Some politicians insist Greater Vernon residents can be served better if the current parks, recreation and culture function comes to an end. On Wednesday, Mike Macnabb, BX-Silver Star director, presented a notice of motion to the North Okanagan Regional District board that asks the four participants to wind down the service by Dec. 31, 2011. “This isn’t getting rid of parks and recreation. It’s getting rid of a bad service,” said Macnabb, adding that attempts to restructure the function have failed and the jurisdictions are divided. “It’s an opportunity to come together with something people can agree to. The public deserves better governance and efficiencies.” It’s been suggested that a new, scaled-back function could be formed that only involves facilities like Wesbild Centre, the Performing Arts Centre, the Grey Canal trail and possibly the recreation complex. All other facilities and parks would become the domain of the individual jurisdictions. “This isn’t chaos and shouldn’t be portrayed as that,” said Jim Garlick, Coldstream director, of the proposal. “Coldstream is large enough to take on its parks and that provides us efficiencies in our public works department. I continue to see us working together on large facilities.”However, not everyone welcomes the potential direction with parks and recreation. “There’s not much wrong with the current system if some changes could be made,” said Mike Gavinchuk, BX-Swan Lake director. “To throw everything away is not right. We’re so wrong to upset this.” Patrick Nicol, a Vernon director, believes the current system has met the needs of residents. “I am convinced the public likes this service and values the service,” said Nicol, who wants an end to talk about winding down the function.
“You can continue to pick at a sore but there should be a point where you let it go and come up with a plan.” It’s expected that Macnabb’s notice of motion will be before the NORD board for discussion Jan. 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment