Our mayor’s self-congratulatory gratification of his tenure is hardly conducive to the results achieved. Economic development? How can he even keep a straight face in the downtown after the void of the last four years as business after business has closed down.
The policy of offering preferred property tax incentives for new building developments has devastated the downtown core.
Look at the city website as business permits haven’t been published for several years, leaving a false and disturbing message of our actual growth.
And we employ a full-time economic development officer and tourism officer, where, there now appears to be little in the way of parking for trucks and trailers at the new tourism location.
Parks and inter-community affairs are hardly what’s holding Vernon together. His executive decision to hold a consultant to task cost $80,000 to essentially result in increased parking. No downsize in personnel or, more importantly, a move to implement official community plan priorities such as affordable housing or light industrial zoning has occurred.
And hasn’t after several public OCP submissions.
It’s been years since Vernon has changed its major OCP message without effectively implementing a single recommendation. How can the City Of Vernon remain a viable entity without a tax base and moderate growth philosophy? Certainly without the current councillors who seem unable to come to grips with the Agricultural Land Reserve and other zoning issues that hinder broadening the tax base.
Our current mayor and council are hardly an example of good fiscal management.
They are nothing more than a self-congratulatory lot who revel on issues such as idling vehicles or bike paths, a form of social engineering that drains and exacerbates the property taxpayer who actually support the community.
Alan D. Wilson
Vernon
