Reconsider costly boardroom upgrades
Dear CVRD board directors:
Our CVRD board is seemingly following the recent example of North Cowichan councillors misspending our precious tax dollars on projects of arguable importance.
The CVRD aims to spend about $420,000 — before possible overruns — on renovations and technological upgrades in our modern boardroom.
Details appeared in the April 25, 2024 Cowichan Citizen.
North Cowichan recently built a $500,000 washroom of questionable need in Chemainus’ Kin Park.
Most of the CVRD’s boardroom budget will revamp pre-COVID technology.
It will also stretch boardroom space for more directors expected to govern our growing region, and for First Nations’ leaders projected to sit at our current 15-member CVRD table.
Clearly, our CVRD must tell taxpayers the exact optics of these pricey upgrades, and why they are sorely needed.
How many more representatives are expected to govern Cowichan?
Why are high-tech upgrades needed, and what do they include? Do they save us money?
Will there be more space to seat citizens, plus reporters covering boardroom meetings?
Thrift, need and communication must guide CVRD spending. That logical goal was signalled by Shawnigan Lake Director Sierra Acton’s concerns about spending on a “nice-to-have” scenario, rather than bigger priorities. Those include solving our region’s water and sewage-treatment crises rising with every new resident.
Our CVRD has sadly spent decades ducking cogent concepts of Cowichan’s limits to growth. What is our population limit — or should we simply allow more toxic sprawl, as seen in Langford?
Regional directors must immediately start including population limits when budgeting. They can start by reconsidering boardroom upgrades.
Yours in smart spending,
Peter W. Rusland
North Cowichan