As the debate over what to do with Greater Vernon Services heats up, the issue is threatening to descend into a battle of lawyers. Electoral Area C director Stan Field mentioned at 
Thursday’s Greater Vernon Services Commission meeting that the regional district and the City of Vernon were butting heads over the legality of stripping Greater Vernon of its power. “It’s not very productive when in fact individuals and municipalities are asking for legal opinions,” Field said. How ever, most politicians seemed reluctant to solve the issue while surrounded by a team of lawyers. Regional district chair Jerry Oglow, who sat in on the meeting, said that he would rather have all of the stakeholders discuss the best way to resolve the issue." I would like to see the legal opinions put on the shelf where they can collect dust,” he said. “My sincere hope is that we put in the time and effort to resolve these procedural issues amongst ourselves.” The discussion at the meeting also revealed deep rifts within the membership. Coldstream councillor Mary Malerby implied that electoral area directors had too much control over Vernon and Coldstream at the regional district.“Sometimes at the GVSC some people are outvoted, they also have the authority to vote at NORD – that vote counts for more at NORD,” she said.“I think that, that is a problem.”The specific example given was a vote on changing the water rates forcustomers in Greater Vernon. The commission approved the changes but theregional board, over the objections of Vernon directors, voted against the change in rates as recommended by the electoral areas.Acting commission chair Buffy Baumbrough said that her one year of experience has taught her Greater Vernon motions can be defeated at the board level. She said that is the reason why Greater Vernon needs some level of autonomy to make decisions.“Part of my unease is that I don’t entirely trust that the recommendations made here will follow through to the NORD board,” she said.Vernon councillor Barry Beardsell said that the district still owes commission members an outline of the mistakes that led to Greater Vernon’s downfall.“Nobody wants to look back and write a list of what GVSC did wrong,” he said. “You can’t always ignore history, sometimes history is a great teacher.”
Thursday’s Greater Vernon Services Commission meeting that the regional district and the City of Vernon were butting heads over the legality of stripping Greater Vernon of its power. “It’s not very productive when in fact individuals and municipalities are asking for legal opinions,” Field said. How ever, most politicians seemed reluctant to solve the issue while surrounded by a team of lawyers. Regional district chair Jerry Oglow, who sat in on the meeting, said that he would rather have all of the stakeholders discuss the best way to resolve the issue." I would like to see the legal opinions put on the shelf where they can collect dust,” he said. “My sincere hope is that we put in the time and effort to resolve these procedural issues amongst ourselves.” The discussion at the meeting also revealed deep rifts within the membership. Coldstream councillor Mary Malerby implied that electoral area directors had too much control over Vernon and Coldstream at the regional district.“Sometimes at the GVSC some people are outvoted, they also have the authority to vote at NORD – that vote counts for more at NORD,” she said.“I think that, that is a problem.”The specific example given was a vote on changing the water rates forcustomers in Greater Vernon. The commission approved the changes but theregional board, over the objections of Vernon directors, voted against the change in rates as recommended by the electoral areas.Acting commission chair Buffy Baumbrough said that her one year of experience has taught her Greater Vernon motions can be defeated at the board level. She said that is the reason why Greater Vernon needs some level of autonomy to make decisions.“Part of my unease is that I don’t entirely trust that the recommendations made here will follow through to the NORD board,” she said.Vernon councillor Barry Beardsell said that the district still owes commission members an outline of the mistakes that led to Greater Vernon’s downfall.“Nobody wants to look back and write a list of what GVSC did wrong,” he said. “You can’t always ignore history, sometimes history is a great teacher.”
No comments:
Post a Comment