Alan Whitman, director candidate, Area”D”
1. What are the top three priorities for your area, as you see it, that you will need to address as regional district director in the next three years?
To work for the extension of sewer service to communities along Skaha Lake (which will also benefit Okanagan Falls by spreading the operating costs of the wastewater treatment plant amongst more taxpayers), to lobby provincial cabinet ministers to make Fortis move its ugly powerline out of sight, and to have the RDOS require an effective proof of water before rezoning proposals are approved at vulnerable upland aquifers.
2. The regional district currently spends $12,000 on food and beverages provided to board directors during their 28 meetings per year. Regional bylaws allow for up to $40 per director to be spent on food / beverages per each meeting.
In view of the tight economic times, and noting that the private sector has undergone similar reductions, would you be willing to entertain a recommendation to regional district staff to look at reducing this budget item in 2012 as your collective contibution to reducing the burden on taxpayers?
Yes, I would. I almost never spend more than $12 on lunch myself, so I agree that the lunches provided at RDOS Board meetings are extravagant.
3. What is the most important factor - your main reason - in your decision to run for area director?
In August, 2010 there was an attempt to raise taxes through the Alternative Approval Process in Okanagan Falls, Skaha Estates, Lakeshore Highlands, and Heritage Hills during high summer when almost nobody is paying close attention to politics. Volunteers had to go door to door in the mid-summer heat to collect enough signatures to force a democratic referendum. If I am elected director, I will ensure that any proposal that would require a significant property tax increase will be decided by the taxpayers through a referendum. There will not be any more attempts to raise taxes through the Alternative Approval Process in Area “D.”