The road to nowhere

Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: October 19, 2010 7:00 PM
The finger pointing is fast and furious over the parks restructuring debacle. Vernon blames Coldstream and Area C for the review process moving ahead, while Coldstream takes aim at the city.  Jim Garlick,
Coldstream mayor, insists his municipality only ever wanted some control over local parks, and the talks “morphed into something else.” No kidding, but why are we just hearing this now?  All parties have sat at the negotiation table for months and, as far as I can tell, not once did anyone stand up publicly and say things are getting out of control or heading in a direction that doesn’t benefit residents. Many of the recent complaints come from individual members of Vernon council, but surely they had been kept up-to-date by the mayor and staff and knew where things were headed? Why are they just speaking out when a restructuring agreement has been drafted and the bill for a consultant overseeing the negotiations has been climbing higher?  But at least they’re finally second-guessing the plan that would see the parks, recreation and culture function overhauled to the point that very little would be left regional. Virtually every park and facility would come under the control of individual jurisdiction. And the implications are significant, particularly from a financial perspective. Instead of the current system where Greater Vernon residents have been collectively paying for services for almost 40 years, Vernon and Coldstream taxpayers would be left picking up most of the weight individually within their boundaries (Areas B and C to a lesser extent because of fewer parks there). The city would be on the hook for all future upgrades to Polson Park, while Coldstream would take on the liabilities associated with the wharf and aging structures at Kal Beach.

As part of the regional function, a lot of land has been acquired over the years and is owned by the North Okanagan Regional District. In some cases, those joint assets would just be turned over to Vernon and Coldstream, but Kal Beach would remain under the ownership of the city although it’s located in Coldstream. Redevelopment at Kin Race Track could become difficult since parts of it are held by NORD and others are in the city’s name.  The main part of the Vernon Recreation Complex (the pool, auditorium and Priest Valley arena/gym) is owned by the city, but many of the parking lots are held by the regional district. Also keep in mind that any renovations to the complex, including the major pool renovation in the mid-1990s, have been funded by everyone.  Not only would ownership of assets have to be sorted out, but restructuring would lead to a complex funding formula as Coldstream and the electoral areas would only pay for half of recreation complex operations because they wouldn’t have a vote on decisions. That means Vernon residents would be left subsidizing their neighbours, and those from Coldstream and Areas B and C would experience the undemocratic taxation without representation.

Yes the current system hasn’t been perfect. But if Coldstream wants more input over parks maintenance, or if Vernon requires a more efficient process for long-term planning, then address them through the existing process. Throwing the baby out with the bath water is not acceptable or an effective use of taxpayer resources. Given the most recent comments coming from elected officials, it appears that restructuring may be on its death bed. But then again, how much confidence should residents place in politicians who allowed the mess to get this far in the first place?
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Mayor’s Letter to the Editor of the Morning Star