Editor
As many of you know, the [Skaha] marina has been a sore topic for quite some time now. I attended March 11th’s Parks and Rec special meeting. I heard Jim Bauer (CFO) of Penticton speak on how their legal department was able to get the wording changed from having an electoral vote on a long term lease with the marina by using the words ‘Community opinion.’
They changed the wording so no electoral vote would be needed. By using the words from long term leasing (25 years) to management operating agreement, it would change all that. It is with the same ending, corporation having long term use of this property, thus effectively changing it from publicly owned land to privately owned tenancy. But still in the event those words don’t work, they would consider using “companion licence of occupation.”
As for the marina, “ownership”, Jim admits they are still working on wording and how best to present it for the public to (swallow…my word) on the other hand, Angie Collison who is the city’s corporate officer said they already have on the by-election voting ballots to read “do you support the city of Penticton entering in to a long contractual arrangement,” but did wonder if the wording “entering a contractual arrangement “ would be confusing to the public.
So Jim is saying there is a lot of work yet to be done. Angie is saying it’s already on the voting by-election ballots? It seems they went ahead without public opinion after all.
So, residents of Penticton, here we go AGAIN, the city is trying to get a long term leasing operator by changing the wording. As they present their proposal asking you for your opinion, just read carefully how they’ve used their wording.It will be very tricky wording…they may say things like “do you support the city in the event of. If you are not sure what to do, just vote NO
Karen Brownlee
Penticton