CVRD board should be made to answer for Mesachie Fire decision
Every vote matters, and the voters need to know what the board at the CVRD has been doing. The present board made up of area directors and others from neighbouring municipalities have been working in camera or in secret this last year and I don’t believe it is in the best interest of the communities they represent.
The board, while elected, is essentially puppets of the staff at the CVRD. Meaning when they vote or make decisions that affect us as taxpayers they are only working off the information that the staff gives them. Remember that the staff at the CVRD are not voted in by you and their primary function is to protect their jobs and make it to retirement with a fat pension on your tax dollars.
As fire chief in Mesachie Lake, my deputy chief and I brought forward issues to John Elzinga concerning our treatment by senior staff and asked him for help. The result of that was staff presented information to the board and I believe manipulated the board to vote to fire us and close the Mesachie Lake Volunteer Fire/Rescue Service instead of looking at the issues and dealing with them. They fired the volunteers instead of dealing with staff. All the board members seeking re-election should be asked why they voted to do this without following CVRD discipline policies and also why they closed a fire department putting hundreds of taxpayers at risk. If they would do this to a community like Mesachie Lake, who are they going to do it to next?
During all of this Ian Morrison was nowhere to be found and as far as I’m concerned cares nothing about the community he represents. Remember that when Ian voted to shut down Mesachie Lake Volunteer Fire Rescue he put his own family at risk.
I asked the HR department to do a review of the decision and the board voted to not hear it. It must be nice to sit on a board governing thousands of people and make decisions in secret and then vote to keep it a secret and therefore protect themselves. There are people on the board that were not voted in by people being affected by these decisions and I believe that needs to change. Maybe we need a more local regional board made up of representatives of the Cowichan Lake area that would represent us better and break away from the CVRD. As a fire chief I never had the luxury of operating in secret, every move, decision, email and radio conversation was up for scrutiny and dissected after every call. I also received zero payment for any of the time I put in as a volunteer. Board members and staff are of course paid, yet they are not held to the same rigorous standards as a volunteer fire chief….. I also believe that there should be accountability on the part of the board and we as taxpayers should be able to see how they voted on all the issues, including the “secret” ones.
So, voters, as you go to the polls remember that your vote matters and ask questions of the people you are considering voting for. Remember that the staff at the CVRD and your future directors work for you, not the other way around. They need to show some testicular fortitude and be accountable for their actions, stop working in secret and look after the people they are being paid to represent.
Gary Eve
Mesachie Lake