THE www.keremeosreview.com PM Agreement #40012521
Review Vol.17
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage
Number 19
Thursday, May 7, 2015
$1.15 including GST
Serving the communities of Keremeos, Cawston, Okanagan Falls and Kaleden
Councillor rocks the vote on 12k expenditure The CAO can approve expenditures without council’s approval in emergency situations. Evans questioned whether or not this scenario met that criteria. “It is important to have this done as soon as possible before the main influx of farm workers arrive,” the report to council stated. When taking over the license of occupation for the trail one of the contingencies was that no motorized vehicles would be allowed on the trail. The rocks also stop that from happening. Evans said he wasn’t against the large rocks being placed at intervals to limit vehicle access and discourage camping, but he wasn’t necessarily for it either. “I don’t know. These are things we need to talk about as council to decide,” he said.
Originally village staff thought they would be able to access rocks at no charge and use existing equipment. But the rocks were not the right size and there was a concern that the box of the village’s dump truck might be damaged. “Replacement of the truck box would ultimately cost more than having the rocks hauled and dumped at convenient intervals by contractors,” the report to council stated. In an attempt to save some money the village staff did use the loader for final placement of the rocks. Despite Evans refusal to officially vote on the issue, the rest of council voted in favour of the expenditures on the trail and the motion was carried. The money was taken from the village’s contingency reserve.
showing for me (at the election) respect members of the KID have Issues surfaced in 2010 when because I was against the reser- shown voters. the KID attempted a public approvvoir,” he said. “That’s why I left instead of al process for the construction of Thurston said the night he was sticking it out for another three the reservoir, as is required when elected the room borrowing money for was packed projects. with people. In an alternative Subsequent meetapproval process, ings surroundmore than 10 per ing the building cent of voters stated of the reservoir they had concerns also drew large or were against the crowds. building of the resIt was quite a ervoir. stark contrast the Between that night of the annuprocess and the refal general meeterendum that was to ing last week come, the Village of when he officialKeremeos received ly said he would Bob Thurston, a former Keremeos Irrigation District trustee a $300,000 grant to not be returning claims the organization works under a current of self-interest. help fund the resas trustee. Only ervoir. four people sat A referendum in the audience, was held and the a reporter, Thurston’s wife and two years because I couldn’t stand project was voted down. members of the public. being on there with people that are “That should have been it. But it Thurston claims the lack of there for their own self-interest,” wasn’t,” Thurston said. public interest reflects the lack of he said. The KID then held a special
meeting. Thurston said the public was told the reservoir was going ahead, and they could only decide on how it would be funded. “It was basically they were going to like or lump it,” he said. The choice given during the vote was whether landowners wanted their water bills to increase to pay for the system within a few years, or if they wanted to borrow the money and pay it back over a long term. “That isn’t much of a choice,” he said. Thurston also charges that although the public was told the reservoir would improve access to water for firefighting during power outages, the KID recently learned it wouldn’t make a difference. “Now that I’m not a trustee I can say we were told that no matter what we do over the next five years it won’t create better fire flow,” he said.
Tara Bowie Review Staff
Tara Bowie
Councillor Jeremy Evans spoke out against the lack of council discussion around the decision to spend $12,000 on placing rocks around the trail that runs through the village.
One councillor isn’t happy with the way a $12,000 decision was made regarding placing rocks around the village trail. Longtime councillor Jeremy Evans refused to vote during a motion Monday to approve the hefty price tag of placing rocks around the trail. Most of the rocks were placed by contractors several days before the council meeting after CAO Laurie Taylor circulated an email to council regarding the issue. “I didn’t respond to the email. It should have went to council for discussion. I realize the CAO has some spending power up to a certain limit but when it doesn’t come to council first it doesn’t give us time to discuss it and hash it out,” he said.
Trustee drained by irrigation district decisions Tara Bowie Review Staff
A former Keremeos Irrigation District trustee claims the organization works under a current of self-interest. It was announced Thursday night at the district’s annual general meeting that Bob Thurston would not seek re-election. Thurston served just one term. He spoke to the Review several days after the meeting. “The democracy in Keremeos has been completely annihilated,” he said, while talking about issues he claims arose regarding municipal water decisions over the last three years. In 2011 Thurston was prompted to run for KID trustee because of the controversy surrounding the construction of a reservoir. The reservoir, which cost about $1.4 million, was completed last year. “I was against the reservoir right from the start... There was a lot of
Continued on page 7