Long Hiatus Over

Wow, seven months since my last posting.

Was hoping Fortis would get going on--finally--planning to provide natural gas to the Buchanan Road pariahs...you know, the folks on Buchanan Road from Grey Road at the west end to approximately Warren Road at the east end.

Pariahs?  Well, what else would have prevented residents' receiving the virtual necessity--natural gas--due to B.C. Hydro's annual gouging other than to have been discriminated against...for some reason?  Especially since natural gas lines have extended all the way to Lumby along Highway 6 for many years.

Now, months and months after Debbie Fisher got the ball rolling with a petition to Fortis from residents, there's been no word from Fortis.  They had said in late Spring 2018 that they were focusing on getting natural gas to the VegPro operation on Highway 6.
Since then? 
Nothing at all.
Sigh.

So what's been happening since July when I last posted, a full six months ago?

Firstly, a huge catch-up.
Maria Besso was engaged late summer to list our property at 7961 Buchanan Road, Coldstream.
So far only a couple of people were interested in a further discussion.
Maria will do a good job, as she did selling my Mother's townhouse in Vernon after Mom had moved into Coldstream Meadows care home.

This year's golf season ended on its last day--September 30th--which was unusually rainy and windy.  September had been coolish but we didn't mind.  It was a nice change from the months of July and August--with their heat and fire-fuelled smoky skies which were, frankly, nasty.  Especially with newspapers and radio and TV all advising residents and tourists, on a daily basis, to "stay indoors".
National television coverage of B.C.'s second season in a row of devastating fires didn't help, and tourists stayed away.

It was a tough year in many ways.

My 94 year old Mom passed away on Mother's Day, May 13th, and a month later, my Mother-in-law in Abbotsford also passed, a week shy of her 96th birthday. Husband was named Executor which necessitated numerous trips to the Coast for meetings with siblings and agencies to conclude paperwork.
The melancholy continued as the second anniversary of Kia's passing was marked near the end of September.  It was tough to come home without that wagging tail at the gate, and it continued to be heartbreaking as some now-and-then customers enquired "where's Kia?"

October was unusually warm and sunny.

It was wonderful, and during the second week I jumped into the Tacoma for my twice-annual "three-day getaway" to Washington state. 
T-shirt weather, great shopping (for Grandson!), found a fabulous Bavarian restaurant in Wenatchee, one so-so motel (ugh, actually, but I was so tired I took it anyway).
I never make hotel reservations, as I'm determined to go whichever way the wind blows and the mood strikes, as they say.
The next night I treated myself to the Cedars Inn in East Wenatchee.

And what a treat the Cedars Inn was (especially following the so-so motel the night before).  On the Columbia River, the Cedars was almost fully booked (it was a Friday), but they did have a handicapped room with king-size bed, parking immediately outside, clean and very roomy. So roomy in fact that it was easily twice the size of any hotel I had stayed at in previously in Wenatchee.

I had planned to again meet Ed Payne, of Golfer's Edge.  Over the years, our meetings were more like friendly visits, but his business advice and camaraderie were always eagerly anticipated.  I had forgotten where he was now teaching since he left the Mission location the year before, but I luckily ran into an individual who said Ed was now at Three Lakes Golf Course.

Over numerous years of my Wenatchee getaways, I had come to know its roads well (with the exception of my getting lost a few years ago and ending up at Rock Island!  a story for another day).  I headed south toward Malaga and found the course (albeit more than the stated "four miles from Wenatchee"), tucked in the hills along a rural road.  "Golf Drive" had my jaw dropping at the lovely homes along a tree-lined fairway. 

Surprise...Ed wasn't there.
Anywhere.
The pro in the clubhouse chuckled and said I could find Ed at Highlander Golf Course "up by the airport".
I didn't tell the fellow that Highlander was only a couple of miles from where I was staying in Wenatchee!

Knowing exactly where the airport was--high up in the eastern hill above the Columbia River valley--off I went, customary donuts (for our meeting) in hand.  Winding my way through myriad identical cherry orchards on the high mesa, I saw the golf course's fairways before I found its entry road (akin to finding Three Lakes).  The road I took led me to a small newly-built subdivision of the most magnificent homes I had ever seen--even more spectacular than those at Three Lakes--and within three minutes I reached the end of a dead end road.  So it was back out to the cherry orchards to find a different road to the gigantic golf course that I glimpsed here and there through the cherry rows.

Succeeding at last, I was met by impressive open wrought-iron gates and started to enter.
I immediately stopped as a red truck was exiting, so I gave him the right of way.  The driver waved his thanks, and off I went to the end of the road where the rather unusual-looking clubhouse sat high overlooking the valley below.  The clubhouse looked small when I compared its exterior to those I knew at other 18-hole courses, but the interior was immense with high ceilings and marble floors.

