It seems that the community will have to sit tight and wait for an explanation as nothing has been forthcoming from president Quentin Beach so far.
His letter to the editor, published in the Lakes District News of July 18, 2012, didn’t offer any new information about what is happening with the community owner company.
The community really should be told what is going on and have a right to know.
I have to wonder if the restructuring of Comfor Management Services Ltd. is gong to be a one year process, is it going to be a year from now when the community finally gets some information?
It also seems that changes are underway with the Village of Burns Lake’s procedure bylaw.
While it seems that council may be trying to boost public engagement, I don’t think that moving the public comment section to the end of council’s meeting, or reducing the speaking time for delegations to 10 minutes will do the trick.
I have noticed that members of the public will come, say their piece in the first few minutes of the meeting when they have been given their two minutes to speak and then leave.
Council meetings go for anywhere from an hour to three hours so to try and work out when council is going to be wrapping up to stop in for the public comment section will be practically impossible and judging from experience, I simply don’t think that many people are going to have the time, or be willing to sit through an entire council meeting to make a comment at the end.
While I think it would be nice if more community members did attend these meetings, I am usually the only person sitting in the gallery and always the only person still sitting in the gallery when the meeting wraps up.
The interpretive centre issue has cropped up again, and will continue to do so probably for as long as the building is rented.
The problem is that those renting the building have to fit their business into a very specific mould as per the terms of the grant funding originally provided to the village for the interpretive centre.
Renting the building is a sticky situation for the village. Are they favouring one business over another when they choose one business over another to rent the building?
The Community Charter states that the village can’t have involvement with private businesses and can’t provide assistance or favour one business over another in a rental.
Lowering the rent to $400 will also most like result in taxpayers subsidizing the rent for the building. It is a little disappointing that Mayor Luke Strimbold hasn’t followed up with his concerns and comments he made when he was a councillor last year.
Both Mayor Strimbold and Coun. Quentin Beach had previously expressed concerns with favouring one business over another in this situation.
Have they had a change of heart?
