In response to the editorial June 5, I would like to offer the following comments. The editorial suggested that I was not being patriotic and also not acting in the best interests of the Greater Vernon community by voting against a City of Vernon motion to compel the chairperson of the board to contribute $2,000 from his discretionary fund to the Vernon Canada Day event.
I am very aware of the close ties between the City of Vernon, electoral areas B and C and Coldstream. I am committed to working co-operatively with our Greater Vernon partners in many shared enterprises, especially parks, recreation, culture and water. It is not the Canada Day events to which I am opposed, but rather, the manner the City of Vernon directors, with Coldstream’s compliance, chose to extract the funds from the board chairperson’s discretionary fund through the process of a weighted corporate vote.
Although the dollar values are relatively small, it means that Enderby, Armstrong, Spallumcheen, Lumby and the other electoral areas all contribute to the Vernon event while at the same time paying for their own celebrations with no RDNO contribution.
This is hardly fair.
Also, I believe compelling the board chairperson to contribute just under half of his discretionary fund to this purpose shows disrespect for both the position of chairperson and to director Fairbairn himself. Perhaps a request could have been made instead.
I believe Canada is the best country in the world and that we have the great good fortune to live in one of the best communities in Canada.
By working co-operatively in local government and avoiding the type of bullying political maneuvers such as that which occurred, we can work towards making our community and the entire region, the best it can be.
Bob Fleming,
Area B director
