How fortunate we are to live in Lake Country and on November 19, we have a chance to bring in changes that will make it better. We must thank our current Mayor and Council for their service, however if you have attended a council meeting or watched one on television, you already know what must be done. Little confidence in staff is indicated, and consultants are hired causing higher costs. If you vote for the same folks on council nothing will change. It’s like Einstein said, “insanity is when we continue to do the same thing over and over and expect a different outcome.”
Where has all the money gone that was in reserve for the future? The current Mayor and Council appear to have spent some by adding substantially more staff to City Hall and even so, then hire consultants to tell them how to do council business. Perhaps Mayor and Council should show a little consideration that the rest of us are hurting due to an economic downturn and rising costs. We need a Mayor and Council that does not have to hire consultants to tell them how to save money and we deserve fiscal responsibility from them in these tough times and we haven’t seen that happening.
With ten million dollars being spent on Main Street we should expect some action in the Town Centre and not have a Mayor and Council divert commercial zoning away from it. We should expect expansion of business and industry for good paying jobs. We should be supporting our volunteers to a greater extent and above all our safety should be a priority. The current Mayor and Council have been in place for six years and perhaps their seat is a bit too comfortable! A letter to the editor by Wayne Harris in a Kelowna paper suggests sweeping out the entire Kelowna Council. It seems like we have to adopt the same strategy.
You may get suggestions that you need to keep some of the “old guard” on duty for knowledge and consistency. We haven’t witnessed either in the last six years so why should we keep any of them? We need a new Mayor and Council that seeks innovation, industry for well paying jobs, reduces our costs in tune with economic indicators.
Your vote is your democratic power! Please use it.
Rolly Hein (former Mayor)