SUMMERLAND REVIEW THE VOICE OF OUR COMMUNITY SINCE 1908
VOLUME
66
-
ISSUE
NO.
17
•
S U M M E R L A N D,
WWW.SUMMERLANDREVIEW.COM
B.C.
•
T H U R S D AY,
APRIL
25,
2013
WHAT’S INSIDE:
Electric vehicles
Summerland’s electric vehicle charging stations were officially unveiled on Friday.
Election time
Page 7
Drama festival
Summerland will host the 13th annual Good Will Shakespeare festival next month.
Page 8
Out of Africa
Four Summerlanders spent time in Mozambique providing instruction in trades work.
Page 13
Court petition
YOUR SMILE A thief fell into some wet cement. Police are looking for a hardened criminal.
PA G E S
•
$1.15
Creative effort
Carla McLeod Special to the Summerland Review
Lachlan Meadow creates a piece of artwork while attending the Imagination Station at the Art Gallery on Saturday during Earth Week. For more Earth Week pictures, please see Page 10.
INCLUDING
tronics, propane tanks, batteries, clean scrap metal, as well as yard and wood waste. There is also an oil drop off site for oil, oil containers, and oil filters. Bylaw enforcement officer, Gary Ellis said he gets
The hills of Summerland are alive with the sight “If we catch someone, of garbage. While many charges can be laid.” Gary Ellis people united on Earth Day to promote respect for about a half a dozen dumpthe earth’s environmen, ing complaints each year. others are choosing to Often people are dumping scar the natural habitat far enough off the road so by dumping unsightly as not to be seen. “If we catch someone, loads of garbage in the charges can be laid,” he hills around town. One of the favourite said. In some cases people dumping sites is in the will dump their belonghillsides west of Sum- ings and then leave the merland, only a short dis- province, he added. In the past the town tance from the landfill. has put in ditches to keep Some have suggested that this behaviour is due people out of the area, to the fees involved for Ellis explained, but that using the landfill, but has not worked as many many of the items being residents use the area for illegally dumped are recreation and soon the accepted at the landfill at ditches have been driven through so often that they no charge. Such recyclable items are no longer effective. include appliances, elec- See ORGANIZATIONS Page 2
911 service changes proposed by John Arendt
The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen is considering an upgrade to its 911 system which could leave Summerland paying more for a lower quality of service. The service change has been suggested to benefit smaller communities within the regional district. The cost of the service change is $.164 million. Coun. Bruce Hallquist who represents the municipality at the regional district, said the proposal,
if approved, would mean Summerland would no longer have a direct 911 emergency link to Kelowna. Instead, the service would be like a party line, serving multiple communities instead of a dedicated line to Summerland. He added that the change will not affect those calling for 911 service, but it will affect the fire department. “It’s going to be quite the downgrade in service,” he said. “Why should we be going backward?”
In addition, the municipality would have to pay $230,000 over a 10-year period, or $23,000 a year, as its share of the project. The service change has been raised at the regional district level because some of the smaller communities have not kept up with improvements to their fire departments. The change would raise the level of communications for them and for the regional district’s fire department, which serves smaller communities and outlying areas.
GST
Garbage dumped illegally by Carla McLeod
Four candidates have put their names forward for the riding of Penticton in the upcoming provincial election.
Page 15
20
Numerous complaints received about dumping
Page 3
A Summerland athlete is circulating a petition for a basketball court.
•
Municipal administrator Tom Day said municipal representatives met with regional district senior staff recently to outline the fire department’s concerns about the proposed change. “We’re really pleased with the service right now,” he said. “We don’t want to see it going backwards.” Hallquist said a second option had also been suggested, but at a higher cost. To determine if there is voter support to borrow the $1.64 million needed
for the service change, the regional district is using the alternate approval process. If 10 per cent of the voters in the regional district sign a petition opposing the proposed funding, the regional district board would be required to go to a referendum. There are roughly 68,640 eligible voters in the regional district, so 6,864 signatures would be required. A copy of the petition will be available at the municipality.