Saturday’s referendum result is just another indication that Vernon council is disconnected from many of the residents it was elected to serve.
In fact, this the second body blow the public has served to Mayor Wayne Lippert and five of his councillors if you consider the 6,000-name counter-petition that blocked them from borrowing money for a civic complex last summer.But while council spends time licking its wounds, the reality is the agencies that would have benefited from the new civic complex can’t be ignored. The RCMP detachment is still bursting at the seams, as is city hall, while inadequate space is limiting the library and art gallery’s ability to serve the public.Saturday’s referendum doesn’t kill the need for expanded facilities, it just delays it. And perhaps it gives current council an opportunity to redeem itself. The reason I say that is because there’s a general election in November and the current council’s term is up. With the clock ticking, it’s highly unlikely this group of politicians will stick its neck out again over a long-term solution. Interest will gravitate towards other issues, and the prospect of some of them getting re-elected.
But in the upcoming months, Lippert and his colleagues could establish a process that provides the next administration with some direction over the library, art gallery and RCMP. And when I say a process, I mean a completely public one that involves rank-and-file residents from beginning to end. I envision a committee that would involve politicians and representatives from the user groups, as well as citizens. Putting out a call for resumes could generate those names, as happens with other city committees. Certainly some skill-set would be ideal, whether it is architecture, planning or accounting. And it would make sense to invite the Vernon Taxpayers Association to sit at the table. It may not represent the entire populace, but the group does have an active following and it raised some legitimate concerns about the civic complex issue. It would also force the association to try and be solution-based instead of just criticizing everything city hall does. Some at city hall may cringe at the idea of having Tony Stamboulieh or other association members participating, but remember the old saying: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Any process could simply involve looking at the old plans for the Coldstream Hotel site or the more recent proposal and tweaking them a bit. These concepts could be refined further by holding public input sessions. But any new process is only going to be successful if everyone involved is open-minded. That means current councillors may have to accept that the Coldstream Hotel property is possibly the best site for cultural facilities. It may mean that Okanagan Regional Library has to abandon its policy of only allowing satellite branches if they are more than five kilometres away from the main branch. It may mean that the RCMP isn’t downtown, but in another part of Vernon where there is room for staff and vehicles. Council can also make an effort to right some wrongs, particularly not having the support of the Greater Vernon Services Committee for an expanded art gallery, or addressing the space crunch at the museum. Leaving those relationships unfulfilled left some residents thinking the civic complex plans had just been slapped together. But no matter what happens, the public has spoken loud and clear that it wants a more meaningful say in these matters. Simply casting a ballot is not enough. In the end, Lippert and five councillors face a significant challenge in trying to mend the strained relationship with the electorate. But those odds certainly can be overcome.
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