Written by Glen Morrison Thursday, 18 February 2010 13:39 107.5 KISSFM:
There's another development in the three year old water wars in Greater Vernon.
North Okanagan Regional District chairman Herman Halvorson (pictured) says a new motion from Wednesday's board meeting is being supported by the four parties involved, Areas B and C, Coldstream and Vernon. He tells Kiss FM, "They all agreed that they should get a facilitator like Allan Neilson-Welch (who's done consulting projects in the area) to facilitate and deal with the main issues surrounding Greater Vernon Water. Halvorson calls it a very positive thing, and is optimistic that if everyone puts their cards on the table issues could be resolved. He says the four are already working well on the Greater Vernon parks recreation and culture review. Now they'll meet to set terms of reference and lay out a timeline. Vernonmayor Wayne Lippert isn't too excited..saying the city's always been prepared to sit and talk. "We've always been open to solutions. We just asked all the other parties to come forward and give us some solutions because this is a road all four of us started down, so a facilitated meeting, we've tried that before and it wasn't successful." However, Lippert does say it could work, but he doesn't think it should happen while the parks review is on, as he says "it's too political that way."
1 comment:
Too political, eh?
Kinda like the politics of Vernon wanting out of Fire Dispatch (Don Quixote, I didn't see that article posted here?) and yet, refusing to bid on providing the service to its (former) partners?
For Vernon, it's apparently nothing to do with cost-sharing, it's all about control.
If that isn't political, then I don't know what is.
The facilitator's first job is to educate our politicians on what a Regional District actually does.
Here is an excerpt from the Overview paper prepared for the Parks service review:
"Regional Districts exist, in part, to facilitate the efforts of jurisdictions to collaborate with one another.
Regional Districts provide the political, legal and administrative frameworks that enable jurisdictions to share responsibility and resources for a service, as well as control over the service".
I would love to know how much liability the City would take on in providing 100% of these services, instead of protecting itself within the financial/legal framework of the Regional District, and ensuring that those who benefit, also pay for the service.
As a taxpayer, I can only stand by and watch our Council spend more money on the same services we already had. Not because they want to make those services better, but because they want complete control over decision making.
A few trite expressions come to mind: More brains are better than one. And what is good for the goose, is good for the gander.
If we had a governance structure as innovative as one organization, one vote, the concerns of the smallest organization would be the concern of the largest, and vice versa.
I won't hold my breath.
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