A former city councillor is saying recent comments in the media by Vernon mayor Wayne Lippert criticizing the former council was an attempt to score political points.“I thought that was sort of a little bit of grandstanding,” said former councillor Derek Hall. “It was not necessary, it was petty.”Hall was responding to comments that Lippert had made last week to a local media outlet.
Lippert is quoted as saying:“The previous council left a black mark on the city. There was a lot of mistrust with the citizens and people who do business with the city,” he said.Lippert then went on to say that the council members who stayed changed their ways because of the most recent election results. “Our incumbents got the message because there were only three left. People wanted change.”
Hall said he has written a letter to the mayor expressing his disappointment with the comments. “Here we had six councillors that worked very hard for the community,” he said. “For an elected official to say the previous council was in trouble because only half got re-elected – is a disservice.”
Former councillor Jim Mac-Gillivray, who did not run for re-election, said it is silly to suggest that the “bad people” on council didn’t run for council again. “People who replace other politicians often say things about the previous government,” he said. “I don’t think when (Lippert) said it he meant it personally.
Coun. Pat Cochrane, one of three councillors re-elected said the former council worked hard to clean up city hall. He said many of the recent improvements at city hall came because of their hard work in the months after former mayor Sean Harvey’s resignation.“I think (Lippert) really has no idea what council did to address these issues,” Cochrane said. “He’s had the benefit of our staffing changes at city hall.”
Although the past council will always be associated with Harvey and the departure of Ron Campbell, Cochrane said that the former council had the issues resolved by the 2005 civic election.“I can see where Wayne Lippert is coming from,” he said. “But I do know the six of us worked very hard.”Lippert was unavailable for comment on Sunday despite numerous attempts to reach him.
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