Rural leaders want to raise their voices

Some of the region’s rural politicians want more opportunities to speak directly to constituents.

The board of the Regional District of OkanaganSimilkameen spent an hour Thursday discussing an internal communications policy that designates the chair as primary spokesperson on regional matters.

The policy is silent on matters pertaining specifically to the nine rural area, but amendments proposed Thursday would change that.

Subrina Monteith, the director for Area I (Skaha West/Kaleden/ Apex), noted deficiencies in the policy were on full display last summer during the Christie Mountain wildfire, when Karla Kozakevich, RDOS chair and Naramata director, was the local government’s main spokesperson during the incident, which occurred in Area D (Skaha East/OK Falls).

“I know if that happened in my community, my community would have wanted to see me, they would have wanted to see my fire chief, they would have wanted to see our words of support and encouragement, and I feel that that was missed,” said Monteith.

While he steered clear of that topic during the discussion, Area D Director Ron Obirek expressed a desire to see more of the RDOS chair for ceremonial purposes.

“The chair is the chair of all the areas, so it’s nice when the chair is there when we have a ribbon cutting on a housing project and things like that,” said Obirek. “And the absence has been noted, which is interesting.”

Obirek didn’t provide any specific example of events Kozakevich missed, and Kozakevich noted she tries to attend every event to which she’s invited.

Meanwhile, the policy document itself also came in for criticism.

Included in the agenda packages for Thursday’s meeting and one Feb. 25 was a version of the communications policy that was used by staff in 2017 as a working paper and featured changes that were never approved by the board.

The mistake was noted by Riley Gettens, director for Area F (Okanagan Lake West/West Bench) at the Feb. 25 meeting, yet the same document was included again in Thursday’s agenda.

“I guess my concern is what would have happened had that not been caught at the board level?” said Doug Holmes, an RDOS municipal director for Summerland.

“Would then this draft policy have slipped in and become the official policy and no one would have realized it? That’s my worry.”

Christy Malden, RDOS manager of legislative services, said there are “checks and balances” in place to prevent such errors and “in all likelihood that would have been caught.”

“Moving forward,” added Malden, “this is a good educational opportunity for newer staff to make sure the documents are branded correctly when they’re in the working files.”

In response to a motion from Gettens, the board at its next meeting March 18 will consider amending the communications policy so regional directors are listed as the primary spokesperson for matters affecting their areas.