Mayor defends response to petition on crime

Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming spoke out during Tuesday’s council meeting to defend his response to a petition that was sent by a group of seniors regarding crime in the downtown core.

“I just think that it makes it really challenging. This came through, I saw it on my email on a Sunday and already councillors had responded to it.

“When we get a petition on a complex issue like this one I think it is really important that we respond as a council, not as individuals. I think that it is really critical, breeds the discipline and keeps council’s authority intact. It really undermines the decision making here if councillors start responding individually when they know it is a controversial issue,” Cumming said.

The response comes after Coun. Scott Anderson and Coun. Kari Gares visited a group of seniors at the McCulloch Court building last Wednesday following a petition stating that they are fed up about crime in their downtown neighbourhood.

Anderson told the mayor they opted to visit the seniors solely to hear their concerns.

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“These people are scared, they don’t send in something so that we can go through the format of two weeks to discuss it. They wanted to talk to someone right away. I offered to do that,” he said.

The petition was sent to council Aug. 23 and the mayor responded with a letter on Aug. 28, a few hours after Anderson and Gares met with the residents in person.

“Three business days, so it’s a pretty timely response,” former Mayor Akbal Mund said.

According to the Mund, the first email sent by the McCulloch Court residents was delivered on January 8. The email was then forwarded to bylaw and RCMP because of concerns about a nearby drug house that has since been shut down.

But Anderson stated more still needs to be done to address residents’ concerns about crime.

“I think at some point we cannot answer these calls for action with ‘We can’t do anything.’ It’s not part of our jurisdiction,” he said.

“That’s unacceptable. That’s not why we we’re elected so we could just pass the buck and say ‘Oh talk to them,’’’ he said.

Anderson put forward a motion to write a letter to advocate for more treatment funding, but he later withdrew his motion after Coun. Quiring stated his motion sounded contradictory, and would prefer waiting until they get their stories straight.