On finding the pro shop, I was very warmly greeted by a sporty looking fellow, who directed me to the employees in charge.  Now-cool donuts in their fancy pastry box in hand, I asked for Ed Payne.  "He just left, you must have seen him in his truck, his red truck, he's gone for the weekend," I was told.

It was early Saturday afternoon, and I had goofed.
I was going home on Sunday and Ed would be back on Monday!
A mischievous glint in his eye, the fellow said he'd give Ed my apologies and a message.
"Yes please apologize on my behalf, but there's no message".
(I had briefly explained my re-routing to Three Lakes, blamed for the delay).
He continued to smile...and his eyes never left the pastry box, which I handed him with a smile.

As I turned to leave, he chuckled "I'm sure the crumbs will still be fine by Monday" when Ed returns.

Not all business meetings are fruitful, but some are certainly sweet!
So...it'll be in 2019 when I next see Ed...with a new batch of warm from the oven bakery delicacies!

The Tacoma chock-full of clothes and shoes for my grandson, I headed north the next day.
Despite missing Ed, it had still been a wonderful escape for me.
The rest of October was filled with the customary dentist and doctor appointments.

November was unimpressive generally.
December was wonderful with our grandson so delighted by, well frankly, everything.
Rather than gush on about this pleasant and pleasing young lad who will turn five this Spring, suffice to say he's the apple of my eye!  And skiing for his second winter.
Christmas saw visits by relatives and good friends, and there was finally (barely) sufficient snow for the little ones to toboggan and ice skate.

Then I entered the truly contented month of my year, January:  Ahhhh...books to read.
But first, I spent two days doing my business' year-end and calculating GST, issuing T-4, etc. etc.
The joy of keeping up with bookkeeping throughout the golf season is that it only takes me a day or two to complete it during the winter!

Now to the books! 

I started with the reasonably light-hearted "Matters of Vital Interest" by Eric Lerner, his recounting of his forty-year friendship with Leonard Cohen.  Leonard Cohen had died in late 2016 and I had for some time wanted to know more about this unassuming and complicated man. 

My next book was "Red Notice" by Bill Browder, "a true story of high finance, murder, and one man's fight for justice", its jacket states.
Interestingly, as I walked past the always-on family room TV today at 4 p.m., which is always tuned to BBC Canada, Katty Kay and Christian Fraser's comment caught my ear: "and in Davos Switzerland today, we're speaking with human rights activist Bill Browder".

What a coincidence!!!!!  I had only yesterday finished the Browder book.  Long before turning the book's last page, I was convinced Mr. Browder was placing himself in extreme danger of the Russian officials he exposed, alongside the apparent acceptance of the Russian president Putin.
Mr. Browder details in the book his considerable years of work in Russia and to have Russian criminals barred from entering the U.S.A.   The Magnitsky Act received unanimous support and was passed into U.S. law in 2012.

The next book (I'll start this weekend) is "Fascism--a Warning" by Madeleine Albright.

This winter's mild weather may be an omen for a difficult golf season, but I've learned to only sweat the stuff over which I have some control.  It mostly works. 

Whirlwind...

I seldom do blog posts about personal emotional stuff but make an exception today.

Instead of whirlwind, the last 10 months resemble a tornado going through my life.

It began last October when my almost 94 year old Mom--who lived alone in a 3-storey townhouse in town--went into serious decline, but nothing that could be named.  Right up to September, she had been driving her own car, cooking all her own meals and doing housework and laundry.  And then it was as if a leaf turned and she just got a lot older in October.

She was unsteady on her feet, so I got her a cane.
She was having difficulty getting in and out of the tub so I got her a grip support that clasped onto the tub, as well as a bath chair.
I got her a gorgeous blue walker and spent 2 hours trying to put it together...ha ha.

I didn't want to accept what was happening.
I visited more frequently, taking precooked meals in baggies and storing them in her fridge for microwaved dinners.
Losing her balance and falling in the garage, followed by what may have been 4 or 5 hours on the floor unable to get up until I arrived to visit her.  I couldn't find her anywhere in the house, knew she hadn't gone out because the car was in the garage.  Looked in the garage again...and then I heard a tiny voice from the other side of the car..."help".
That day ended with paramedics getting her up off the floor...I couldn't lift her to her feet.
She spent eight hours in Emergency and I took her home as doctors assured me no bones were broken.
I convinced Mom to stop driving, and turned in her vehicle plates to ICBC, and I put her driver's license in my purse.  She was OK with that, and I was glad.

