School trustee boundary issue resurfaces again

The ball has been bounced back into the Central Okanagan Board of Education’s court as trustees are being asked to finally resolve the matter of electoral boundaries on the Westside.

After a 21-month delay in dealing with the issue, West Kelowna council voted last week to write to the board, asking trustees to follow through with a Feb. 13, 2008 motion, in which they agreed to amalgamate the two school district electoral areas on the Westside.

Trustees had originally hoped to have the matter resolved in time for last November’s civic election. But the process was stalled because former education minister Shirley Bond appointed a fact finder to review the district’s electoral boundary review process before any changes were made.

That review process, which was headed by former superintendent of schools Gary Graf, began in September 2008 and was expected to conclude by Oct. 1 this year.

Having received no update since the fact finder’s review began, the council wrote current Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid June 24, seeking insight into the process.

MacDiarmid responded, explaining she has placed the matter back in the hands of the Central Okanagan Board of Education.

“I have asked board members to advise me in due course if they wish to proceed with a request to change the electoral boundaries.

After hearing that, Coun. Duane Ophus asked council to write to trustees, encouraging them to settle the matter, by following through with their February 2008 decision.

“It’s just something we don’t want to lose sight of. We don’t want to drop the ball,” said Ophus. “If we don’t keep this process moving, it will not be resolved in time for the next election, which is not appropriate. The ball has been bouncing around a little bit, but the ball is now back in their (the trustees’) court.”

The next civic elections are scheduled for November 2011.

West Kelowna council supports the trustee boundary change for good reason, according to Ophus. Currently one trustee represents 5,300 people in Peachland. The second Westside trustee represents 37,000 voters in West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation and the Central Okanagan West electoral area.

The representation is archaic, said Ophus.

“It is not democratic to have one trustee representing a huge number of people and another trustee representing such a small number of people. Times have clearly changed since these (trustee) boundaries were set up and it’s time to do something about it.”

If two trustees were elected at large, it would ensure the entire Westside population of more than 42,000 was equally represented, with each trustee having about 21,000 constituents.

By comparison, each trustee in Kelowna represents about 30,000 people and the Lake Country/Central Okanagan East trustee represents about 15,000.

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