By Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM
About 200 people came out for the Coldstream council forum Wednesday night at the Performing Arts Centre. One of the key topics was amalgamation with Vernon. Both mayoralty candidates Jim Garlick and Glen Taylor, said they were not in favour of it. Current Vernon councillor Pat Cochrane was asked to clarify his stance on the issue. Cochrane says at some point he thinks there will be one government in Greater Vernon to address what he calls inefficiencies", but adds he doesn't plan to push the issue if he's elected in Coldstream.
Meantime, Coldstream's former fire chief will get his job back if Jim Garlick becomes the District's new mayor. Garlick told the forum during his opening remarks he didn't support council's firing of Leo Lecavalier back in August, and would like to see him returned to the position. Both mayoralty candidates say they will try to keep tax hikes to a minimum next year. Taylor and Garlick were asked about the impact of the Lavington Glass Plant closure. Taylor says the shut down will result in about $175,000 lost revenue for the District, which equals a four percent tax increase. However, Taylor supports cutting back on some projects to lower the impact.Garlick says keeping the tax hike around the rate of inflation is reasonable.Other questions included economic opportunities and cleaning up Kal Lake. The only candidate that was not able to make it was Bill Firman.
The Vernon council candidates will be at the Performing Arts Centre tonight at 7.