The winter months of January, February and part of March were more of the same.
Some days I visited her twice, and each night as I went to bed I worried whether she was okay.
I got her a Lifeline pendant for $40 a month, but she didn't want to "bother anyone" so she never pressed the button.
Several more falls, each resulting in ambulance trips to Emergency. 
One visit led to diagnosis of a uterine infection (which had the scariest side effect of Mom hallucinating!) and she then spent 4 or 5 days on the fourth floor of the new wing...fabulous nurses and a gorgeous private room with amenities comparable to a new motel.  Excellent care led to Mom getting better and she soon returned to her townhouse, promising to be careful.

My husband and I brought her bed downstairs into her kitchen, which had ample space for a night table, and small wardrobe for her daily needs.  She could get to the bathroom easily and seemed to do better without having to concern herself about getting up and down stairs.
I felt relieved knowing she wouldn't be trying the stairs anymore...I helped her get to the shower every week without incident.

But I knew she was growing weaker, and her doctor confirmed heart failure.
The "whammy" was the diagnosis of early dementia which I hadn't even considered.
My late Father--who passed away 12 years ago--had Alzheimer's disease, that cruel crippling disease where the patient doesn't even recognize loved ones at the end.
But Mom seemed okay in many ways.

And then Interior Health folks showed up.
Visiting her townhouse they wanted to schedule leg exercises, they wanted me to erect poles into the ceiling trusses so Mom could pull herself up from her bed...they demanded a lot of physical changes to the townhouse.  And that they could come every morning to get her up and make a cup of tea.
Mom looked at all these demands, and told me we were NOT--under any circumstances--building anything into the house, and that it should be sold.  Then she started complaining about the care aides, saying "there's a different person every day...I look up and there's a stranger standing there!"
I understood her concern.  She also said to hell with the leg exercises.  Okay, Mom.

During March--before the golf course was scheduled to open--I drove around and visited a number of care homes.  Long waiting lists--confirmed by Interior Health--were depressing.  Interior Health rep said, at one point, the wait list was just over a year.  Two weeks later the same rep told me wait lists were approaching two years.

So I convinced Mom to move into our spare bedroom...upstairs (unfortunately!)
Turns out in our 4-level split house we have more stairs than my Mom's townhouse, but at least I could go to bed at night knowing she was safe in the next room.  I gave her a little toy Christmas bell that she could ring to summon me...and it rang frequently.

After about a week at our home, she said "thank you" but that she wanted to go home again.
I knew a care home was the solution so I kept looking.
I was concerned that once the golf course opened--and Mom was spending her days alone in my house, with me in the clubhouse for 12 to 14 hours every day--it was as though she would be living alone again.  And I was worried, as the "dementia" appeared to be rearing its ugly head several days a week.

Then hallelejuha! Coldstream Meadows had a studio opening in their Lodge assisted living home!
After a brief viewing of the room and a meeting with the rental coordinator--who was very accommodating--I quickly wrote a check for a half-month deposit to hold the studio for Mom.

The next event--moving Mom to Coldstream Meadows from her townhouse--won't be detailed too much.  Suffice to say she had said "no" to leaving her townhouse.  Suffice to say I arranged for husband and an employee to rent a moving truck with the furniture I had listed on a piece of paper, during which time I had picked Mom up "for a drive"...thank goodness for cellphone texting, as I was texted when the furniture had been delivered to her new room at Coldstream Meadows, which was the "all clear" for me to take her there.  I was later told by staff that no resident had ever arrived in such a clandestine (unknowing) fashion.  I felt bad to deceive Mom, but it was for the best I convinced myself.  She walked into her new room, recognized the furniture and said she was going home that night "with my furniture".

But the guarantee of nursing and care aide staff made the move of paramount importance.

Within days, the golf course opened and I was grateful Mom wasn't sitting in my house--or her townhome--all alone.
On visiting Mom, she brightened and said the staff were "wonderful"...wasn't overly keen on the "Canadian food" but that it would do.  Three meals a day plus snacks.  And exercise to walk to the dining room (with assistance) using her walker.  Daily housekeeping included.  And Mom's monthly pension covered it, thankfully.

At this point, I'll simply say that I've never before been so exhausted on the first day of the golf season.  But Mom was being cared for and that was a huge relief.

I visit weekly, early mornings when I can get away, as well as pick up prescription renewals and personal care items.  As I drive away, I worry less and less knowing she's in good hands.

From April 21st--when we moved Mom to Coldstream Meadows--until YESTERDAY, July 18th when the townhouse was sold and new owners took over, I picked up Mom's mail and regularly checked/cleaned the house.

