In our town the local government has moved far away from its original mandate: to provide services such as clean drinking water, sewage, road maintenance and the like with our tax dollars. Now municipal government has greatly compromised this mandate in order to enter into private business, and this is NOT the purpose of a municipal government.
The Chief Administrative Officer of our town tells the mayor what to do. When we complain to the province we are repeatedly told to “trust the people we voted in.” However, they have done nothing whatsoever to earn that trust, and have in fact done many things which prove to us they should not be trusted.
Locally we have the same problem many other towns and cities in BC have: arsenic in the drinking water. There’s a provincial act – the Drinking Water Protection Act – which is supposed to protect citizens against harmful substances in drinking water. I have learned that this act has no teeth. The DWPA states that quarterly testing must be done if arsenic levels are above the ‘safe’ level, which is .01 mg/litre. Even at that level there is plenty of evidence that minute levels of arsenic can be detrimental to health. There is no ‘safe’ level of arsenic when it comes to consumption, and cooking with arsenic water increases its toxicity by over 200%.
There have been many times when the town’s drinking water has exceeded the maximum allowable concentrations of arsenic, yet the town hasn’t gone to quarterly testing, nor have they attempted to access safer water sources, even though we are surrounded by good surface water, tested to show there is no arsenic. Although citizens have complained many times to the provincial government as well as the health department, no action has been taken to rectify this outrageous oversight.
As well, we have a sewage treatment plant that has never worked properly, even though our local government has repeatedly told us that it is working just fine. If this is so, the taxpayers would like to know why sludge from this plant is being trucked out of there, several miles away for disposal several times a day.
We have huge potholes in our local streets which are not being fixed, and roads which never get ploughed in the winter, and turn into ice. Yet when we inquire about these services we are told that all is well. They’ll get fixed, or, in the case of the sewage treatment plant – it is working well.
Local government employees receive huge salaries and benefit packages which are way out of line with this tiny tax base, and would be more appropriate for a large city such as Vancouver. We simply can’t afford or sustain this, and we worry about what will happen eventually.
In the meantime, our government, led by a power-crazed CAO, has been involved in investing our tax dollars in risky business ventures without showing us – the taxpayers – any sort of business plan. If a bank won’t finance the venture, why would the taxpayers – especially since government has no mandate to create private enterprises.
We are told that the reason this government is risking our tax dollars is because they’re trying to create employment in this small town which has had two mill closures and there are many out of work. It is their job to create the support needed for business to move in and to make the town more attractive to business. It is NOT their job to create the business itself. This is a misguided attempt to create enough money for the outrageous salaries at our city hall I would guess. Our tax base can’t support them, so they’ve been existing on grant money.
While I’m on the subject of business support, there is very little of that here. Unwilling to spend tax dollars where it is needed – in improving services so the town is more attractive to potential businesses – they have also cut off services they used to provide, such as garbage pick-up. In a tiny town such as ours, they were told that the reason they were cut off is because businesses exist to make money, so they can now provide their own garbage service. It is difficult for small businesses to stay afloat in this economy, so any support at all is helpful.
Our Chamber of Commerce holds their meetings in the District offices. Frequently staff members sit in and listen to proceedings. This is unfair and not at all correct. C of C meetings should be for private entrepreneurs, not local government. How can they discuss problems with local government when staff is allowed to come in and comment? There are times when discussion is needed on topics which may not be suitable for government staff to hear.
Many of the citizens of our town have been cowed by veiled threats from the CAO when they bring concerns forward. The officials we thought we elected don’t seem to be running this town at all. They listen to the CAO who seems to tell them what to do, how to vote in council, and decides matters which should be dealt with using a committee of council, or a variance committee. This person has far too much power.
When our little group of Ratepayers talks to other Ratepayer groups around the province, we learn that many other towns have the same problems. What in hell is going on? What happened to our system of democracy?
I think a great deal of the problem is that many people aren’t paying attention. In that case, there will always be those who take advantage. It’s rather like hiring someone to manage all your money, and then finding out later it’s all gone. We must make an effort to pay attention – go to meetings, ask questions before we wake up and find out we have no freedoms left.
