Vernon’s stance on regional review creates friction

By Tracy Clark - Penticton Western News - March 12, 2008

A statement by Vernon council that the regional governance review is biased against the largest cities has drawn the ire of the chair of the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen. Dan Ashton, who is also a City of Penticton councillor, said he is “disappointed” at Monday’s suggestion by Vernon council that the four largest cities in the Okanagan Valley should present their own reports on regional governance to Community Services Minister Ida Chong for the March 31 deadline. Vernon council said it was concerned that the chief administrators of the three regional districts, who have been tasked with preparing a draft report on the implications of forming either regional authority — the option preferred by most — or an amalgamated regional district and presenting it March 19, could not be objective. “I am not sure if the depth is there to put a good report together,” said Vernon Mayor Wayne Lippert, pointing out that the Central Okanagan’s CAO is retiring and the Okanagan Similkameen has an interim administrator.

In addition, Vernon Coun. Juliette Cunningham said the North Okanagan administrator favours the preservation of the status quo. “We need to separate ourselves from this report. I don’t know how we can represent our taxpayers if anything remotely close to the status quo remains,” said Vernon Coun. Pat Cochrane. The perception of Vernon council is the task force’s report may only reflect the view of the electoral areas and small municipalities. Coun. Barry Beardsell insists the four largest cities have not had a chance to put forward their views. “This whole thing has been manipulated from a regional perspective,” he said.

But Ashton said Vernon has had as much input as any of the other representatives on the committee tasked with reviewing the regional governance structure across the valley. “The mayor of Vernon has been at the governance review table since day one,” he said. “For him and his council to be bringing this forth at this time when they know the time is of the essence is wrong.” Ashton said that the “dedication and professionalism” of the three CAOs need not be questioned. Furthermore, he said Vernon, along with the rest of the large cities and regional representatives, will get to have a say about their preference before a final report is prepared. “This process has involved the whole committee and the reports will involve the comments and recommendations of the whole committee — and the mayor and council of Vernon is fully aware of that,” he said.

Penticton Mayor Jake Kimberley said he was surprised to hear Vernon’s position and will be bringing it forward at a special council meeting in Penticton Thursday. However, he does not expect that Penticton council will take any position until the draft report by the CAOs is presented to the regional governance committee at the March 19 meeting in Penticton. “Council has not yet determined what position to take,” he said. “There are a lot of things that have to be resolved here,” Kimberley said he hopes the report will give a clearer picture of what the two options — regional authority and amalgamated regional district — would look like and potential cost implications of each option, one of the primary concerns for Penticton council. “The interest we have is to reduce our costs of governance,” he said, pointing out that reducing governance and its costs was also the mandate the community services minister gave the committee when she initiated the governance review last year. If the outcome of the final report is not to the minister’s satisfaction, Kimberley said she will likely “dictate a change.”

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Don Quixote Note: Vernon doesn't need to think that their decision to try to persuade other big City's mayors to produce the Minority Report on Valley Governance caused the calling of a special meeting in Penticton. In realty City council has scheduled a special meeting Thursday at 10 a.m, to decide whether the city will host Wakefest June 27-29 on Skaha Beach.

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Regional leaders walking a fine line Editorial Penticton Western Mar 12

Get your act together or the province will do it for you. That is the message we hope will sink in with the nervously nattering Nellies up and down the valley who are questioning the regional governance review now underway. A growing chorus of critics are wondering whether regional district staff can objectively write the report that will decide the future shape and structure of regional governance. They are in conflict-of-interest, charged one Vernon city councillor, an argument also heard last week in Penticton. This accusation of bias is coming almost exclusively from representatives of the four big valley cities concerned about having to foot the bill for a restructured regional governance system. Nobody should dismiss these worries. But critics like Vernon Mayor Wayne Lippert and Penticton Coun. Joanne Grimaldi are picking and choosing their facts in fermenting opposition — an act that may actually hinder meaningful reform, something which we presume they would like to see.

The province — not the regional districts themselves — demanded this review. And the province remains the ultimate judge and jury of any report authored by the district staff. Regional districts — if the critics need to be reminded — exist at the pleasure of Victoria and these political masters and have not shied away from punishing their regional vassals if they step out of line. Picking a fight with the provincial government may earn some municipal officials electoral credibility in an election year, but such posturing is irresponsible and irrelevant since it will not accomplish anything. Worse, pointless obstruction of a much-needed process may actually rob the region of its political autonomy by triggering a provincial edict.Such an outcome would be rather ironic, as it would turn populist-sounding municipal leaders claiming to represent local interests into unwilling executioners of a distant government authority. And we wonder how voters would react to this modern-day form of political serfdom. So we urge municipal officials to preserve whatever autonomy they have left at this stage.