But it's over finally...3 months of checking/cleaning an empty house, and then having to get rid of all the rest of the furniture and pots and pans and dishes!  What a chore that was!

The last stage of the townhouse...the sale...was made so easy for me with the professional and extremely diligent service of Maria Besso, of Vernon's Remax.  I was always unable to get away from the golf course to meet Maria, so she volunteered to meet me here at my convenience.  She even came to Coldstream Meadows twice re Mom signing paperwork and was always on time...something very important to me in my rush-rush life.

I knew of Maria's integrity because of her time as a Coldstream councillor, and I certainly chose the best realtor for the sale!  Within five days of listing Mom's townhouse, there was a full price offer which was accepted.  Closing was midnight on July 17th, 2017.

The next outstanding professional I dealt with was Rhoda Chapman, notary here in Vernon.  She volunteered to come to Coldstream Meadows on a Saturday (when she normally did not work) to have Mom sign papers and, again, was such a diligent professional that she arrived on time (yay!) and had all the critical paperwork ready for Mom to sign, with the preliminary stuff having been P-o-A'd (Power of Attorney) by me in the lobby at Coldstream Meadows (just to reduce any confusion Mom might experience).

Without these two women--Maria Besso and Rhoda Chapman--involved at this stage, I'm sure I would've been tearing my hair out.  

And all this time, there's the golf course and clubhouse with tournaments and BBQs, replete with groceries, liquor purchases, cleaning and organizing.  Thank goodness we do not have a restaurant here!  Regulars at the golf course have been wonderful, asking about my Mom's health and well-being at Coldstream Meadows.

So...here I am about four months into the golf season.
And all that has happened since the golf course finished the 2016 season at the end of September.


A whirlwind?
Yup...I'm still reeling..

But the main thing is that Mom is OK, and will celebrate her 94th birthday August 19th at Coldstream Meadows.

Last Nail in the Coffin

...the last nail in the water review coffin was hammered not by consultants or bureaucrats--but SAC members themselves--during the March 17th, 2016 Stakeholders' Advisory Committee meeting:


NEW BUSINESS

Moved and seconded by Representatives Williamson and Bodenham 
THAT the final Master Water Plan option provide for the use of two water sources and two treatment plants.
                     Opposed by:  Alternate Representative Maria Besso, CCMWP


Basically a done deal, as the saying goes.

SAC members should explain their choice to the public...the public (and politicians) who turned down the $70 million borrowing referendum.  And explain why GVW customers pay between two and three times what other communities' residents pay for water.

 "Baaaa, baaaa," says Kia.

You omitted a consonant...the "d", Kia!

Wonder when GVW and GVAC/Board members are celebrating...

Large Lakes Water Study

Greater Vernon Water says they haven't performed water tests on Okanagan Lake.

While that stance suits GVW's goal of maintaining the current water sources -- Duteau Creek (called Duteau Slough by the public) and Kalamalka Lake -- Kelowna residents receive their water predominantly from Okanagan Lake at costs considerably lower than ours (almost one-third of the rates we pay for water).

However, Vic Jensen of the Ministry of Environment began a long-term study that focused on Skaha, Osoyoos and Okanagan Lakes.  It showed very high phosphate loading in the 1970s, prompting governments to enforce stricter pollution prevention regulations.  By 2006, water quality had vastly improved.

The Large Lakes Study is available here.

The recently announced formation of the Stakeholder Advisory Committee is the fledgling group of mostly uninformed, non-technical people whose job it will be to "review" the 2012 Master Water Plan and provide input on options for the future improvements to the GVW system.

How about the Master Water Plan's present flaws?
Obviously not within their mandate.
But that doesn't mean they can't discuss it.

They will hopefully seek answers to questions why Okanagan Lake--by its omission--produced a flawed Plan.  But GVW is loading the dice by requesting this non-technical group "determine if the objectives, development and recommended direction in each of the (10) Technical Memoranda of the 2012 MWP corresponds with stakeholder and community perspectives."

And GVW won't permit anyone who was involved in the development of the 2012 MWP to participate on the SAC committee.

Yet the opposite applies for selected advisors, all of whom are "technical" and were instrumental in developing the MWP:  AECOM, the consultant author of the 2012 MWP, and engineering staff.

Geologist Maria Besso advises that Okanagan Lake has a 52.8 year residence time and a huge volume (24.6 cubic kilometres), it is also very deep and has up to 750 meters of glacial gravels deposited in places, as detailed further here in Wikipedia. 

 

By contrast, adds Maria, the Aberdeen Plateau lakes feeding the Duteau Creek source are nothing more than shallow puddles that have almost as much annual water license allocated to them as their entire storage capacity.

