Politicians attempt to shelve comittee

Roger Knox - Vernon Morning Star Published: August 13, 2009 6:00 PM

Two Vernon politicians believe the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee is a waste of taxpayers’ time and money. Directors Buffy Baumbrough and Mary-Jo O’Keefe called for the dissolution of the GVAC at its regular monthly meeting Thursday.Baumbrough strongly objected to a GVAC recommendation to the North Okanagan Regional District being denied by the NORD board Wednesday. The recommendation had called for the creation of a sedimentation pond in BX Ranch Park. “The fact it was overturned at the board level tremendously concerns me,” said Baumbrough, who pointed out that GVAC directors sat through a lengthy presentation by City of Vernon engineering staff that advocated for the creation of the pond. “The fact that the board can just turn around and overturn our decisions makes this committee redundant. We’ve worried about that happening, and it did happen. “I’m a really busy person, and it feels like my time is being wasted. We received a lot of good information (about the pond) and then our recommendation is overturned by the board,” said Baumbrough.

It was O’Keefe who called for the motion to dissolve GVAC. While she said discussions at the regional board level “probably does benefit this table,” O’Keefe added that if people lose a vote at the GVAC level, they can just go over their heads to present to NORD. “You just can’t trump somebody else. If that’s the case, then this (GVAC) ends up being a big waste of time.” Gyula Kiss, a Coldstream director, insists it’s not unusual for boards to have subcommittee discuss issues and make recommendations, nor is it unusual for boards to overturn such recommendations. “It happens frequently that not everything is accepted by the board, this is the same thing here,” said Kiss.In the end, O’Keefe’s motion to dissolve the committee was defeated.

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Morning Star EDITORIAL : Directors’ actions are off base

It appears that some Vernon politicians may take themselves too seriously.Upset that the North Okanagan Regional District board had the audacity not to support a recommendation from the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee, directors Mary-Jo O’Keefe and Baumbrough tried to have GVAC disbanded Thursday.But they forget that GVAC is purely an advisory body and has no authority to make decisions. The responsibility rests with the NORD board, and one would hope officials at that table would actually have minds of their own and not just rubber-stamp things.It should also be pointed out that the legal process called for a public hearing on a proposed sedimentation pond at BX Ranch Park. It was held at Wednesday’s NORD meeting and those directors partially used that input to make their decision. By protesting NORD’s actions, are Baumbrough and O’Keefe saying their views should carry more weight than residents?

Baumbrough and O’Keefe should also note that with the exception of a couple of faces (primarily their’s), the politicians at GVAC are the same at the regional table. And the NORD vote to deny the recommendation was unanimous, including Wayne Lippert, Vernon’s mayor and GVAC chairman. GVAC’s role simply is to research matters regarding water and parks and recreation, debate the pros and cons and to provide direction to its corporate parent, the NORD board.And if Baumbrough and O’Keefe aren’t happy serving in an advisory role, then they should consider stepping aside. That would free up some time for them.