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District suffers disconnect on deadline

Resident challenges municipal government on sewer connect deadline.

It has been brought to my attention that it is the intention of the District of Sicamous to coerce the citizens of the District of Sicamous to connect to the sanitary sewer system by November 2015.

A large proportion of the population of the District are senior citizens on a very limited income and a sanitary sewer system hookup cost will cause a severe financial hardship. I would therefore request that a sanitary sewer hook-up be postponed until a sale of the home or change of ownership takes place or a septic system failure occurs.

At least one phase of the sanitary sewer system was voted on by the rate payers affected, however the vote (referendum) was so undemocratic and on such a short notice and during the winter months and with so many conditions for a no vote to succeed, that it was meaningless. The results of the referendum, I was given to understand, were there were 118 nay votes and we never learned how many yes votes there were, if any. In a true democracy that voting proposal would have been defeated and/or the vote would never have been held in that matter.

I would also remind the mayor and council that we live in a democracy and the principles of a democracy should be strictly adhered to if the sacrifices made by our veterans are to be of any value.

I would also like to direct the attention of the mayor and council to the deplorable conditions of our streets. Don’t you people have any pride? I realize that to repair the street surfaces properly is not very glamorous, but it is definitely and desperately needed if we are to avoid being classed as a third-world-country hick town. It also reflects very negatively on the image of the mayor and council and the image of the town.

And finally, the hefty pay raise you gave yourself very shortly after the election was not a mentioned plank in your election platform. Before you decided to run for office the pay scales for mayor and councillors, I am sure you were aware of, and in my opinion were generous. Should you at that time have felt that the pay scales were not adequate you should not have run for office or you should have advised the electors (the taxpayers) of your intention to raise your own pay which might have had the effect of a different outcome of the vote. Your brand of democracy leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

If you get the feeling that I am totally ticked off by your actions or inactions, you are right.

Nick J. Verburg