A “technical glitch” at the City of Penticton has launched the once-secret $70,000 core services review into the public domain. The document reveals the city and its council have received information, suggestions or recommendations regarding the possibility of terminating or amalgamating positions; negotiating down wages; outsourcing jobs including those of bylaw enforcement officers and community centre pool workers; and decommissioning a city facility, such as McLaren Arena. The 58-page consultant’s report, used to warrant the termination of several city employees including four top managers, has been released twice by the city in edited forms, once in March as a specially prepared 17-page public version and last week in its full length with several passages blanked out. Originally, council was only going to make the first one public. However, after being challenged regarding the lack of transparency surrounding the review, Mayor Dan Ashton said he elected to post the full document with portions blanked out on the city’s website. “It went over to our (information technology) department,” explained Ashton. “But when they put it up, due to an error, when people rolled their curser down, you could actually see the portions (the city had blanked out).” Once alerted, Ashton had the full report taken down and replaced. Much of the formerly blanked-out portions of the review recommended actions that council has already executed. Still others have not even been discussed in public, let alone implemented, such as the recommendation that the city consider decommissioning one of its ice rinks. (more)
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