By Don Urquhart
A meeting aimed at hearing how Osoyoos residents would be impacted by the steep rise in taxes and user fees and spurring them into action attracted hundreds of concerned citizens last week to an open forum held in the industrial park.
Organizers of the meeting are calling for an investigation by provincial authorities into the tax increase and are advocating Osoyoos residents use Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA) requests to put pressure on the town and its elected officials.
On the issue of FOIPA requests the panel noted that overwhelming the town with requests would likely lead it to declare “administrative distress” meaning it could officially decline to respond.
“So what we are asking everybody is to make sure that you help to keep the process streamlined and concise and not duplicated,” and this includes submitting FOIPA requests through the panel.
“And this panel will, in good faith, represent the community in a way that is strategic and that accomplishes the goal,” a panel member said.
It’s unclear exactly what the goal of the FOIPA requests are, but so far Dustin Sikora, who made a bid for mayor in the 2022 election, has issued at least two open letters containing various allegations of improprieties against elected officials and town staff based on FOIPA requests.
Sikora told the assembled crowd that the process is a very “legalese type of writing that is technical and if you don’t have your wording correct they will use it as an excuse to not give you the information, so it’s a cat and mouse game. We have to do this very smart. We have to do this coordinated,” he added.
A woman whose number was drawn shares her concerns on the tax hike.
Hundreds of people attended the meeting held at AMS Truck Repair with the standing room only crowd asked to fill out cards with questions and concerns and those wanting to speak were asked to take numbers which were randomly drawn.
The questions will be collected, collated and submitted to council, the panel said.
On the panel were James Clausen, Greg Harris, JF Launier, Teresa Simpson, Alison Laranjo, Sarah Vanderhoven, Nathan Ondrus, Dustin Sikora, and former mayor Stu Wells.
The only member of town council in attendance was Johnny Cheong with the remaining council members giving it a miss on the advice of the RCMP after protestors disrupted an earlier council meeting. The warning was perhaps out of an abundance of caution as the well-organized meeting ran smoothly with tempers in check.
“Our purpose here tonight is to exercise our rights as Canadian citizens and members of Osoyoos and the Osoyoos community to insist on provincial investigation into the unprecedented and unjustified property tax,” said Launier as he kicked off the meeting.
He went on to note the budget document is 183 pages in length and said “anybody that reads through it will find a way to make some sacrifices.”
Ron Sargeant, who has been active on the tax protest front reminded attendees that “It is important that we do respect the town, and all of the counsellors, and the employees,” he said noting that it had been pointed out at an earlier council meeting that town staff and councillors were being harassed.
“We have to respect all of the employees, that is also very important so that we can get our point across it doesn’t get there if we don’t respect everybody,” he added.
One of the issues that the panel objects to is the fact the asset management plans heavily leverage information provided by True Consulting which the town uses for engineering and planning services.
A question from one of the attendees was directed at Cheong, asking how much faith he places in True Consulting. He responded: “I have confidence in True.”
He noted that the asset management plans are the first the town has drafted, “which is very concerning”.
Not knowing what state much of the infrastructure is in “we don’t know realistically how much we need to spend to fix it.” He added that with the asset management plans “we have a better idea . . . we have a clearer picture.”
As reported in last week’s edition of the Times Chronicle, council members have stated their willingness to relook at the budget document and to hold a public forum.
The Times Chronicle understands that a town hall meeting to be held at the Sonora Community Centre will be announced for January, at the next council meeting.
