Coun. Buffy Baumbrough points out that it is up to the mayor to determine committee appointments. Well I agree with this Councilor on this self evident maxim that it is within the Mayor's prerogative to make committee appointments. When he does this with proper consultation and communicates with affected parties prior to the Public announcement when controversy may ensue he demonstrates leadership. Recent appointments to the super regional board and these new appointments by the Vernon Mayor to these regional boards and committees demonstrate a lack of thought as to the final composition of these committees and how they are viewed by the taxpayers of this city.
Mayor Lippert has every right to propose appointments to all the committees of council and the Council can vote them up or down. Where he has made appointments or withheld appointments to Councilors that may cause negative reactions it is incumbent on him to communicate the reasons why he can not accommodate the wishes of any particular councilor. That he did not recognize the ensuing frustrations that he would create with Coun. Beardsell or simply chose to ignore them speaks volumes about his leadership. A private meeting with the Councilor explaining why he could not accommodate Beardsell's wishes to stay on his obvious number one priority appointment to the end of this term was warranted and should have occurred. Coun. Jack Gilroy's explanation. “Barry has said he may not run again next year so the mayor needs others to learn things,” holds little water as to that Councilors intentions in the next election. Coun. Baumbrough's has telegraphed her intentions to step down when she accepted the Federal Liberal nomination and this rightfully didn't seem to play a part in Mayor Lippert's appointments.
Coun. Nichol was quoted as saying : “Any time when you think you have done a good job, it’s a natural reaction but each person is elected by the public and they deserve an opportunity,”. Is this the statements of a Political Pro who is rising to this occaision and reinforcing his teamwork credentials knowing there is little political capital to be gained by criticism of these appointments or is this a person who was informed ahead of the time by the mayor that he would not be reappointed to NORD ?
I'll let Coun. Beadsell and Mayor Wayne Lippert fight out their differences in the public arena. My concern is not with how the committee appointments were made or how bad the consultation and information exchange between Mayor and Councilors, but the final composition of the two Regional committees in question, NORD and GVSC.
My concern about the appointments to regional committees is based upon two biases. I have the bias of being a RESIDENTIAL TAXPAYER and I am a resident of Vernon. I realize that the voters of Vernon have the right to elect anyone that is legally entitled to run whether they are a resident of the City or not. That is a provincial law and while its merit can be debated the voters have rendered their decision and that must be respected. What must also be respected by the Elected Politicians in their appointments to committee's of a regional nature is that there must be consideration given to both a person's actual residency and where he pays his residential taxes. A business taxpayer of Vernon's status should also enter into these regional decisions but it must be remembered that 2/3 of the tax burden is placed on the residential taxpayer.
Let us consider the composition of our new NORD committee. Mayor Lippert and Councillors Jack Gilroy and Juliette Cunningham form the new committee. The only difference from the NORD appointments is that Coun. Nichol has been replaced by Coun. Gilroy. As they are both residential taxpayers it does conform to my requirements for regional representation. That we have a Vernon Representation of 3 rookies and have lost the expertise and knowledge of the history of NORD that Coun. Nichol brings to the table throws up a flag of concern but this may prove inconsequential. The decision to give the 5 votes to the new inexperienced member on NORD Coun. Gilroy rather than to the sitting member Coun. Cunningham who remains with 4 votes is debatable. The 9 votes of those reps. who are residential taxpayers remains intact. The Mayor who is a business taxpayer retains his 5 votes for financial and important decision at NORD that require a weighted vote.
On to GVSC appointments. At GVSC will be Lippert, Coun. Buffy Baumbrough and Coun. Pat Cochrane. The only change to this committee is the removal of a Vernon residential Taxpayer in Coun. Beardsell and his replacement with a Vernon Business taxpayer in the person of Coun. Cochrane. The residential taxpayer's representation has obviously been substantially decreased and this is troubling. This committee is where 80% of my NORD taxes are decided and to have a reduction in residential representation is disturbing.
Perhaps a better decision for this vital committee would be for the Mayor to remove himself and have either left Coun. Beardsell on or appointed Coun. Nichol who shares the advantage of being both an indirect business taxpayer as well as a long time residential one, a distinction on Council shared currently only with Coun. Cunningham.
The recent appointment by the NORD board of the Mayor of Vernon without input from Vernon Council to the Super Regional Board was best expressed by Coun. Cunnigham when she said at that NORD meeting: “I think it would have been useful if we had input as a council on who would represent us, but it appeared it was already decided before the meeting.” This decision was questioned by the Vernon Courier and was dismissed with the claim that the Provincial minister had requested that the mayors of the 3 largest cities (Penticton, Vernon and Kelowna) sit on the 9 member super committee. Well the only Mayor that made the cut was our Mayor as the other regional districts decided to ignore this request and install their own chosen candidates. The Courier's prime focus in an editorial was with the lack of local council input on the appointment to a board and the experience that was required that would affect all VERNON taxpayers and their secondary concern expressed in their editorial was that of the residency requirement. As they put it, Armstrong has 1 representative and area C has 2 reps. while the City of Vernon has zero.
It is to late to revisit this appointment but the recent council appointments do not take effect until Jan 01, 2008. Perhaps the Mayor may see that his workload on the super regional committee may be of such a heavy burden that it jeopardizes his effectiveness on either or both of NORD and GVSC committees. A decision to open up spot(s) on these two regional committees may enable him to address the issues of experience and lack of adequate residential taxpayer representation and create a more effective team.
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