Dear Editor:
It was very troubling to read your report last week regarding the decision by Town of Osoyoos council, on the recommendation of the town’s chief administrative officer, that because the committee formed to review and recommend various facets of the new fire hall couldn’t agree, that a summer referendum has been pushed aside and decision made to go with negative 10 per cent approval process.
What happened to council’s earlier statement that we would have a referendum because so much money was involved?
I feel like people in the U.S. must have felt when President Obama said “ You can keep your doctor.”
The negative approval process has been used in other instances and in general, it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of taxpayers who see it as a way of circumventing the proper process. In this case, win or lose, a referendum is the proper way to go. The argument that a separate referendum is too costly when we are talking about spending as much as $6.6 million for our small tax base community, is malarkey.
If council is convinced this is the way to go then it is up to them to convince the electorate to vote yes on a referendum, not to sneak in via the back door.
Derek Noske
Osoyoos, B.C.
