Director takes aim at governance model

By RICHARD ROLKE Morning Star StaffJan 12 2007 http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/
The latest proposal to bring Greater Vernon’s governance conflict to an end is already drawing fire. A plan that defines responsibilities of the Greater Vernon Services Committee could allow the City of Vernon to become dictatorial, says Cliff Kanester, Area B director. “If Coldstream is on their side, anything goes,” he said.

Under the new initiative, Vernon will have three votes at the GVSC table, Coldstream will have one and there will be one vote each for Areas B and C. The former commission model had a second vote for Coldstream and a vote for an agricultural representative on water issues. Those votes have been eliminated.

Kanester fears numbers will work in favour of Vernon. “I think there will be nothing but problems. I’m not very pleased with the set up,” he said. The agricultural sector has had a vote since GVSC was formed to ensure its interests were considered when it came to water. The loss of a vote came as a surprise. “I’m not sure why it’s changed,” said Tom Ouchi, the alternate agricultural representative.

Another scenario regarding voting patterns is an agenda item could die in a tie with three directors on one side and the remaining three directors on the other. “I wouldn’t hope that will be an issue. We’re usually all on the same page,” said Gary Corner, Coldstream director. Jerry Oglow, the North Okanagan Regional District chairman who made the appointments, isn’t worried GVSC activities will grind to a halt because of tie votes. “It’s an incentive for consensus,” he said.

In terms of Coldstream losing a vote under the committee model, that was done to reflect the long-standing voting structure at the NORD board. “It was a concern at first but this is the most efficient way to deal with GVSC,” said Corner. The conflict over governance has been simmering for more than a year and it reached a head in December when NORD scrapped GVSC’s delegated authority, turning it from a commission to a committee.

Some Vernon directors were concerned that recommendations from the committee would be ignored by the NORD board. To get around that, a non-Greater Vernon politician will attend GVSC meetings, essentially turning them into duly constituted NORD sessions. That means GVSC will be able to vote on most matters without having to get approval of the regional board.“It’s thinking outside the box. It’s a new approach,” said Brian Reardon, administrator for NORD and GVSC. The new system was developed over the past week, and Vernon director Buffy Baumbrough says it gets around bylaws having to be interpreted. “I’m comfortable with it but we will have to see how it works,” she said.