Vernon’s mayor is being accused of misleading surrounding jurisdictions over possible amalgamation. Stan Field, BX-Silver Star director, has lashed out at Lippert over a previously confidential motion that states the city would support the imposition of amalgamation of Areas B and C if a governance study deemed it appropriate. “Three weeks ago I asked Mayor Lippert what their position would be (on restructuring) and the answer I got was ‘We haven’t even discussed it,’” said Field at Wednesday’s North Okanagan Regional District meeting. “However, they had already made a decision to support amalgamation.”
Council’s motion took place July 9 after a July 5 meeting with Community Services Minister Ida Chong. “Why is one partner not being up front with us? We are not getting the truth from the city and I want to know why?” said Field, who is troubled by the use of the word imposition in the motion. “Does that mean there would be no input, no referendum? The rural residents would have no say if amalgamation took place?” Cliff Kanester, BX-Swan Lake director, also expressed concern about the city’s apparent actions. “They thought this would never come out of Ida Chong’s office and that it would be a deep, dark secret,” he said.
Lippert denies he was trying to mislead the directors. “I didn’t think there was anything going on,” he said of not telling them about the council motion. He added that NORD directors also met with Chong July 5. “Anything we discussed she sent through to the regional district. I expected they knew everything that was going on,” he said. Lippert goes on to say that the city supports the electoral areas looking at establishing a district municipality, and Chong asked if Vernon could accept B and C. “She asked for a motion so she had something formal,” he said.
The city also passed a motion July 9 calling for a governance study for Greater Vernon, but Lippert says that is focused towards regional services and doesn’t include possible amalgamation of Coldstream. “I am not worried about amalgamation of Coldstream because it’s a municipality. Personally, amalgamation of B and C could be beneficial to the area,” he said. The tone of Wednesday’s discussions concerned Jerry Oglow, NORD chairman. “It bothers me that our trust level as neighbours and board members is not as high as it should be,” he said. Oglow is encouraging all Greater Vernon politicians to attend a session with a facilitator in mid-October. “It’s time for all the players to be in the same meeting so they can hear all the same information,” he said. Chong could not be reached for comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment