Where did the info come from?
The Gazette report on the Mesachie Lake community meeting is not quite the true story. Yes, half of those who took the “informal poll” voted they wanted to continue the Volunteer Fire department as reported. I was one of those who chose the least distasteful of the options provided.
What is not mentioned in the story is that many residents refused to vote because none of the options were acceptable to them, and they did not trust the CVRD staff to use the poll as informally as promised. Evidently they were right and I was wrong.
As an owner of two properties in Mesachie Lake this is a matter that affects me personally, and I take exception to being misled by people who should know better. The CVRD board should consider this a matter touching their reputations and honour. I suggest their first recourse should be to arrange a further public meeting to allow the ratepayers to express their opinions without being bound by a limited number of choices or deceived by promises of informality. They should also attend themselves rather than let the staff interpret the results for them.
The truth is that a significant majority of the persons present at the first meeting were against closing the Mesachie Lake VFD, which has been and remains a vital part of our community, despite the bleak financial picture provided by staff that is obviously a worst case scenario designed to help we citizens arrive at the decision we are supposed to make. Failure to include the clearly expressed dissent of those who refused to participate in the poll makes me wonder where the Gazette got its information.
David Lowther
Mesachie Lake