There are some real problems with the upcoming Aquatic Centre Referendum. They mostly revolve around patience.
An Aquatic Centre Committee was set up. The people on this committee are people...not part of some conspiracy, not hiding the truth, but true representatives from every demographic. Only two people on this committee are retired. The rest are working folk. These people sit on other committees, belong to other groups, have families and their own lives to deal with as well. They are not the enemy, but rather volunteers who believe in democracy and the chance for a community to maybe have an Aquatic Centre through democracy.
A good portion of the members have put huge amounts of time into listening to residents concerns, questions, ideas and input. No idea has been dismissed. Comments on Facebook have been discussed in meetings. This input has been the basis for further clarification and revisions in the information booklets. Members are doing their best to answer the many questions. Some of these questions have shown that things in the booklet needed to be explained better in a different way. Other questions have made members roll up their sleeves a little further.
Committee members, the RDOS and their consultants have had to dig deep to clearly and concisely answer. Not unlike real life, there have been some glitches. Some parts of the information have been awkward and just plain wrong only to be changed to follow the latest provincial rules which seem to be in a constant flow of change. The whole process has been time consuming.
Some members have had people showing up at their workplaces and at their homes without warning to talk Aquatic Centre. They have talked with people on the street, in Coopers, and at events. They have held emergency meetings and spent time considerately and conscientiously returning emails.
Now, here in the final days, all sorts of personal attacks are being made that people don’t know who these members are, that they aren’t doing their job, that they are just a bunch of cheerleaders. With six weeks to go, these “lazy louts” see a long hard road ahead to dispell all the innuendo out there. So far, members of the committee have been in the Racing Days parade, at the grounds during the races, at the museum opening, at Tulameen Days and at the A&W Show and Shine. Now they are gearing up to visit with the small rural communities they have not yet hit, all on their own time - time away from their families because they believe that the Aquatic Centre is worthy of a fair chance. If they can give up so much of their time, maybe the community, rural and municipal, can give up a little bit of theirs to listen too.