Vernon turns off water agreement after 18 months working on issues

Vernon Daily Courier March 2

Vernon turns off water agreement after 18 months working on issues. The City of Vernon has provided notice to the Ministry of Community Services it is withdrawing from the Greater Vernon Water Services of the North Okanagan Regional District. Reasons provided to the ministry were:
• significant changes to the service governance and administrative structure, therefore departing from the city‘s understanding of the founding principles;
• lack of co-ordination of capital and replacement projects between Greater Vernon Water Services and the City of Vernon;
• lack of accountability to water customers in the City of Vernon;
• limited ability by the city to respond to users‘ needs; customer confusion over governance structure and lack of co-ordination of service and concerns with timely response to developers.

Attempts to resolve water utility issues have dragged on for more than 18 months, since the original principles for the devolution of the Greater Vernon water authority were agreed in principle in September 2006. The city is now seeking the ministry‘s direction on whether to continue mediation, or begin arbitration under the Local Government Act. “Until the ministry responds, the city fully expects to continue partner negotiations for the devolution of the water distribution component of the service. We hope that by staying involved, we can help to facilitate the resumption of the initial and intended processes and get things back on target for the benefit of city residents,” said Mayor Wayne Lippert. Lippert said the move will give the city more control over planning, billing and other aspects of delivering water. Lippert said some electoral areas expressed concerns over billing and did not want to be tied to Vernon. Under the new structure, billing would be done by respective governing bodies be it the city or electoral areas. Lippert said each area will have “full control” over their own water. The move will not affect the cost of water for city residents. “What it will do is hopefully give you better service if you live in the City of Vernon,” said Lippert, adding the city has no intention of pulling out of the supply end of water and will still build the multimillion-dollar treatment plant and continue with maintenance obligations.