Okanagan Event Centre referendum that will define his political legacy for better or worse.
He had every reason to be cheerful. Voters, at least those who bothered to turn up, overwhelmingly endorsed construction of the South Okanagan Event Centre by signing off on two borrowing laws passed Monday night. The final vote — more than 80 per cent in favour of borrowing close to $40 million — is a clear mandate from the public. You may quibble with the strength of that mandate based on the low turnout. We certainly agree with those who call the low turnout unfortunate because the SOEC is the most important and expensive project this city has ever under-taking. A greater turnout would have signified greater interest and citizenship. But council, starting with Kimberley, can find validation in the numbers, which also endorse the original vision of former mayor David Perry and local MLAs Bill Barisoff and Rick Thorpe who likely called in a few favours to help secure funding for the project. But we advise council to pay attention to the result of the second referendum, the non-binding outcome, which confirmed public support for city plans to hire a private management company to help design, build and operate the new facility as well as the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre and Memorial Arena. The level of support the city received — just over 55 per cent — is not exactly flattering.
Yes, the vote gives the city enough cover to go forward against objections from the Coalition for an Affordable Public Event Centre. But it is also a signal from the public that it will be watching the coming weeks with great interest as the city formalizes its relationship with Giffels -- the company building the facility -- and Global Spectrum -- the company scheduled to operate the new facility.
A lot is at stake here. City officials predict the city’s fortunes will turn for the better with this new facility. If that is the case, this council’s responsibility extends far beyond the life span of its agreement with Global Spectrum, which could last up to 20 years. The city has won the war to build the South Okanagan Event Centre. It now faces a more daunting task: managing the era of peace and prosperity the facility is supposed to usher in.