I have resided in the Village of Warfield since 1980. I am 63 years old and started to work at Cominco in 1970 served an apprenticeship as a steel fabricator and retired from Teck after 39 years of service. I was elected as councillor for a three-year term in the village from 1996 until 1999. In 1999 I made an unsuccessful bid for the position of mayor.
The number-one problem I see facing the Village of Warfield council is the lack of accountability and openness, the citizens are not being informed of the decisions of council in a timely manner.
The solution for this as I see it is to utilize the village web site much more than it has been. At this time the minutes of council are published on the web site months after the meeting, with very little detail. I believe the council meeting minutes should be published within a few days of the meeting and in great detail, complete with grievances and petitions presented at the meeting. The citizens deserve to know who says what at the council meetings. By doing this the issues that arise will be well known within the community and citizens can approach council with their input, not months after the fact. A glaring example of this is the recreation service agreement with the City of Trail. If this suggestion was to be implemented I think it would go a long way toward the citizens having more trust in their council and bring a degree of honour to the council itself.
One of the outstanding issues that need to be addressed is the management, staffing and maintenance of the Centennial Pool. This recreation facility has been upgraded with the addition of the Spray Park and slides and is truly a jewel in our community.
It is a real shame that the village could only operate it approximately 25 per cent of the time in 2013 followed by a late start in 2014 with inadequate staffing levels and many shutdowns over the season. This issue needs to be addressed to insure a full operating schedule for the 2015 season.