Town boots water councillor

Photo: Colton Davies

The Town of Osoyoos is now in need of a by-election to replace one of its water councillors who was let go at Tuesday's council meeting for a lack of attendance. 

Kuldeep Dhaliwal was elected to the job in the fall for a four-year term. After missing a few meetings, he was formally warned that his attendance was required at meetings via a letter from the director of corporate services in January. 

Water councillors only attend one meeting per month, and they are automatically disqualified from holding office if they miss more than four in a row. Dhaliwal last attended a meeting on March 4, and missed the four subsequent meetings. 

Since Dhaliwal had three years left in his term, the town will now hold a by-election to replace, with more details to come at their July 15 meeting. 

In the meantime, they have started discussing possible changes as to how their water interests could be represented in the future. Currently, there are two water councillors on each of Oliver and Osoyoos' councils, tasked with representing the water users who live in the rural areas outside of the official town boundaries.

"[The order] which established the position of water councillor was developed in 1989 and is outdated in every way including reference to the Municipal Act where we are now governed by the Community Charter and Local Government Act, and the election section is no longer in compliance with the Local Government Act," reads a report from corporate services. 

Options under review include amending the current order-in-council to bring it up to date, beginning the process to become a district municipality by incorporating area served by the rural water district into its boundaries and asking the RDOS to create a service area for water district users.

Council agreed to send the RDOS a letter requesting the latter option, with the understanding that if they are in agreement, "staff approach the Province with a request to amend OIC 1870 as it relates to the Town of Osoyoos to eliminate Osoyoos’ need to continue with water councillors and instead permit the town to offer the water district services through an extraterritorial agreement with the RDOS."

The by-election will still go forward since "any of these options will take a considerable amount of time and discussions with the Ministry to put in place" and water councillors will still be needed in the meantime.