The 25-page  2012 MWP Technical Memorandum #2--one of 10 which the SAC group will review--is sadly lacking in any deep discussion about the great differences in the quality and quantity of the source waters, she noted.

 

Here is all it says:

 

"AECOM, Associated Engineering, Kerr Wood Leidal Greater Vernon Water 2012 Master Water Plan TM2_GVW_Eval_Wss_Final_Feb 26, 2013.Doc 2 2.

Background 2.1

GVW Water Supply Characteristics Duteau Creek and Kalamalka / Wood Lake are the primary drinking water sources for GVW. Although both are surface water sources, each have very different water resource characteristics as it pertains to the water utility. Water from the Duteau Creek source is collected and drawn from an upland (plateau) watershed and associated lakes, which serve as reservoirs. Kalamalka / Wood Lake is a valley-bottom lake and source water includes contributing surface water and groundwater (Clarke GeoScience 2011). The hydrologic regime of the Duteau Creek watershed is dominated by snowmelt and therefore, snow pack depth and timing of snowmelt dictate the supply status of upland reservoirs. Snow pack depth reaches the maximum in late March, early April, while snowmelt starts to fill the reservoirs after this date. Historical data indicates that by the middle of May, the seasonal snow pack is generally gone. This date represents the tail end of the snowmelt season. In normal years; the reservoirs would be nearing capacity by June. After this time, water supply is dependent on precipitation inputs. The summer period also corresponds to the period of peak irrigation demand, with maximum consumption between mid-July and mid-August. In the summer, because stored water is being consumed at a rate that far exceeds inflow, reservoir levels start dropping. Kalamalka / Wood Lake, due to its large storage capacity and long turnover rate is much less susceptible to the annual variations in snow pack depth. Besides Upper Vernon Creek, Oyama Creek, and Coldstream Creek, abundant groundwater springs provide source inflows to Kalamalka / Wood Lake."

Separate links to Technical Memoranda 1 through 10 are here. 

GVW's prerequisite for an independent review committee

 "There ought'a be a law," offers Kia, "against loading."

Not at GVW.

Water Partners' Positions

The positions of some water partners could have been entitled Postulating and Puffery as the new Millenium got into full swing.
Or the Mire of Bureaucracies.

With a view to a better understanding--even now in 2015--of water opinions held within various jurisdictions in Greater Vernon, this 2009 document is printed with permission from its author, Maria Besso, former Coldstream councillor.  Links were provided. 

At the text's conclusion, Maria has added two current comments to update the situation to where we are now.

In 2000 there were three separate Water Utilities supplying the Greater Vernon Area;

1)    The City of Vernon supplying residential Vernon,

2)     District of Coldstream supplying residential Coldstream and

3)    The North Okanagan Water Utility (NOWA) that supplied residential and agricultural customers in the Electoral Areas as well as areas of Vernon and Coldstream.

In 2003 the three Water Utilities came together to form the Greater Vernon Water Utility (GVWU).

The history of why the GVWU was formed is long and complicated, but essentially Vernon needed water licenses in order to service new developments, it had a 1.36 million dollar debt and a large domestic customer base, Coldstream and NOWA had abundant water licenses that had been secured for agriculture and a surplus of $.853 million.  The motivation for coming together was Vernon’s immediate need for water. The utility came together under a set of principles (essentially a contract) of a single Water Utility with the same water quality and same water pricing for all..  Residential and agricultural rates were set so that agricultural rates would be competitive with other Okanagan Valley areas.  

The legal framework for this Utility came under the Local Government Act whereby the Utility was part of a “Function” of the North Okanagan Regional District. The participants in the “Function” were Vernon, Coldstream, and Electoral Areas B & C. The “Function” was the Greater Vernon Services Commission, formed by the NORD Board to deal with matters pertaining to Parks & Recreation, the Greater Vernon Water Utility, Wesbild Centre & Performing Arts Centre, and the Vernon and District Queens Committee that were specific to the City of Vernon, District of Coldstream and Electoral Area's "B" & "C". This Commission had maximum delegated authority and a voting structure of three representatives from Vernon, two from Coldstream, one from Electoral Area B, one from Electoral Area C, plus an Agricultural representative with a vote on water issues.  

In 2006 the Greater Vernon Services Commission was downgraded to a committee and became the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee. The voting structure has stayed the same (minus voting rights for the Agricultural Rep.) but the decisions of the GVAC now had to go through the NORD Board. 

What is DEVOLUTION?

  It is the opposite of Evolution.

 Devolution is going backwards.

