We all remember the kid, who not liking the way a game was going, promptly picked up his ball and walked off the field. That appears to be the approach Mayor Wayne Lippert is taking — the public vetoed long-term borrowing of $20 million through an alternate approval petition so no library complex for you. Going back on earlier pronouncements that the library/office building was going ahead no matter what, Lippert now believes plans should be scrapped as a result of the 6,000 names on the petition. “It’s overwhelming,” he said during an interview Monday. Yes the results were overwhelming, but Lippert seems to have forgot what the public input process was all about. It was never about the building itself and its potential uses. It was how to pay for the structure. But now, Lippert is going against city policy and making it about the building and whether it goes ahead. Lippert contends that going to a full-fledged referendum now would be unsuccessful based on the 6,000 names on the petition. And when you consider that only 9,624 ballots were cast during the 2005 civic election (out of a total of 22,000), he could be right.
But Lippert overlooks one fact and that is that many of the very people who signed the alternate approval petition don’t have a problem with the complex. “Our city is growing and we do need those services. If they went to a referendum most of us would vote for it because it is a benefit to our community but they need to do it in an acceptable way,” said Steve Debella, a community activist during a public meeting in June. So while turnout during a referendum could be poor, it is possible that the outcome would be successful and the city would have the green light to borrow $20 million.
Even Coun. Barry Beardsell, who opposed the alternate approval process, is against tabling plans for the complex. He just believes the design — especially the library branch — needs to be scrutinized further and that proper authority be garnered from residents. “A city needs a vision and it needs working on. You just don’t scrap things,” said Beardsell Monday. The city has bungled the issue so far, but now is the time for redemption. Leave the past in the past and try to keep the long term needs of the community on track through a referendum. The residents deserve at least that.
Lippert is being completely reactionary to the outcome of the alternate approval process and trying to distance himself from a project that he thoroughly endorsed just a week ago. Ultimately, the fate of the proposed complex will be made by all council members, and hopefully they will exhibit more leadership than Lippert is. But Lippert isn’t the only one handling the situation poorly. Okanagan Regional Library is now saying it likely couldn’t afford to construct a new branch without a partnership with the city. Under the proposal, ORL would have brought $9 million to the table while the city was contributing the remaining $20 million for the complex. If ORL’s share wasn’t enough to actually cover a 30,000-square-foot branch, then city taxpayers were going to be subsidizing a facility that would be used by residents outside of Vernon. Perhaps the concept of a new library should be shelved until ORL can take care of itself.
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