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LETTER: Elect candidates who want to serve

Role on council should be about service to the community
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Dear Editor:

Where has the honour of serving gone?

As a successful businessman, my goal always was to help my community when I was on councils. At no time was it to benefit financially or get free health and dental benefits like many politicians today.

It seems like not a week goes by where councils here in the valley are figuring out how to fleece the taxpayers for more money via salaries and benefits. They say that they are doing it for others who need the money. Right. How many get re-elected so they can reap these new benefits?

Serving on councils or regional boards in the past was about doing your part to help the community: give back, be a sounding board for staff, interact with the public, and resolve issues.

When the issue of compensation came up in the past for me, we always put it off because to those of us leading, we were not in it for financial gain, but to help the community.

Councils are supposed to focus on the three Rs but increasingly, especially in Summerland, they focus on all their progressive left-wing ideals like money-losing solar batteries and more and more studies.

Real estate – Rezonings and planning to take care of who is here, who is born here and who wants to come here. For 3.5 years, it has not been a focus and now, with an election coming, they are happy to speed things up.

Roads — In Summerland, we have some of the worst roads in the valley. Council would rather grant themselves a pay raise and benefits before fixing the roads.

Recreation — A few things have been done, but many issues remain. A popular trail on Peach Orchard Road has been impassable and off-limits since flooding in 2017 and 2018.

Many councils seem to be focusing on anything but the three Rs. They focus on diversity, inclusivity, and equity issues over helping taxpayers. They focus on nice-sounding proclamations and make lousy business decisions.

If you are planning to run and are not willing to cut the money and benefits that you would receive, then maybe you should not be on the council.

There are two types of people: those that do and those that don’t. Right now, we have a lot of people who don’t do anything but think they are worth way more than they really are.

Say no to candidates who want more money and don’t know about running a business. Let’s elect people who want to serve the community and not themselves.

Ron Kubek

Summerland

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