The City of Vernon core services review draft final report identifies 28 opportunities for council’s consideration.
Many of the opportunities are integrated with various Greater Vernon services and some, such as return of surplus recovered water to the surface water system, are extremely controversial, as pointed out by Morning Star reporter Richard Rolke.
I think it would be safe to assume then that Vernon council will be very reluctant to pursue many of the opportunities for fear of alienating their Greater Vernon partners and raising the ire of those opposed to treated effluent disposal.
I have a better idea. Put these opportunities to a vote of the electorate.
Whenever our elected officials want to make major capital expenditures the option to borrow is put to the electorate for us to decide, as was the case in the recent referendum for the community sports field and athletics facility.
So I advocate putting the Greater Vernon cost-saving opportunities to the electorate and let us decide.
A cost-saving referendum would be an interesting undertaking.
We know that borrowing referendums don’t inspire the electorate which is clearly evident in the dismal number of eligible voters who took the time to vote in the last referendum. Maybe a cost-saving referendum would better grab everyone’s attention.
The most controversial opportunities identified in the report are Greater Vernon issues so the referendum should be for all Greater Vernon voters to consider. All of the questions should be clear and concise that can be answered with either yes or no.
For example:
Are you in favour of The City of Vernon pursuing the option of returning surplus recovered water (treated effluent) to the surface water system (Okanagan Lake) for the reuse of downstream communities? Yes or no.
Are you in favour of Greater Vernon pursuing a change to transit policy to reduce the level of service and reduce the cost to taxpayers? Yes or no.
Are you in favour of amalgamation of the Greater Vernon area into a single municipality? Yes or no.
I believe these three issues will definitely conger up a tremendous amount of discussion on both sides of each question.
All Greater Vernon politicians could decide to support, not support or have no comment on any of the referendum questions.
By putting the questions to the electorate for our opinion it takes the controversy out of the hands of the politicians and puts it clearly on the voters’ plate.
We have a local election coming up in November of 2014 and this would be an opportune time to present these questions. The results of the referendum will be non-binding but will provide clear and concise direction to the 14 Greater Vernon representatives elected in 2014.
By way of this letter I am not taking a position on any of these issues. I, for one, will keep my opinions to myself.
The point of the letter is to promote the idea of soliciting the opinion of the electorate which will be valuable information for our politicians as they move forward to shape the future of our community.
Jack Borden, Coldstream
