Council is lost on its cultural quest

Editorial Vernon Courier Nov 2 – Managing editor Scott Neufeld

City councillors should quit while they’re behind. With the art gallery suddenly pulling out of the project, the city’s civic complex will feature less culture and more office space for civic staffers. This has to rank as one of the biggest bungles in recent city history. Last summer council received the final report from the cultural complex committee on the feasibility of housing the library, museum and art gallery under one roof. At the time, councillors balked at the project because of its high price tag. According to the committee the building would have cost $24 million, not including the $14 million paid to acquire and prepare the land. Fast forward to a little more than a year later and council is supporting a $31 million complex that will accommodate neither the art gallery or the museum. Weren’t they supposed to be trying to save money? Why did the city suddenly decide to pay more to get less?

Council appears to be rushing to make a decision because of pressure from the regional library board. The promise of $9 million from the region has council hustling to approve a project that’s bad for the city. While the library does need to expand, it doesn’t need anywhere near 30,000 square feet. The library needs more room for magazines, computers and they could also use a drive-thru drop off, according to library staff. However, once politicians are involved, those needs are magnified into a multi-million dollar glitzy complex. The library board wants a bigger building because Vernon residents are over-taxed in relation to the actual library services they receive. They don’t want a two-storey building so the city is therefore forced to build an entirely new structure, rather than add to the existing one. But taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay millions just because the library board doesn’t want to staff multiple floors of a building. Perhaps some of that $9 million should be invested in staffing a second story above the current library.

Vernon is at an important point in its history when it comes to investing in culture. The museum struggles because of a lack of space, the art gallery languishes without a permanent home and the library needs a more elbow room. The steps council takes over the next few months and beyond the January referendum will help determine how people experience culture in this city for decades. The way people use the library is changing. Any library construction needs to be innovative and take recent trends into account. Otherwise the library will become little more than an empty warehouse for dusty old tomes. Instead council has crafted a multi-million dollar boondoggle – a monolithic project that will massage political egos but won’t benefit citizens. With such a deeply flawed process, a lack of vision and so many citizens upset by the plan, the city shouldn’t waste time and money with a referendum. It’s time to go back to square one.