 Maria Besso                        

Also in 2006, Vernon requested a service review of the Greater Vernon Water Utility “function” of NORD, stating dissatisfaction with operational issues and a lack of control of water issue decisions within their boundaries. Vernon stated that they only wanted to withdraw from the water distribution portion of the function. 

This would essentially mean Vernon would get to keep the water licenses as they are part of the supply side of the GVWU, but would take away their large domestic customer base. Their large domestic water base was what they contributed in the first place to make the combined water utility attractive to the other partners. 

In late 2008 a consultant came out with a report analyzing the financial implications of the withdrawal of Vernon from the distribution part of the ‘Utility’ – this report: Devolution of the Water Function from Greater Vernon Water Services to City of Vernon - Technical and Financial Report, dated December 2008, by Quadra Development Solutions Inc.,which included a financial analysis done by Catherine Lord,at that time the Chief Financial officer of the Municipality of Coldstream. This full report and it’s implications became public at the June 8th, 2009 Vernon Council meeting.  The full report was then shared with Coldstream in July 2009, and it at this point that the question of a hypothesis of a financial subsidy for agriculture  came to light. 

This is the basis for the recent ad that Vernon ran in the Vernon Morning Star, but the report is purely a financial analysis and does not take into account any of the history and contractual obligations on the part of the’ Utility’ partners. 

In another process, occurring simultaneously with Arbitration, a few other proposals have been put forward. One of the latest proposals put forward by Vernon, was to set aside the Arbitration process IF Coldstream and Area B&C allow the voting structure to be changed to population representation with weighted votes on the NORD Board. Another proposal was to set up an independent water utility (see clippings from Morning Star).

The NORD Board represents a much larger area than just Greater Vernon – including Armstrong, Enderby, Spallumcheen, Lumby, Area D, E, and F, but the voting would remain with the original partners. Under this Governance Vernon would get weighted votes representing 35,000 population, while the weight for Coldstream would represent 10,000 population, and  another 10,000 population for Area B&C. combined.  i.e.  a ratio of 7 to 4  Vernon vs Coldstrem,B&C.

Vernon’s position is that water rates should be based on the amount of water consumed, i.e.: volume.  Because Vernon has a larger residential (domestic) customer base, and residential customers use less volume of water than agricultural customers, then, in a nut shell, according to Vernon their customers should pay less than they are paying now.  Under the present system, it would appear that the Vernon residential customers are subsidizing Agricultural rates to a greater extent than anyone else, and that seems unfair to them.  However it can be argued that no such subsidy exists, since most of the costs incurred are for water treatment, and Agricultural users do not require treated water, all of these upgrades were for the benefit of the Domestic users. 

Coldstream and Electoral Areas B&C’s position is that, yes, the domestic tax base in ALL jurisdictions is “subsidizing” , for lack of a better term, agricultural water rates, but that was one of the reasons the amalgamated water utility was formed in the first place. A large portion of the water licenses belonged to the agricultural users before the formation of the amalgamated water utility, this was a well understood part of the deal when the ‘Utility’ was formed. Assurance that agricultural rates would remain competitive with those charged in other communities, was part of the founding principles upon which the new water utility was formed.

As explained above, in the historical summary, the agricultural users had the water licenses Vernon needed in order to allow it to develop new areas, and consequently increase its tax revenue. The real estate value of all the new properties that were able to be developed by virtue of Vernon’s access to new water licenses as a result of the amalgamated utility, are directly related to the value of the water. A beautiful view lot at ‘The Rise’ is worthless without water…try selling one.  Once Vernon was able to secure water supply the new lots had great value, and were taxed accordingly.  This created a financial benefit for the city of Vernon for many years, ironically now a lot of these lots have remained undeveloped and therefore do not consume any water, thereby limiting their actual contribution to the water utility revenue.

The position that Vernon is taking on devolution is:

1)That the rate structure is unfair to domestic users. 

2)Based on volume of consumption, the Vernon customers would be better served by taking control of their own distribution of water. 

The position that Coldstream and Electoral areas B&C are taking is:

1)That the original set of principles upon which the Greater Vernon Water Utility (GVWU) were formed, were based on a trade off of mutual benefits for the parties.

2)The priceless water licenses that were held by Agricultural users ( in order to insure the viability of agriculture in the future) are more than enough compensation for Vernon’s participation in the combined utility.

