Incompatible software may be an issue for the engineering department at Greater Vernon Water, as stated in Rolke's story (the Morning Star, October 5, 2014), but that has certainly never led to "making it difficult to set water rates", as the writer intimates.
GVW has been gouging residents for years, first begun in Michael Stamhuis' reign while it was still called the North Okanagan Water Authority, then successive heads Badke, Cotsworth and now Marcolin.
Ask any water user in the area and they'll be quick to tell you their water rates have gone up 400 per cent in 10 years, with a $70 million borrowing water referendum on the ballot still ahead in November.
So how in hell could incompatible software within the City of Vernon, District of Coldstream and the Regional District of North Okanagan make it difficult to set water rates, as Rolke's article so blindly apes.
Wonder what water rates would be if software programs had been compatible?
Yes, I do too.
You can bet the car that they wouldn't be lower than today's uberprice.
So how can a newspaper reporter print that abject drivel...
The engineering department's "struggles" aside, an astute reader will realize how pro-amalgamation the solution is (and always has been). Even the Regional District's new head honcho, David Sewell, jumped in with both feet when he suggested "We could consider moving to a single billing jurisdiction."
Ya think?
Yes we could.
And down the road we will.
Perhaps for more than billing.
"If his business card states 'investigative journalist', he's impersonating a professional," says Kia matter-of-factly.
It all just reads like press releases.
Unedited press releases.
Maybe there's a supply of airsickness bags in his cubicle.
Until those who share your opinion are willing to step and run for political office "pro amalgamation talk "will remain just that talk . Coldstream had barely enough candidates come forward to even hold an election. Country living at its finest. The message taken by your acclaimed Mayor will be "steady as she goes" ,no radical change on the horizon. He will take that message to the regional district GVAC to share with the other unopposed directors . How can you hope for change and improvement when there will be no change in the folks around the table. Wait democracy appears to be alive in Vernon ! There is a guarantee of new faces. But perhaps these new faces would be better off to concentrate their energies on serving their electorate and stop worrying about governance models. And we will continue to muddle along. Cheers Shawn Lee
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