Councils focus on the big picture

Penticton and three other Okanagan communities are creating a new framework to address regional issues.

Council Monday approved a bylaw to formalize relations with Kelowna, Westside and Vernon under an agreement to address issues like affordable housing, global warming and sustainable development.

Penticton Mayor Jake Kimberley said the agreement will help the four communities address issues beyond their respective borders in co-operation without creating a new and expensive level of government.

The agreement will establish an inter-municipal advisory board made up of the four mayors and chief administrative officers.

Kimberley said it does not make sense for individual communities to duplicate their efforts in finding solutions to problems with causes and consequences outside their city limits.

“We are often looking for solutions to the same problems,” said Kimberley.

Kelowna Mayor Sharon Shepherd said this “ground-breaking” agreement will help citizens in all four communities through the fair sharing of skills, energy and knowledge.

“With these bylaws and agreements, we have built the framework we need to move forward on these regional concerns with the most common sense, working together and not separately, towards these common goals,” said Westside Mayor Rosalind Neis.

Work on the agreement dates back several months and comes after an attempt to reform regional governance failed.

A task force comprised of members from the regional districts recommended the creation of either a single regional district or preserving the three existing districts with special authorities looking over matters like water, air and transportation.

But the provincial government eventually decided against making changes to the regional governance structures after months of bitter, often fractious debate between representatives from smaller communities on one side and the larger ones on the other.

Observers said the review actually exposed growing gaps between the smaller, rural communities at the edges of the region and the larger, urban areas — a charge which the mayors from the four larger communities are quick to counter.

Vernon Mayor Wayne Lippert said the agreement is flexible.

“We have agreed to ensure that partners can withdraw, that other municipalities can join and that more subjects of concern can be added,” he said. “The goal is to make these agreements as mutually beneficial as possible.”