As a member of the Save Skaha Board, I read with great shock the mayor's response to SSPS having to file our lawsuit against the city.
To quote:
“We are still very optimistic that we can get some sort of resolution without going to court and get all the players to the starting line,” “Out of court resolutions are best for taxpayers.”
To respond: Where have you been Mayor Jakubeit? Why haven’t you got the players to the “starting line” in the last several months? The overwhelming public response to your signing the 29-year lease with Trio is when you have should have could have brought “all the players to the starting line.” This approach is what SSPS has been asking for since you signed the 29-year lease. Yes, the night hundreds of taxpayers were protesting the commercialization of this 100-year-old park outside city hall and you ignored them and put your pen to paper?
The SSPS board agree “out of court settlements are best for taxpayers.”
I can’t believe that you have finally recognized that? It’s the taxpayers, your employer, you and your council have forced to dig into their own pockets to fight your council’s decision to lease a 100-year-old public park in court.
Don’t ignore your employers anymore, tear up the 29-year lease agreement and suffer the political and financial consequences that you and your council brought upon yourselves. Yes, the night you thumbed your nose at us inside city hall, while hundreds of us were protesting outside in the street. Did you not hear us, no, you chose to ignore us! You have ignored your employers since that evening.
To find a solution rather than go before the court will save SSPS from having to raise more money to fight you and your council in the courts. But we the taxpayers, your employer will still be stuck with the legal costs to fight Trio’s possible claim for breach of contract against city hall.
What an insulting comment you have made against us, your employer, that after all these months of us all waiting for an answer from you, you now want to settle the issue that you created out of court. Please live up to your statement now, find a solution before your employers have you sitting before a judge.
Jake Kimberley, Penticton