Pubdate: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 Source: Penticton Western (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 Penticton Western Contact: http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1310 MAYOR FORESEES SAVINGS THROUGH COLLABORATION An agreement between the City of Penticton and three other Okanagan municipalities will save the city thousands of dollars said Mayor Jake Kimberley. The municipalities of Vernon, Kelowna, Westside and Penticton will begin to work collaboratively on bylaws and projects through the Intermunicipal Services Agreement. The intention is to enact the same bylaws in all four municipalities to ensure the same rules apply in the jurisdictions and to save the communities money by joining forces to write the bylaws. The municipalities each enacted identical bylaws enabling them to work together in September, called the intermunicipal bylaw. "Those draft bylaws and bylaws to be adopted by legal council can cost a considerable amount of money, and as I gave an example of the intermunicipal bylaw, alone it cost $12,000 in legal fees, and that of course is being split by four municipalities. "So, Penticton only pays $3,000 and we save ourselves $9,000 on that one bylaw so it is a huge savings that we will have for the future by collectively working together," said Kimberley. On Oct. 10, the mayors and chief administrative officers of the four Okanagan municipalities met to prioritize bylaws and projects to focus on over the next year. This includes the development of a good neighbour bylaw, a drug bylaw and a scrap metal bylaw. The good neighbour bylaw which was introduced in Vernon is intended to take into account noise, unsightly premises and nuisance concerns. "This is one bylaw that will protect the neighbourhood and allow the neighbourhood to put forward the complaints to city hall and be investigated all under one bylaw which means we could eliminate, I think, about five bylaws and put it under one," said Kimberley. A drug bylaw would establish a consistent approach to handling residential drug operations. This could allow the municipalities to charge property owners for all emergency service personnel and cleanup costs linked to illegal residential narcotic operations. It also enables fire and inspection officials to revoke occupancy permits and shut off power and water until the building is free of drug infrastructure. The scrap metal bylaw is expected to regulate the sale of scrap metal, eliminating the inter-jurisdictional competitiveness that can currently occur. The municipalities also have initiated a joint purchasing project to get as much benefit from bulk purchasing as possible from office paper to machinery. Providing benefits to employees is also an avenue being explored through joint delivery with the expectation of cost-savings. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom