Dear Editor,
I am horrified to read the public notice in the local Spotlight Newspaper from the Town of Princeton that it intends to enter into a lease agreement with the Similkameen Masonic Association for the purposes of allowing a fraternal lodge to hold their meetings for the mere sum of $2.00 a year for 5 years.
When I was the Secretary for the B.C. Old Age Pension Branch 185 on Billiter Street we had to pay about $3500.00 annually for the privately owned building on a double lot. As an Advocacy Organization that paid out Bursaries and Scholarships to Princeton Grads plus other good deeds. We had to pay for our regular maintenance and upgrades as other Princeton Public Service Organizations would have to do.
As a taxpayer I am very much opposed to the financial burden placed on the Princeton taxpayers over the past several years. When the Town Council was looking for a new home for the Princeton Town Hall they purchased the Masonic Lodge property.
Their intention was to renovate the building to have their facility on the 2nd floor while accommodating the Library on the main floor. Consideration was given to the amount of parking that would be available.
The Town Council’s plans changed. They let the Masons use the premises free of charge. It cost the taxpayers almost one million dollars to finally establish a Library for the public use. The problem still remains for the Princeton Council to upgrade the Town Hall building or to relocate it.
Should the Taxpayers expect more accountability from the current Princeton Councillors?
Kay Hardy, Princeton
