No amalgamation please; we're Metchosin
Times Colonist letters
July 2, 2014
Re: “Amalgamation of region’s 13 municipalities could save millions in salary costs, proponents say,” June 30.
I live in Metchosin. It’s no secret that we have moats and portcullises and are considering having check points where people need to show that they meet residency requirements in order to come here. We are considering manning the pitchforks (yep, we still use them out here) and flaming torches to keep the pro-amalgamation people away from us as far as possible.
We don’t have a huge staff in our municipal hall — there are six full-time employees of the district plus the fire chief and a district maintenance person (who is also a volunteer firefighter). Our chief administrative officer is on contract and is not actually an employee.
We contract for bylaw enforcement, planning and policing; we don’t need an engineering department or a parks department.
Our elected officials receive a stipend from the district plus reimbursement of reasonable expenses when on municipal business. Our municipal budget carries no debt and we carry a surplus against the future needs of paying a larger share of policing when our population exceeds 5,000.
We in Metchosin do not carry our share of the exaggerated statistics of the article and since we are unlikely to ever benefit from amalgamation, we are not likely to vote for it. We don’t need expensive studies to show what we already know to be true.
We don’t need amalgamation — leave Metchosin out of the discussion, thank you very much.
Stephen Sawyer
Metchosin
© Copyright Times Colonist
Times Colonist letters
July 2, 2014
Re: “Amalgamation of region’s 13 municipalities could save millions in salary costs, proponents say,” June 30.
I live in Metchosin. It’s no secret that we have moats and portcullises and are considering having check points where people need to show that they meet residency requirements in order to come here. We are considering manning the pitchforks (yep, we still use them out here) and flaming torches to keep the pro-amalgamation people away from us as far as possible.
We don’t have a huge staff in our municipal hall — there are six full-time employees of the district plus the fire chief and a district maintenance person (who is also a volunteer firefighter). Our chief administrative officer is on contract and is not actually an employee.
We contract for bylaw enforcement, planning and policing; we don’t need an engineering department or a parks department.
Our elected officials receive a stipend from the district plus reimbursement of reasonable expenses when on municipal business. Our municipal budget carries no debt and we carry a surplus against the future needs of paying a larger share of policing when our population exceeds 5,000.
We in Metchosin do not carry our share of the exaggerated statistics of the article and since we are unlikely to ever benefit from amalgamation, we are not likely to vote for it. We don’t need expensive studies to show what we already know to be true.
We don’t need amalgamation — leave Metchosin out of the discussion, thank you very much.
Stephen Sawyer
Metchosin
© Copyright Times Colonist