Close vote decided by NORD chairman
The North Okanagan Regional District board has narrowly voted to spend a quarter-million dollars on a plan to better protect the Shuswap River. Chairman Herman Halvorsen cast the deciding vote at Wednesday's meeting in favour of funding the Shuswap River Sustainability Plan. He says it is important for the health of the river as well as Shuswap and Mara Lakes. ``Water quality is important,'' says Halvorsen, who lives along the river. ``I'm not throwing darts at any one area but there are septic systems that they're saying have problems. Water quality...in certain areas of the lakes (is) getting quite high with contamination.'' Halvorsen says the money comes from funding for electoral areas. Many community reps voted against the plan, including Spallumcheen Mayor Will Hansma who says it wasn't about the money. ``I think the consultation process wasn't followed through properly so I wanted it deferred. That didn't happen so I voted against it.'' Hansma indicates that many communities felt left out of the process. Spallumcheen, Enderby, Lumby, Coldstream and two Vernon reps voted against the plan. The vote was 7-6 in favour.
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