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[LRCrosby]

CORR:10 To: Mayor Neis and council members:

1. As your term in office draws to a close I welcome the claims of savings achieved during the past year. The reduced administration costs compared to those budgeted for CORD services shows cost advantages not identified or brought to the attention of the taxpayers prior to the incorporation referendum.

2. The immediate needs of the Fire department and administration services are well underway after years of waste and corruption. Title to the Lions Community Hall as previously outlined should occur and with the alternations made for temporary administration needs it could also provide public safety services for the time period needed to finalize all aspects of that service before informed decisions can be made about future needs.
Once again all the building and planning costs, incurred by CORD were a self serving unnecessary and unjustified action. Where were the people who were supposed to represent the Westside on the CORD board and why didn’t they inform the taxpayers of that fact? Other sites for public buildings can await absorption of the Irrigation District services and assets while looking for acquisition by purchase, appropriation or enlargement of existing or alternate sites to meet all the requirements for future administration services.

3. Identified priorities have not addressed in any substantive way the five principal outstanding issues brought to the attention of council both before and since assuming office. These involve recovering community assets such as the sewer plant from CORD administration along with its prized millions of annual DCC fees and CORD's exorbitant engineering fees which they retained when we divorced despite the fact that no other taxpayers under CORD jurisdiction (other than the Westside) provided direct taxation funds for this vital utility. Westside taxpayers have always dominated overall cost responsibility for the costs of this service and that will continue.
Other issues include contracted services to adjoining areas. The known facts are that thousands of local residents receiving the services do not pay anywhere near the same costs applied to Westside taxpayers and in some cases they pay nothing whatever for the services they receive. Unidentified CORD administrators must bear overall responsibility for that situation .
In the Mt. Boucherie arena 2003 issue, that ballooned from a 2.5 million arena to a 12.5 million taxpayer's nightmare, was, according to our elected representatives, to result in a public enquiry. Now years later on 17 Sept 08, we have the advocating society President being quoted in the press as saying "The Society wanted an independent review, but that got swept under the rug ". What have Mayor and Council done or prepared to do about it? Why are the public not being kept informed about this significant public scandal?

3. By the author's "confidential" classification for some letters submitted, that are hereby removed, I undertook to allow council sufficient time to make significant progress in dealing with these matters. I am very disappointed by the fact that the only response I received in mid year was to indicate that the Chief Financial Officer Saffino was asked to looking into a unspecified matter and would report to council "this fall". It appears that a year of valuable time and essential opportunities have been wasted while council dealt with a number of far more mundane matters. In fact the delay may have actively assisted in sweeping these events "under the rug" which rewards CORD for their actions of excluding information on public affairs from the public.
I request a meeting with any designated administrator to receive current information on the referenced outstanding issues involving those public affairs .

L. R. Crosby - 22 Sept 08
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Westside CAO Johnson replied by letter of 1 Oct 08 as follows; Thank you for your letter dated Sept 22, 2008 to Mayor Neis and council addressing a number of issues related to Westside District Municipality. As indicated in my letter to you dated July 9, 2008 you are welcome to contact the municipal office and set up an appointment with me or Jim Zaffino, our Chief Financial Officer by calling 707-2999. Your most recent correspondence has been forwarded to council for their review. (Ends) Sgd. By CAO Johnson.


POSTSCRIPT: 31 OCT 08. I was absent from the area until mid Oct when I did meet with Westside Financial Officer Zaffino. He only spoke of what he had been asked by council to do which is to recommended a form of contract to be used in providing a service. That will no doubt assist the process but will not provide confirmation of all the facts and circumstances that exist in each of the very different situations. It is essential to complete the investigation in order to enable anyone to make an fully informed decision on the best course of action to resolve the issues and thereby "serve" the community. A sample contract will not necessarily be considered by CORD if they are allowed to continue to provide and administer the sewer contract with WFN or Peachland. WFN residents were given access to the J/B Acquatic centre by CORD for practically nothing for the next fifteen years with the large operating costs being born by Westside taxpayers only .
Westside administrators to date have accepted that situation without investigating or verifying all the facts or sharing a fully substantiated legal opinion with the taxpayers. Mr. Zaffino was tasked to describe what should be considered to determine the "actual cost" of a service provided to an adjoining area but at present that has limited application to the Fire Service only with the remaining issues apparently being ignored.
On the matter of investigative help; Zaffino said the cost had not been authorized. Nor did he express the opinion that it would help his assigned task. That matter will be drawn to the attention of council in due course.
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L. R. Crosby