Regional district’s figures don’t make sense

Editor: In a display of contempt for their communities and constituents, eight of 12 members of the Regional District of the Central Okanagan board voted to remove caretakers from the regional parks on Monday.

Except for Brad Sieben (Kelowna), Cindy Fortin (Peachland), James Baker (Lake Country) and Wayne Carson (North Westside), the directors ignored the over 1,000 letters and petitioners, the over 70 people crammed into the board room, a delegation that outlined the concerns, research and analysis done by community members, and seven months of inquiry about the reasons for this cut to the program.

According to several people who attended the meeting, many directors smirked and rolled eyes, one didn’t know there were regional parks in Kelowna, and chairwoman Gail Given even scolded the caretakers for not moving out more quickly.

We continue to ask why this cut to the program is happening. At the moment, the “reasons” boil down to money.

Presumably environmental, cultural, safety and social reasons are of no interest to those directors who voted to cut the program.

But the “economic” reasons remain so flimsy and secretive, it is hard to believe anyone could take them seriously, especially our board members who are supposedly interested in fiscal responsibility.

They cannot name a single efficiency nor point to a clear cost-benefit analysis. During the public financial plan process in March, when the public asked where the mysterious savings were coming from, there was never once a clear answer given.

Until now. At the meeting, it was announced incredibly, suddenly and out of the blue, that RDCO Parks would save nearly $1 million in future maintenance of the residences of the caretakers.

Where does this bizarre and fantastical number come from? You’d think if this huge savings was a genuine reason, back in September when they announced the cut to the program, they would have trumpeted this amazing figure.

The figure is stunning since just two and a half years ago in a Regional Parks Service Review endorsed by the board, the maintenance of all 11 caretaker residences was estimated to be about $80,000 over 20 years.

Now suddenly, a whole million dollars will be saved by removing three or four of the residences. How is this even possible? Did the parks staff lie to the board back in 2014 or were they so incompetent they didn’t see a nearly $1 million bill ahead of them?

Or was this million dollars just magically pulled out of a hat in the past couple of weeks once the community began to question the figures being used in the RDCO financial plan?

This lack of responsiveness to the community, with the exception of the four members who listened and actually met with and talked to members of the public, and this lack of real financial scrutiny are worrying.†

We seem to have elected officials who will not listen to the public and who are refusing to provide any believable explanation for the decision they seem to want to make in the face of common sense and genuine community concern.

We need a public inquiry into this situation. Nancy Holmes, Kelowna