Greater Vernon’s rural politicians have officially rejected amalgamation.
On Thursday, the Electoral Area Advisory Committee passed a motion opposing the Greater Vernon Governance Society’s request for a study into merging Areas B and C with Vernon and Coldstream.
“It formalized what we had already said before. It put this on the record,” said Bob Fleming, BX-Swan Lake director.
The society collected 3,160 names, including 291 in Areas B and C, asking local and provincial authorities to develop a plan to combine regional governments into a single entity.
However, Fleming points to a regional district survey in 2008 that indicated electoral area residents were overwhelmingly happy with their form of governance.
“The question of governance has been asked and answered and the society provided no new information.”
While the society has stated there would be no downside to a study, Fleming disagrees.
“It would create upset for a certain period of time and the would be a cost of money and time for the provincial government and local governments,” he said.
Director Mike Macnabb, is confident that he represents the majority of his constituents in BX-Silver Star.
“People believe they are well-served and the issue of maintaining local autonomy keeps coming up,” he said.
Coldstream council has also rejected a governance study while Vernon council will consider the society’s request Jan. 27.
