Destination Osoyoos' books should be open to the public

Editor:rnRe: Destination Osoyoos books should be open to the public in your editorial in Sept. 28th 2005 issue of Osoyoos Times.
Yes I agree with your comments regarding the detailed financial statements, and Destination Osoyoos' books absolutely should be open to the public. I commend you for your editorial.
As a concerned citizen I contacted Town Administrator Ms. E. Lemke a few weeks ago and asked for the 'fee for service' agreement between Town of Osoyoos and Destination Osoyoos Development Society.
Under the Terms of Contract, page 3 paragraph 13, the Society shall prepare and deliver to the Town's Chief Administrative Officer, no later than March 31 of each year, a year-end financial statement of the Society for the operating year.
Further the Town of Osoyoos policy manual under title 'Community Service Grants' 1.2.2 states that organizations that will be considered for a grant must qualify under section 269 of the Municipal Act and shall comply with the following criteria:rnF) Produce a total and full accounting of present funding and up-to date financial statements in order to demonstrate past and present handling of funds.
In my opinion if the Board of Destination Osoyoos - as you stated in your editorial the Board had decided it would not release that information - then Town of Osoyoos Mayor John Slater and Chief Administrator Officer Ms. E. Lemke are obliged to provide taxpayer's of Osoyoos with proper financial statements regarding the Destination Osoyoos finances.
I would like to remind Town of Osoyoos Council, CAO Ms. Lemke, and Board of Destination Osoyoos Development Society this is not a private matter; indeed it is public and we the taxpayers of Osoyoos deserve to know exactly how is our money spent, where and by whom.

Sy MurselirnOsoyoos


Editor:rnThank you for your invitation to discussion in your Community Matter Column in Osoyoos Times, September 14, 2005, in which you seek to address and discuss issues that affect us all, for which I am sure the community welcomes (and needs).
I am accepting your invitation, because understanding the issues society faces is the lifeblood of democracy, and understanding emerges from vigorous and open discussions in the press and in the community. Contrary ignorance, greed and complacency are the root of corrupt government, democratic failure, and man-made social misery and adversity around the world.
It is still my analysis, as I addressed to you and the Town Council in 1998 and through the Chamber of Commerce in 2002 (which made me and the chamber out of favour), that the major issue Osoyoos is facing is the Town's economic development model.
The model separates promotion of the Town from the resources needed to facilitate the investment. It is an outdated model of the eighties and does not meet any of the community's needs today. Modern economic development is an integrated social economic and ecological analysis, planning and control process that must report directly to the elected Town Council who is accountable to the community.
The existing model where the Town pays Destination Osoyoos, a private organization as such only accountable to itself, to promote and pursue investment in the Town and to function as the Town's Economic Development Officers office, while the resource, ecology land use planning and zoning is the responsibility of the Town's planning department. It is a model that does not meet the standards members and the taxpayers of this community must expect, and would be a peril for any community. The current model bolsters the positive and takes credit for the inevitable, a booming real estate and tourism sector, which will happen anyways, and fails to address the underlying social, economic and ecological issues Osoyoos is facing. It is a model set up to fail and cause adversity, and that should be the major issue for us all in Osoyoos, including the newly formed Osoyoos Now association.
I believe any reasonable thinking people in our community would agree with the Osoyoos Times recent editorial, that as long you and Destination Osoyoos are funded by the taxpayer, then Destination Osoyoos books should be open to the press and hence to the public. Why have the community accepted this for more than a decade? My foremost concern is that the model has moved the power from the elected council and thus the voters to a powerful special semi-government interest group outside for the democratic process and the accountability to the voters. Those who addressed the issues are out of favour in Osoyoos.
It is sort of a democratic failure - will the voters correct it in November?rnKell Petersen
Osoyoos


Editor:rnThe purpose of the letter by Frank Stariha in the October 5th edition of the Osoyoos Times titled in the interests of accuracy, Mr. Emery wasn't Mayor escapes me….almost!rnGetting caught up in semantics about Chairman of the Board of Commissioners vs. Mayor and Council seems rather petty.
The terminology Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, and Board of Commissioners were dropped from the Government vocabulary and no longer exist in favor of the now used terms Mayor and Council. The job and its associated duties and responsibilities remain the same as they did back then. Semantics!rnI have referred to Mr. Emery many times as Mr. Prime Minister over coffee table discussion. Please…no letters!rnThese are terms of respect for a job well done. Perhaps not politically correct but in this day and age it is becoming more difficult to be so.
Perhaps the question should be is the real purpose of this letter an attempt to discredit Mr. Emery over his questioning of development along Lakeshore Drive that will take away more of out lakefront property?rnIf so…shame!rnIn my discussions with Mr. Emery, he has always reiterated that he was not against development, but that he was concerned about the appearance of development at any cost that erodes the very lifestyle that our summer visitors come here for, people move here for, and the citizens of Osoyoos enjoy now.
I for one appreciate the job done by our former Managers of our Town no matter what term is used to describe their positions.
They had vision!rnFred CawdellrnOsoyoosrn