Furthermore, when the combined water utility was formed, one of the conditions that the provincial government insisted on , was the formation of a Master Water Plan (MWP)to address how the goals of the new regional water utility would be carried out. The MWP called for the separation of domestic and agricultural water.  The MWP was never followed, and right from the start the GVWU selected its projects to favor improved services (and consequently improved property values and taxation revenue) for the City of Vernon.  That is not surprising given that these improvements stood to benefit the greatest number of people, and given that engineers argued that this was the most cost effective way to go.  The reality was that this was the most cost effective in the short term for the water utility but most of the benefit was accruing geographically to Vernon and effectively to the Vernon tax base. In the long term there would be a price to pay if the interests of the agricultural users and less populated fringes of Coldstream and electoral areas B&C were continuously superseded by the interests of the more numerous domestic users. 

Now the time has come we are going to have to pay the price for not separating the agricultural and domestic water supply when we could have.  Now with the construction of the Duteaux Creek water treatment plant (DCWTP), areas of Coldstream that have been suffering with inferior quality water, are finally going to see some benefits. 

Now is the time Vernon is choosing to withdraw from the distribution side of the water utility.

Vernon is not getting a raw deal, as it seems to be implying, Vernon got a very sweet deal.

Despite Vernon’s blatant self interest in the first few years of operation of the GVWU, its partners Coldstream and Area B&C are still willing to abide by the founding principles of the water utility.  Coldstream and Areas B&C want to see the status quo in the water utility - we do not want to see the water utility devolve.  The strength of the utility is in it’s ability to spread out the cost of supplying and distributing a high volume of water for agricultural use at a competitive rate by having a large domestic base.

If Vernon is allowed to withdraw from the distribution side of the water utility then it must properly compensate all the other partners for all the benefits it received, and continues to receive. Coldstream and Areas B&C have been very accommodating and patient since 2003. Initially Vernon cited operational and control issues with scheduling of public works, as the reason for seeking a service review and withdrawal from  the service. Coldstream and Areas B&C were very willing to discuss and deal with all of Vernon’s issues in this regard, but every time an issue was dealt with another one emerged.  Coldstream even went as far as signing a set of devolution principles, a signature they have now rescinded.  Now the true reason for Vernon’s desire to withdraw has come to light, as stated at the beginning of this letter, it is their dissatisfaction with the pricing structure of a water utility that is designed to stabilize agricultural rates at the expense ( as Vernon sees it) of domestic customers. 

In their “Statement of Response” position paper, Vernon refers to “the assumption of bona fide agricultural use” stating that “this may not reflect the actual use”

Coldstream and Areas B&C believe this statement is at the heart of the true problem. Vernon, with 80% domestic users and 20% agricultural users, is eyeing the rural areas of Coldstream and the Electoral Areas, and judging that there is a lot of water waste, hobby farms, and Country Estates, that may be unjustly benefiting from reduced water rates. Water rates that they view are in large part subsidized by Vernon domestic users. 

If this is the problem then Vernon should discuss its concerns up front with all the partners, water conservation and bona fide agricultural use are concerns of all the partners.  Instead of meeting with a mediator and communicating with all the partners in the water utility, Vernon is insisting on forcing Arbitration. Arbitration will be very expensive with legal fees mounting easily into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Who knows what the solution will be …. we can only hope that the arbitrator will be more intelligent than the politicians. At this point the only thing that is certain, is that the solution will be expensive to all the taxpayers in the end. "

Maria Besso  

( written Nov.1st, 2009) 

2015 comment from Maria Besso:

“keep in mind (the above) was written in 2009 :-) so some of my thoughts may have changed. In particular, with the new knowledge that came to light after the 2011 and 2012 water consumption data came out. That data revealed that 96 % (by volume) of the  water treated at Duteau the first few years, was being used for irrigation and only 4% of the volume was used for Domestic consumption. That for me was the turning point, that led me to further question the Master Water Plan, and come to the conclusion that we had chosen the wrong water source, for many reasons.... ( including unreliable 1)source quality, and 2)source quantity, 3)remote location that required many miles of pipe twinning 4) extreme cost to bring up to IHA standards 5) detrimental impact to Agriculture - essentially the agricultural allocation was being converted to domestic. 

I am sure that others will remember or know the history better than me ... but "Vernon's immediate need for water." referred to below, came in the days of Sean Harvey (Vernon mayor) and the desire to develop "The Rise" and "Predator Ridge",  at the time, the Province refused to give Vernon any new water license on Okanagan Lake, and thus started the coveting of the Agricultural Water licenses at Duteau ... and the rest is history. “

February 2010 Update:

On Feb. 8th,  2010 the Arbitrator ruled in Coldstream and Electoral Area B&C’s favor. He ruled that he, (the Arbitrator), does not have jurisdiction to rule on a partial devolution of the (Greater Vernon Water) GVW function . ie: Vernon cannot pull out of only the “distribution “ side of the utility. The Arbitrator said he could rule on full withdrawal or no withdrawal not partial withdrawal. 

