West Kelowna’s vanity city hall

Dear Editor: Spending the money from a failed lottery win because you were one number off is just unethical. That is what this city council is doing with our taxpayer money. They lost two attempts to get voter approval for their city hall. It is now confirmed that they are purchasing land in a location that they want their city hall to be constructed. The taxpayer does not have any say in the location, the cost, or the spending of our tax dollars. This council can legally hide their vote on purchasing land and will come up with all sorts of excuses or rationale to complete their vanity project.

The city did receive a concept plan for a true civic centre at the city-owned Bartley Stevens 11-acre site. This site can accommodate a future new city hall, police station, central fire and emergency command centre, museum, civic centre ampitheater, city maintenance facility and works yard departments that increases works yard space by some 47,000 square feet (a 44 per cent increase).

This city council will not even consider this option. They want their vanity city hall in Westbank where for three years they have been giving developers DCC discount(s) of 50 per cent to build in Westbank. Forget the rest of West Kelowna because we will stay quiet and pay the other half of the DCC costs.

Now this city council has spent some $300,000 to have a consultant look at the Bartley Stevens Road site and make it into an excessive $5-million works yard that will include a building for the works yardrelated personnel. At the same time, they are looking to spend in excess of $1 million (probably $2 million) for equitably-sized land on which to place a city hall. What a waste of my tax dollars.

This Council and/or their associated partners may all be re-elected, which will enable them to do whatever their vanity empire needs. It is up to West Kelowna taxpayers to vote wisely in October. Donn Frederick

West Kelowna