-Directors leaning towards retaining current district structure: Area A director-
OSOYOOS TIMES-January 16, 2008-
By Chad IngramrnOsoyoos Times
A number of different options for the potential amalgamation of the valley's three regional districts were brought up during a meeting of the Okanagan Valley's regional directors on Jan. 11 in Vernon.
I felt a little more of a comfort level knowing that (the other directors are) open to ideas, said RDOS (Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen) Area A Director Mark Pendergraft. Previously, it seemed like they were going in one direction and one direction only.rnIn mid-December, Pendergraft and the seven other rural directors of the RDOS sent letters to the region's media outlets expressing their concerns that a proposed single regional district for the entire Okanagan would overlook the concerns of rural areas and cater to the interests of larger communities.
Such an amalgamation would combine the RDOS, Regional District of the Central Okanagan (RDCO) and the Regional District of the North Okanagan (RDNO).
Pendergraft said, however, that one option presented at the meeting would maintain the three separate districts, while introducing committees comprised of directors from all three districts to govern matters pertaining to water quality, air quality and transportation.
This is the option I'd feel most comfortable with, Pendergraft said.
Also presented was the option of complete amalgamation which, Pendergraft said, would likely mean a centralization of power, a decrease in board members and hence a decrease in representation.
Yet another option would introduce new wards and a whole new electoral structure for the valley.
(The ideas) were presented to everyone, then we broke down into smaller groups for discussion, Pendergraft said.
He said the smaller groups were changed a number of times to allow for a fuller exchange of opinion.
The models for changes to the region were drawn up and presented by the Okanagan Similkameen Regional Governance Study Working Committee. The 12-member committee is made up of four members from each of the three districts; the mayor of each district's largest city, a representative from one of its mid-sized communities, a rural representative and a fourth member, typically the chair of the district.
Committee representatives for the RDOS are Penticton Mayor Jake Kimberley, Osoyoos Mayor John Slater, Area H Director Gerri Logan and District Chair Dan Ashton.
From what I heard, most people are leaning towards the model which maintains the three regional districts, Pendergraft said. He said there are definitely still advocates of the total amalgamation concept, but that the third option, introducing new wards, didn't seem to garner much attention.
It was a model that nobody's really familiar with, Pendergraft said.
More than 40 directors from the RDOS, RDCO and RDNO attended the meeting, held at the Vernon Best Western. Pendergraft said 16 of the RDOS's 18 directors were in attendance. While the meeting saw no concrete decision or vote of any kind, Robert Hobson, chair of the RDCO and governance study working committee, said it accomplished its goal.
We certainly didn't make any decisions today, but the exercise was very beneficial as there was plenty of free-flowing discussion on the issues and options being considered for area-wide coverage, Hobson said in a press release.
The governance study working committee's next meeting will be held at 10 a.m. on Jan. 31 at the RDCO office in Kelowna. It is open to the public.
Pendergraft said he expects that after this meeting there will be some kind of public consultation process.
The province has said they need a tentative plan by the end of March, Pendergraft said. So it will happen in the near future.
The committee will be requesting a provincial governance review once it decides on a governance model.
More information is available on the committee's website at www.valleygovern.ca
