Managing Greater Vernon’s recreational and cultural amenities is under scrutiny .Coldstream, Vernon and electoral area representatives met Tuesday to begin a review of major facilities like the Performing Arts Centre, Wesbild Centre and the recreation complex. “We will discuss options on how to run the facilities,” said director Rob Sawatzky. “You want to do your due diligence. If you’re looking at an alternative to the current structure, you would look for efficiencies and streamlined governance.” One possible option is the current structure which has administration in the hands of the Regional District of North Okanagan. Another possibility is a municipal partner assuming control under a contract. “They both have positives and negatives,” said director Mike Macnabb. Jim Garlick, Coldstream director, says he remains open minded about the options. “I have heard the city would really like to run the facilities,” he said. “If this is a sticking point, that (a contract) would resolve this. it would also reduce a layer of administration.” While the arenas, Performing Arts Centre and recreation complex are part of the process, there are questions as to whether the museum, art gallery, Caetani Cultural Centre and other agencies should be included. “Our job is to figure out what is a facility and do we need a separate arts and culture function?” said Macnabb. It’s not known how long the review will take, but it’s anticipated it will be significantly shorter than the discussions that shifted management of parks. “There is a willingness among all of the participants to come to a resolution,” said Macnabb.
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Don Quixote Note: The different possible governance structure MOU's that were discussed can be found here: Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - 12:00 pm - Regular Agenda
1 comment:
The only difference between the two is:
As part of a Regional District Service, a conflict resolution mechanism is enshrined in provincial legislation.
With a Municipal Service Agreement, there is no such protection.
There is NO difference in terms of the contract that could be reached under EITHER type of agreement - the City of Vernon could take on more, or less, responsibility for operations.
Sharing liabilities with your partners when you are the majority partner is not giving anything up, it is getting back more, as your partners now share in the cost!
I confess I don't quite understand Coldstream's position. The City of Vernon already DOES run the majority of the facilities under the current model - Recreation Services staff are City employees who work to fulfill a contract with RDNO.
There is currently only a handful of RDNO Parks staff - admin & planning - certainly not enough to "run the facilities".
So then the layer of administration Mayor Garlick apparently wishes to remove would be those Parks discussions at GVAC that involve his Electoral Area B&C partners, who share in the costs of our regional parks service? Huh?
If you pay, you should get a say. Wasn't that Coldstream's beef in the first place?
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