GOING IN CIRCLES | District of Coldstream debates roundabout for Kalamalka Road [A10]
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013
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RICHARD ROLKE Morning Star Staff
LISA VANDERVELDE/ MORNING STAR
Kienan Wied hits the skateboard park at Polson Park thanks to the mild weather and melting snow.
Councillors protest timing of report sure services are of the highest value and limited resources go to communitySome Vernon politicians took the valued programs. unusual step of opposing a meeting Lord believes other agenda Monday. departments are not being Councillors Catherine Lord and given an opportunity to Bob Spiers voted against adoption of update council on their the committee of the whole agenda activities and it could appear because it included an information like bylaw enforcement is session on the bylaw enforcement being singled out for attendepartment. tion. “We are in the middle of a core “The timing was totally services review and it (staff report) Catherine Lord off. It should have waited could be seen as influencing the until after the core review is process,” said Lord. completed,” she said. The review, which will be completed Spiers shares similar concerns with by April, is an attempt by the city to make Lord. RICHARD ROLKE
Morning Star Staff
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“It’s not appropriate that we have the report now,” he said. However, Mayor Rob Sawatzky says there were no ulterior motives behind the report. “If the presentation was meant to be a sales presentation, I wouldn’t pay very much for it,” he said. “It wasn’t promotional, it was informational.” Will Pearce, chief administrator officer, says it was his decision for the staff report and it was in response to previous council concerns about bylaw enforcement. “It was not intended to influence council’s decision (on the core service review),” said Pearce.
The long-term viability of a local call centre has apparently come at the expense of some workers. Service Quality Management Group, which surveys people about the service provided by other call centres, has reduced its workforce from 100 to 50 or 60 as a result of establishing a facility in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. “Losing people in Vernon is not anything we wanted to do but we were confronted with a contract that said, ‘If you take the contract you must have employees in the U.S.,’” said Sarah Kennedy, a senior vice-president with SQM Group. Meeting the wishes of the U.S. client could increase company revenues by 20 per cent. “By losing the contract, we could lose 50 per cent of our Lara Pow revenue,” said Lara Pow, chief operating officer, adding that going against the client could have had a significant impact on SQM’s overall ability to operate and maintain staff. SQM insists it will remain in Vernon and the Idaho facility will create opportunities for the company headquarters here. “We will be hiring in the management and support side,” said Kennedy. “There will be growth and we are already advertising for some of those positions.” A call centre will also remain in Vernon and the focus will be Canadian clients. Kennedy believes there could eventually be a need for more operators. “There is always that hope we are driving the market to bring in extra Canadian business,” she said. SQM Group established operations in Vernon 10 years ago and some of the laid-off staff have been there since then. “We have been quite generous on severance so they have time to look for the right fit,” said Kennedy, adding that information has been provided on opportunities for retraining and job placement. Kevin Poole, Vernon’s economic development officer, knew SQM was facing pressure from a U.S. client. “It’s frustrating because they are a good employer in Vernon but the good news is they will continue to have a local presence,” he said.
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