As of May 2010 the City of Vernon has appealed the Arbitrators Ruling.

The Municipality of Coldstream has opposed the appeal. 

Electoral Area B & C were not able to oppose the appeal because the NORD Board voted not to do so.

 May 24th, 2015 Update by Maria Besso:

Between May 2010 and November 2011( the next Election) there was not much movement on the Devolution front.

The efforts of the Greater Vernon Water Utility turned to defending themselves legally, after the contamination of a drinking water well at Antwerp Springs ( January 13th, 2010).  A potential catastrophe was narrowly avoided,  and the Province sued the Water Utility ( RDNO), The District of Coldstream, as well as the farmer that caused the contamination.  For all concerned Devolution seemed to be unofficially 'on HOLD'.

Meanwhile in October 2010 the Duteau Creek Water Treatment Plant was officially completed and started operation. For a short time people were happy with their clarified water.  Then, predictably  they saw their water bills start to rise. 

On March 11th, 2011 the Interior Health Authority ( IHA) issued an Order to the GVWU and RDNO to prepare a Master Water Plan that would achieve all the Drinking Water Protection objectives mandated by the Federal Drinking Water Protection Act by the year 2020. 

Then in November 2011 there was another Election, and Wayne Lippert was replaced by Rob Sawatzky as the Mayor of Vernon.

An atmosphere of greater cooperation started to take hold at  GVWU, however there were still problems.

Things that may have contributed to a change in attitude regarding Devolution were mainly a change in the people involved.

The City of Vernon lost its Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)Leon Gous, who had been a driving force behind the devolution litigation.

The Regional District had a  new Administrative officer Trafford Hall at the helm - who was able to successfully negotiate operations agreements with all the participants in the water utility. 

Mike Stamhuis, former RDNO employee involved with NOWA had become the CAO of the District of Coldstream in early 2009 and was now in a position to influence the direction of a new Master Water Plan that was being ordered by IHA, and he had been able to successfully defend against Vernon's initial attempts at 'Partial Devolution'.  

Will Pearce, a former administrator in Cranbrook, was hired to replace Leon Gous as the CAO in Vernon, and he needed time to understand the nature of the conflict at Greater Vernon Water and RDNO. 

It seemed that 'Principles' upon which the Water Utility came together, back in 2004 would be honoured by all the participants. 

Then the true cost of those 'Principles' started to get clearer, if one was taking over an irrigation utility where a large volume of water is used for irrigation and a small volume is used for domestic drinking water, and if one guarantees the irrigation customers that their rates will stay competitive with other jurisdictions, then the obvious result is that the domestic customer will end up having rates that are not competitive with other jurisdictions because they will have to bear the cost of unnecessarily treating large volumes of water for irrigation purposes. 

"...the new 2012 Master Water Plan that would compound the magnitude of the error that was made initially by choosing the Duteau Source as a major source of potable drinking water."

Regardless of the opposition - Greater Vernon continued with setting a direction for the new 2012 Master Water Plan that would compound the magnitude of the error that was made initially by choosing the Duteau Source as a major source of potable drinking water. 

On June 13, 2013 GVAC voted to Recommend that Option 2 of the 2012 MWP be adopted. That option would require a filtration plant be built at Duteau by 2017, at a cost of $26.5 million dollars plus at least $42.6 million dollars of pipe separation to be done between 2013 and 2017 in order to bring the size of the filtration plant down to  80 ML/day capacity. 

On December 18th, 2013  the Drinking Water Protection Order was lifted by IHA, they accepted the 2012 MWP as meeting the objectives of the Drinking Water Protection Act - they did not comment on the financial implication or the merit of the plan, as they said this was not in their mandate. 

In order to go ahead with this plan the public had to be asked for permission to borrow the money. A borrowing referendum was held in conjunction with the November 2014 Election to borrow up $70 million dollars to implement phase 1 of the $111 million dollar Master Water Plan. 

Despite the expensive public information campaign put on by RDNO, the message of opposition to the Master Water Plan was successful in defeating the borrowing referendum.  

Now (in 2015) RDNO seems to be continuing with the capital projects of the Master Water Plan despite the failure of the borrowing referendum in November 2014. 

In early 2015 a new group called Citizens for Change to the Master Water Plan formed, to urge the elected officials to  stop with the projects of the MWP and get an independent consultant to take a fresh new look at the Master Water Plan. 

That's were we are now. 

"Despite the failure of Vernon's 'devolution' attempt, some still want to take their bat and leave the game," says Kia.

But they don't own the ball.

Sincere thanks to Maria Besso for allowing her material to be printed here.