Frankly, it's high time that Gyula Kiss' long-held opinion on the amended Master Water Plan received stronger support than that received from his own mayor--Jim Garlick of the District of Coldstream, who is also a Greater Vernon Advisory Committee member.
Councillor Kiss has been stalwart in his condemnation of Greater Vernon Water's plans for a $70 million referendum this November. His educated and reasoned opinions were this week corroborated--indeed vindicated--by all five candidates vying to be Mayor of Vernon.
All five will vote "No" in the referendum.
This blog has featured Gyula Kiss' stance on the topic: June 28th story here and April 9th story here and February 7th story here and June 27th story here and October 9th story here and March 8th story here. And more.
The five candidates in Vernon have obviously listened to neighbours and residents.
Acclaimed District of Coldstream mayor, Jim Garlick will again likely not support Councillor Kiss' relentless pursuit of a peer review for the plan...he certainly didn't push very hard when he had the opportunity.
Actually, opportunities.
Also silent on the topic are the District of Coldstream's candidates for councillor positions.
"The referendum will receive assent from a few engineers at Greater Vernon Water," forecasts Kia.
What really ticks people off is the continual fear-mongering by engineers at GVW that "Interior Health could order the work" (if the referendum fails).
After almost a year of silence, an Interior Health official last week stated that wasn't necessarily going to occur.
It's refreshing indeed to hear candidates for political office share residents' opinions--versus that of the majority of elected officials (except Councillor Kiss) on this topic.
At least for now...until bureaucrats begin chipping away at successful candidates.
I asked at the RDNO meeting again if the vote was no, whether Interior Health would fine the utility and force the project. I think the guy they had representing them was probably the worst person for the job, rambled on and basically said they would only if it was a big health hazard. Another person asked how many people are actually getting sick, his response, is it not worth it if even one person gets sick? Frankly the one guy that has such a weakened imune system that cant drink the water should just be given a lifetime of bottled water, a lot cheaper than a freakin 40 million dollar filtration plant. No one is going to be able to afford water here, it really scares me what this will do to our economy. Yet Mike McNabb claims we are right in the middle for prices across the Okaganan Valley. I'd like to see the numbers to back that up. Kelowna and Penticton pay WAY less than us. Their rates are available online
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the above comment but fear that when we keep returning the same idiots to power, why should we expect different results?
ReplyDeleteThank god we can deliver a resounding NO to the referendum.
I'm pretty confident it will be a no vote. I talked to half a dozen customers on Middleton Mt today that just got their third quarter water bill, they ranged from $350 to $550 for water alone! Everyone having these big bills fresh in their memory on Nov 15 will likely not be voting to double the bill in the next 10 years again.
ReplyDeleteBills will only get bigger if we don't borrow the money - grants are not guaranteed and IHA is demanding/ordering what it always has - add filtration to Duteau!
ReplyDeleteGreat leadership Vernon Mayoral Wanna-be's, let's just throw away $640,000 because none of you could even explain what we are voting on - not the DETAILS of any plan, but how to FINANCE it.
If the vote is NO, let's hire Gyula who surely is THE most capable engineer and water expert we could hire, much more capable than 3 Okanagan engineering firms and all those engineers, technologists, CFOs, and CAOs, that are employed by the District of Coldstream, City of Vernon, and that horrible, evil Regional District with those horribly evil electoral area directors, one of whom, by the way, happens to be an Engineer, and the other, an Irrigation Specialist. Can't trust 'em, can ya?!
Yep, and Councillor Kiss hasn't trusted staff & consultants since 2004.
Can't wait to see how much my bill goes up with Gyula in charge. Make sure you archive this page so we can all have a good cry/laugh next year when we receive our 3rd quarter water bills.