Summerland blinks in water dispute
Facing a rising tide of community angst, Summerland council has suspended plans to force hundreds of property owners to make a costly decision about their water services before the end of the month.
Councillors also voted unanimously Monday to stage a special open house to discuss the matter on a future date and allow people with questions to finally get some answers.
The decisions followed an impassioned plea from Summerland woman Christie Johnson on behalf of a group called Concerned Citizens for Water Usage.
Johnson is among approximately 240 property owners who have a second, unmetered domestic water service, which the District of Summerland has been trying to regulate for years in a bid to conserve water and level the playing field for all users.
So-called choice letters sent out in February gave affected property owners until March 31 to select from three options: disconnect the second service at the district’s cost; pay the district $3,500 to install a new water meter on the second service; or pay the district $3,500 to install a new water meter on both water services.
In addition to raising concerns about fairness, Johnson also touched on what she described as “radio silence” from municipal hall.
“We received insufficient notice to make such a costly and large decision and many of us wrote to you expressing our concerns and asking questions. I personally sent an email to each and every one of you on this council and the only response I received was from Mayor Holmes forwarding my concerns to the works department,” said Johnson.
Another person who requested information from a district staffer got back a standard question-and-answer package “and in the email it stated the district had received a high volume of questions and the district will not be responding to individual requests,” continued Johnson.
“Many of us folks continued to reach out to you and we received radio silence: from the district, from the councillors and from our mayor. This is in stark contrast to the district’s and council’s commitment to transparency and honesty.”
Johnson’s concerns about fairness stem from the historically uneven distribution of water meters in Summerland, installation of which started in 2009 with funding from senior levels of government that ran out before the job could be completed.
In the year since, the district has been picking away at those properties left to be converted but those efforts stalled during the pandemic and were just revived earlier this year, leading to the current controversy.
“We don’t oppose paying for metered water. We strongly oppose paying for the infrastructure,” said Johnson.
"We have been excluded from experiencing the same benefit other property owners have received through no fault of our own. We were deliberately excluded by the district at the time the initial installations took place and now we’re being requested to pay for the meter other owners have received for free.”
Following the presentation, Coun. Janet Peake, who also served from 2014-18, expressed surprise that Johnson’s group hadn’t been consulted in the past “because that was my expectation as a councillor when I sat here.”
“It’s not just transparency, it’s accountability,” continued Peake.
“And I think that’s really important for our community and the people that are affected – and a reflection on the people in our community who expect to be consulted on any future directions we take.”
Council heard it’s unlikely the public meeting will be staged before March 31. Summerland’s irrigation water system is scheduled to be switched on April 11 and will proceed as usual.
Deputy Mayor Erin Trainer, who chaired Monday’s meeting, concluded the discussion by responding to Johnson’s concerns about a lack of responsiveness from elected officials.
“Just for a quick clarification, when council does get emails it is our mayor’s job to respond. We don’t all individually respond because then we can have different opinions going back and forth,” explained Trainer.
“If you send an email to council and you don’t back hear from all of us, that’s why. That’s just kind of the general practice is that our mayor will respond or our CAO or somebody from staff will respond to you.”