Taxpayers feel silenced by city

By RICHARD ROLKE Morning Star Staff Oct 10 2007

Vernon’s mayor is being accused of muzzling free speech. The Vernon Taxpayers Association claims it was barred from making a presentation to council Sept. 24 because Mayor Wayne Lippert insisted in seeing the group’s written and video presentation in advance. “The mayor is abusing his position by stifling open debate and free speech,” said Tony Stamboulieh, association spokesman. “We gave them the heading and general intent of our presentation. There was no reason for them to have every detail in advance.” The focus of the association’s presentation would have been the city’s bylaw enforcement department.

Lippert defends his handling of the matter. “Council policy is to have all material submitted to the clerk’s office for perusal. They (association) didn’t want to comply with that,” he said. “It also gives council an opportunity to look at it (presentation) and better understand it so they can ask questions.” Lippert also insists that the city wanted an advance look at the presentation because a bylaw enforcement officer was involved in a recent disturbance in Polson Park. “We can't have anything put forward that will jeopardize legal proceedings,” he said.

But Stamboulieh dismisses Lippert’s interpretation of the delegation policy, saying other would-be presenters have not had to submit their full text in advance. “We are being treated differently,” said Stamboulieh, who points to a letter he received from Marg Bailey, deputy chief administrative officer. “I have spoken with the clerk and her deputy and although they cannot confirm that every delegation that appeared before council in the past two years disclosed in detail their presentation ahead of their presentation date, they feel confident they received written requests with the general intent of the presentation prior to being included on the agenda,” states Bailey.

Stamboulieh is also upset that the association’s correspondence with city hall was forwarded on to the RCMP. He believes that is a clear invasion of privacy. “We were talking to an elected body and the public does not want its letters perused by the police,” he said. Lippert says the correspondence was passed on to Insp. Steve McVarnock because the RCMP has a co-operative relationship with the bylaw enforcement department. He denies Stamboulieh's suggestion that the city has handed responsibility for a civic function over to the police. “It’s not strictly in the hands of the RCMP. Our senior management team is in place,” said Lippert.

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Oct 10 2007 EDITORIAL Council should affirm access

Vernon city hall is supposed to be a place where residents can freely express their views, but it appears that will only happen if they can get past the mayor. The Vernon Taxpayers Association was removed as a delegation at the Sept. 24 council meeting after it refused to provide Mayor Wayne Lippert with its full presentation first. Any potential conflict could have been avoided if the association complied with Lippert’s request. But anyone challenging a political institution doesn’t necessarily want to show all of their cards in advance and, while this may have not happened, there would always be the concern that the presentation would be censored by city hall. Lippert insists that he was simply following well-established procedures, but a senior administrator can’t guarantee that every other delegation has had to disclose their detailed presentation in advance of appearing before council.

If that’s the case, the policy is flawed and one has to question why the taxpayers association is being singled out? Based on how other delegations have been handled, the association should have been asked just to provide general details about its presentation, something it was willing to do. Lippert also claims the city wanted to see the association’s presentation about bylaw enforcement in advance because a recent incident involving a bylaw enforcement officer could be before the courts. Obviously the integrity of legal matters shouldn’t be undermined, but if that issue had been discussed with the association, some middle ground could have been found. Ultimately, Lippert’s actions do little to affirm openness and transparency at city hall.