United Okanagan draws opposition

Aug 10 2007 By Tracy ClarkWestern News Staff http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/

Nothing good can come from a proposal to amalgamate the Okanagan’s regional districts, says a local politician. “Basically I think it would a be a real dangerous thing for the south end of our valley,” said Tom Chapman, vice-chair of the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen of the letter Peachland council sent to the Ministry of Community Service asking the province to consider combining the valley’s three regional districts. The RDOS received a copy of the letter last month and sent it back for further clarification. Chapman fears the creation of a single regional district will be especially detrimental to rural areas, that already have a small voice. “Rural areas would be dictated to out of the Central Okanagan,” he said. “Kelowna would be the source of power for our entire region. It would take a lot of control out of our valley.” And as the valley continues to grow, the voice of rural areas would continue to diminish under one body. “As populations increase, jurisdictional issues can become watered down,” he said. “I don’t favour increasing bureaucracy or increasing red tape. But I do favour people having their voices heard.” Chapman said he fears the initiative is an attempt “emasculate” the regional districts and encourage more growth in the valley. “I see someone wrestling the control away from regional districts,” he said, pointing out that “certain people” with the provincial government could be behind the idea.

Penticton Mayor Jake Kimberley also has concerns about the initiative. He said one administrating district would be extremely onerous, with areas like Princeton located several hours away from some of the northern-most areas. However, Kimberley said he can understand the Central Okanagan’s interest in exploring the idea after the incorporation of Westbank took away a major function for that regional district. Bringing the idea to the table will provide an opportunity to review the functions of regional districts, he said, adding that he expects the proposal will be discussed at length at the upcoming Union of B.C. Municipalities conference in Vancouver.

Last week Jerry Oglow, Armstrong mayor and chair of the North Okanagan Regional District, said he would like to see the issue fully investigated and pointed to the effectiveness of other inter-regional initiatives, including the Sterile Insect Release program and 9-1-1 operation. “I think there is room for other inter-regional functions to be managed out of a one-region concept,” said Oglow. Chapman agreed that there are some aspects within the regional district that could operate better under economies of scale, but said inter-regional programs are not always effective. “I don’t see 9-1-1 as a success,” he said, pointing to an incident last year where a woman was lost to suicide after the Kelowna-based 9-1-1 operators mixed up the two ends of Chute Lake Road and sent Kelowna emergency crews rather than Naramata crews. Chapman said had the mix up not occurred the woman may not have died.