Destination Osoyoos' books should be open to the public
After many attempts by the Osoyoos Times to get the detailed financial statements for Destination Osoyoos we were finally told the board had decided it would not release that information.
Instead, executive director Glenn Mandziuk, in an email to this newspaper, outlined the board's policy on releasing financial information.
The Board decided that the annual financial statements that are supplied to the Town of Osoyoos and Regional District as per our fee for service agreements are the statements that will be provided to the media, which are attached, Mandziuk said in the email. What was attached was a two page sheet outlining Desination Osoyoos' revenues and expenditures. To call it general would be a huge understatement.
Our first question is how can Osoyoos' town council, which contributes close to a quarter-of-a-million dollars annually to this organization, accept such a lack of detail? It certainly seems to show an absolute lack of due diligence on the part of the town.
We also can't help but wonder why Destination Osoyoos choses not to release more detailed information? Is there something in the $403,477.76 worth of expenses that Destination Osoyoos would rather not discuss? Or how about the $106,911.06 raised through project/fundraising?rnThe unwillingness of Destination Osoyoos to release detailed information to the public is just another example of why the current model of economic development in this community needs to be overhauled. It is absolutely unacceptable that where and how public money is spent is not readily available to that same public. Destination Osoyoos' books should be wide open and the fact that they aren't should be a red flag to everyone in this community.
