The issue:
Facilities Referendum
WE SAY:
Council listens and responds the right way to the vote
It's not easy to listen to a message you didn't want to hear. It's even harder to respond to that message in a positive manner and work for a solution.
That's why, in the wake of Saturday's "no" vote to the Public Amenity and Rec-reational Facilities referendum, we commend Mayor Ian Sutherland and 撸奶社区council for setting up a Citizen's Committee on Com-munity Facilities to find out what the public wants in new amenities and how the District of 撸奶社区should plan for them.
No doubt it's difficult for Sutherland and his fellow councillors who endorsed a "yes" vote in Saturday's referendum to take this step after what can only be called a resounding defeat. It would almost be understandable if they were to simply throw up their hands, say, "Forget it. We tried, but you didn't want facilities" and sulk.
But that's not what the voters were saying. Doubtless some of those who voted no either don't think 撸奶社区needs any more facilities or aren't willing to pay more in taxes to see them built.
But we maintain that many people who voted no on Saturday -the majority of them, even - voted no to council's plan because of the lack of full and concrete information available on what facilities would be built when and how much each would cost.
Douglas Day and Ron Anderson's citizen's committee will hopefully determine just what the public thinks 撸奶社区needs for new facilities, when it wants them and what it's willing to pay for. With that information in hand, council can move forward, do the planning required and bring forward concrete plans for a new vote - hopefully sooner rather than later. And we think, with that open consultation and more information provided to the public, they'll get their "yes".
We think this citizen committee's work will be extremely valuable and we hope it's put to good work. In fact, we're going to go one better than just praising it; we're going to put our money where our mouth is. In the interest of letting them reach the greatest number of people with this message, we are offering the District of 撸奶社区free advertising in The Chief for the committee's work to a maximum of $2,500, and we encourage our fellow media outlets to do the same.
In hindsight - the best sight an editorial ever has, sadly - it's a shame that this type of public consultation couldn't have taken place before the referendum process got started.
But it's better now than never.
