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Building long term relationship

City and Band discuss lakefront

Jun 10, 2019 | 5:55 AM

Vernon’s mayor is optimistic the city and Okanagan Indian Band can make progress on areas of mutual interest.

Victor Cumming and members of his council met Friday with band council members, and a key topic was shared areas of interest along Okanagan Lake.

“We are building a long term relationship with them, and this is part of that process. We meet with them and discuss joint issues,” Cumming told Vernon Matters.

Cumming says they were able to talk about water, sewer and roads on Lakeshore Road, part of which is reserve land.

He is hopeful an agreement on maintenance of Kin Beach can be reached before the tourism season.

“We hope to have some resolution on that fairly quickly.”

The mayor describes the relationship with the band as “really good.”

“I think the past council set some formal relationship strengths, and it’s done nothing but get better as both councils have gotten accustomed to meeting with each another, and senior staff have gotten the opportunity to work side by side,” Cumming added.

Vernon Matters has reached out to OKIB Chief Byron Louis for comment on the meeting.

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