Landing Petition Rejected By Council

Written by Peter McIntyre  107.5 KISSFM Monday, 10 December 2012 19:42
  Okanagan Landing firefighters won't be able to present a petition to Vernon council. Council voted 4-2 to not allow the 1,670 name document to be presented. The Landing volunteers initiated the petition in an attempt to get council to reconsider its in-camera decision to end their contract when it runs out in January. Mayor Rob Sawatzky says it would be bad policy to allow contractors to influence decisions. "The petition can't address any of the issues that we discussed that led to our decision. It is simply poor policy to allow contractors to stir the public, to bring forward petitions that then are supposed to influence decision makers and staff," the mayor told Kiss FM. Councillor Patrick Nicol felt the petition should have at least been received by council---even if they took no action. Councillor Bob Spiers also felt it could have been received. "I see nothing wrong with receiving the petition of an interested party. We've received them before. We should have received this one." Councillor Juliette Cunningham stood by her original position, saying some of the petition's signers weren't city residents and others didn't know what they were signing.