Regarding the May 5 letter from Judy Campbell.
I am glad to read that other taxpayers in this town are worried about our elected civic officials.
I too have voiced my opinion over this council’s lack of restraint in this economically tough times.
The core review has many good things to say and many things that are, to say the least, hard to achieve But I disagree with Judy on several points.
The municipality should be stricter in enforcing recycling and by doing this, we could have bi-weekly garbage pick-up.
Compostable items should go in a special container (supplied at cost) and be picked up along with yard trimmings as this makes great fertilizer for gardens, a process I am committed to and apartments can do this also.
I only require garbage pick-up once every two weeks.
When we all voiced our opinions on the core idea, the one thing we all wanted was openness and the staffing we presently have.
For the most part, we have openness as the report was put on the net.
But as for the part that most of us wanted to see, the staffing, this has to be done in confidence, which is a crock.
All they have to do is say how many overall staff we have in city hall and works yard.
They do not have to say what departments as that is private, but we must have numbers before the union and city hall hash it out.
The union does not run the city, we do through our elected officials.
It is time that the taxpayers of Vernon stand up for how our money is being spent and who runs city hall.
Why did the core report not include the 30th Avenue upgrade and the sports field (you could have waited for the referendum), or were you afraid that you would get a negative report?
The same should be said for Polson greenway project, the art gallery and museum.
They talked about O’Keefe Ranch, and other attractions. If anyone reads this and agrees or disagrees, send in your letters to the editor, send e-mails to the council and if you are still not happy, then at election time, let’s give them all the boot.
Garry Haas
Vernon
