By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - March 02, 2008
Changes to how Silver Star is governed are under attack. The City of Vernon has fired off letters to Community Services Minister Ida Chong and Premier Gordon Campbell protesting the North Okanagan Regional District’s downgrading of the governance committee that oversees a variety of issues at Silver Star. “The direction the regional district has taken is contrary to the wishes of the province,” said Coun. Pat Cochrane. NORD recently changed the governance committee from one with some authority to one that is purely advisory. Cochrane believes that action goes against a government-initiated study that looked at governance and how to address the needs of the Silver Star area.“The report made it clear that Silver Star is important to the entire region and for the city to have a role there. It’s supposed to be bigger than one regional district director making all of the decisions,” he said.Many Silver Star property owners are also upset with the changes, claiming they have little voice at NORD.
As a result, the Silver Star Property Owners Association has asked Chong to investigate municipal status for the community.Incorporation is not favoured by Cochrane.“That’s just creating another bureaucracy in Greater Vernon. We have too many politicians already,” he said. “I support it coming into the City of Vernon but I am not confident residents there support that.” Stan Field, BX-Silver Star director, could not be reached for comment. But he has previously defended the changes to the Silver Star committee by saying a similar process has occurred with other NORD functions. “Everything went before the regional board any way,” he said. Jerry Oglow, NORD chairman, denies residents at Silver Star are being shut out. “There is an idea of expanding the input of residents by increasing seats on the advisory planning commission and the governance committee continuing to add input,” he said. Oglow also points out that some issues, such as water, are distinctly domain of the regional district board and not separate committees. “I sympathize with the residents on their need for involvement and we are trying to find ways to make that meaningful.”
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March 2 Morning Star Editorial City’s actions are puzzling
One has to wonder why the City of Vernon is so up in arms over governance issues at Silver Star? In a questionable move, council has written to the provincial government protesting the North Okanagan Regional District’s decision to downgrade the Silver Star governance committee from having authority status to simply playing an advisory role. Coun. Pat Cochrane insists that Silver Star is important to the entire region and the city should have a role in governance. “It’s supposed to be bigger than one regional district director making all the decisions.” If Silver Star’s economic engine is too crucial to the entire region, why would Vernon just have a seat at the table, especially when the two areas are some distance apart? Lumby and Armstrong are geographically close at hand, so maybe they should also be represented.
And in terms of decisions being consolidated in the hands of the Area C director, that is unlikely. The Silver Star advisory committee is a function of the district and the entire regional board will be involved in the process. It should also be pointed out that it isn’t new for NORD to remove delegated authority away from committees. It happened with both the Greater Vernon and electoral area committees so what happened at Silver Star shouldn’t come as a surprise. Ultimately, there may be long-term governance issues that need to be addressed at Silver Star but they should ultimately rest with residents there, whether it is forming a municipality, joining Vernon or staying as is. But until that happens, Silver Star is part of an electoral area within NORD and it is in charge.
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