| Town Hall Medal Standings |
 |
 |
| Tuesday, 02 March 2010 10:08 |
 The Town Hall Meeting at the White Crystal Inn had what the RDKB officials stated as a very "surprisingly good turnout" despite the fact that some sporting event over in Lotus Land went and planned their opening ceremonies on the same evening. With approximately 40 local stakeholders in attendance the turnout can only suggest that people who care about the community are concerned and want to see change.If there is fresh snow on the slopes, and you want to get out there skip to the last 4 lines- otherwise, continue reading. Making the long journey from the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary office in Trail was Bill Baird (Area E Director), Theresa Lenardon (Executive Assistant), John Mclean (CAO RDKB), and Marguerite Rotvold (Midway Director and Board Chair). Once the opening ceremonies were complete, the event kicked off with a bounty of pie charts and graphs outlining the proposed spending for the next 5 years. John Mclean was the first up, and due to his thorough preparation and well done presentation along with the fact that there were no significant changes from past years (ahem), nobody choked on their pie charts. It was a tough call for our judges, but the Bronze Medal goes to the people who raised the question of what percentage of our tax dollars are actually used to create infrastructure and services on the mountain. The answer in a time of less than 00:02.345 seconds- more pie. As stated,the competition between Bronze and Silver was close, but we gave the Silver to the issue of medical services available on the hill. Several people in the meeting brought up their concerns about the fact that there is a significant number of people living on the hill for half of the year- most of which are participating in a sport that churns out injuries. The answer- they are doing everything they can, and if that's not enough we as a community should lobby the Interior Health Authority. There is a small number of year-round residents and they cannot justify having this infrastructure- not to mention that most of these people are visitors and have travel insurance to cover their medical costs. Hmm. Wouldn't that even make more sense to have the visitors insurance paying for the infrastructure rather than out tax dollars? An ambulance ride to Kelowna can't be cheap... And the Gold Medal went to the clear and well deserved winner- security on the hill. With what we figure was a mind numbing time of 1:03.547 spent discussing the subject it was determined that the community needs to speak with the RCMP liaison to determine exactly what coverage is currently actually happening. If it is then determined that the concerns are valid and that more representation is required we need to lobby the RCMP for whatever change is required. The RDKB representatives stated that there is a system in place (but apparently isn't monitored) whereby RCMP officers have been given free accommodation on the hill (provided by RDKB tax dollars) for three nights each weekend. On a volunteer basis, off-duty officers and their families are encouraged to come up for the weekend so that the officer can respond to calls at night. I can just picture this now- spouse in the front of the police cruiser, kids handcuffed securely in the back behind the plexi-glass, and snowboards/skis tied to the flashing lights on the roof rack heading up to the hill for a fun-filled weekend of skiing and drug busts! In summary, the meeting was skillfully executed and you could tell that the participants had prepared themselves well. It was stated by the RDKB representatives that Big White is not unlike other communities where they face the same issues, and due to the low number of year-round residents on the mountain things are unlikely to change unless the community gets together and lobbies for more. So that's it folks- it seemed at the meeting that if we want change we will have to get more involved by getting the community together. Gold Medal- Security- "Lobby the RCMP as a community" Silver Medal- Medical- "Lobby the IHA as a community" Bronze- Spending-"Not sure" followed by a large piece of pie with a flavour we couldn't quite put our finger on... |