Editor:
Over the last three-plus years, we have stayed silent and let the current council assume the responsibilities of working in the best interests of the residents of Sechelt.
However, the misinformation and fake news being spread by a few people oblige us to respond.
For today, we’ll focus on the Water Resource Centre (WRC):
1. The WRC was designed and built following best practices – in a process that is guided by the Community Charter and Local Government Act.
2. The results have been nothing short of extraordinary, resulting in the WRC receiving eight major industry awards.
a. Built at no cost to the general taxpayers of Sechelt (only sewer users pay – including repaying the debt).
b. Contrary to repeated misinformation, the WRC did not drain the reserves of the district. This was reconfirmed last week by the district’s independent auditors.
c. The WRC is functioning at an extraordinarily high level – the water going into the ocean from the WRC is probably cleaner than the ocean itself!
3. We understand staff have been directed to produce an analysis of the expected operating costs compared with the current actual costs for the WRC. We welcome this and ask that the report include a review of council’s decision to add an extraordinary amount of general management costs to the sewer user fees, as well as identify the impact of other issues related to staffing, training and oversight.
4. There are much larger volumes of chemicals being used than expected. We call on the district to get the industry experts back to Sechelt to help our operating staff reduce this waste.
We have always welcomed assessment of the results of our term as elected officials. We have much to be proud of and were honoured to have been able to serve and create a better Sechelt.
Chris Moore and Tom Lamb, Sechelt
