Go back to the old way
Being the economic development officer of a small city is one of the most thankless jobs in the world. Nobody is ever 100 per cent satisfied and if there is a big score the credit usually goes to the state of the economy rather than the work of the EDO.
The big news out of City Hall this week was the unexpected removal of Colleen Pennington as economic development officer. Her contract was not renewed after five years.
Without knowing any of the circumstances, we can say from our perspective that she was always pleasant and co-operative to deal with.
Among those praising her is former mayor and long-time councillor Garry Litke who, in a rare Facebook post on The Herald’s site, described her as “one of the best things to happen for Penticton.” Litke credited her for bringing WestJet service to Penticton.
All that council has committed to is they want to move economic development “in a new direction,” but won’t say what that direction is. We can offer a suggestion. What council needs to consider is getting out of the economic development business altogether and putting it back where it belongs — in the hands of the Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce and the newly formed Travel Penticton.
For years it worked well under former economic development officers Wayne Tebbutt and David Arnsenault.
In what came across as a mean-spirited move, the council of the day in 2011 took economic development and tourism out of the hands of its partner groups and instead moved it in-house. Since that time the entire process has appeared to be politicized. Too much of the decision-making process is now in the hands of mayor and council instead of those who specialize in business and have a vested interest in the process.
Over the past six years we have witnessed the Eckhardt Avenue hockey dorm project (where the City didn’t include Arnsenault in the process) and the highly unpopular Skaha Lake Park waterslide proposal. The only professions to benefit financially were the lawyers.
The new economic development officer also needs to focus more on long-term payoffs. By moving economic development out of City Hall and back to the Chamber there would probably be more long-term stability and less of a revolving door.
This is not necessarily the solution, but it’s definitely worth consideration.
—James Miller
E.D. should be in the hands of the Chamber