Polson Park has dominated much of the debate at Vernon city hall since firebugs destroyed the venerable grandstand. However, there doesn’t appear to be much follow-through.
Last Thursday, the grandstand and Polson Park were on the agenda for the Greater Vernon Services Commission, which oversees parks and recreation. However, except for its three GVSC representatives, the city’s presence was shockingly mute. I had expected some additional council faces at the GVSC table because of the importance of Polson Park to the community and a personal invitation from Coun. Barry Beardsell for his colleagues to take part in the discussion. Officially, Vernon sends three directors to GVSC (Wayne Lippert, Buffy Baumbrough and Beardsell). However, the other four can attend the proceedings at any time and provide input. They just can’t vote. It’s a system that is used quite successfully by Coldstream council. Often, its entire council is sitting there. But this past Thursday, not a single extra Vernon councillor showed up, most noticeably Patrick Nicol. Since the arson fire, Nicol has been demanding that the city take an active role in the future of Polson Park and not to leave it in the hands of GVSC. “Council really should consider the future of Polson Park and actually have an opinion,” he said during the Aug. 26 council meeting. Nicol has bristled against suggestions by some GVSC officials that the track and football field should be removed and Polson Park turned into a passive setting. Nicol successfully won the support of council Sept. 11 when he asked that GVSC hold a public input session on the park. That request came before GVSC last Thursday. But instead of being there to state his case and try to influence the direction of GVSC, Nicol was nowhere to be found. But of course he wasn’t the only one. Also absent were Pat Cochrane, Juliette Cunningham and Jack Gilroy. All of them say they had commitments they couldn’t avoid. I understand busy schedules, but they can certainly be flexible, especially when a major issue develops. There was also two weeks advance notice to rework schedules. In this case, it would have been valuable for GVSC directors to hear the perspective of politicians from its largest member community, and especially Nicol, who is a past parks board chairman. Cunningham told me me that it wasn’t that crucial for Vernon councillors to be at Thursday’s meeting because the input that will count is from residents. No one can dispute that, but the role of politicians also shouldn’t be minimized. Certainly the city’s three GVSC’s representatives can bring their fellow councillors’ opinions to the table, but there is nothing stopping the other four from being more proactive. Conducting the people’s business sometimes means having to do a little extra. And this was a golden opportunity for Vernon politicians to sit down face-to-face with their regional peers and provide them with some guidance. The public input session later this month is for residents, not civic leaders. In the end, it’s still not clear what direction the City of Vernon wants Polson Park to take and that means sitting on the sidelines could get them something they ultimately regret.
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