Just one Vernon resident spoke during the city's budget public input session

Photo: Contributed

Dawn Tucker addresses Vernon city council at Monday's special meeting

Vernon city council held two public input sessions for its 2025 budget and just one resident took part.

Community advocate Dawn Tucker took to the podium during Monday’s special meeting to voice both their own thoughts as well as opinions they’ve seen from the community. Tucker runs the Vernon & Area Political Discussion Forum on Facebook where residents routinely discuss policies.

Tucker began their input to council by reminding elected officials and city staff of their duty to citizens – saying residents have felt last on council’s list, not first.

“I'm still seeing a lot of complaints from residents when it comes to communication – either a lack of response when it comes to communication from council than when it comes from staff,” said Tucker.

Tucker brought up a number of concerns, including a continued lack of staffing at the city, no follow-up in pilot projects and long-delays on projects.

Capital projects were also top of mind for Tucker.

“When we're talking about capital projects as well, we need to remember that residents live in these areas where these capital projects occur,” Tucker reminded council, before encouraging more than 30 days notice be given before projects begin.

“It might actually be nice to go and speak with the residents – because we know that these projects are happening one year, two years out, or so on – and talk to the residents that these are going to affect a lot sooner before they start and talk to the residents about the impacts of these projects.”

Other issues raised included a lack of protection for murals, parking being removed from the downtown, and a need for better campaigns to keep the public informed of city going-ons.

Tucker also touched on a need to invest in parks now, rather than “kick things down the road.”

“We can't just keep adding lots of extra trails, because we need to buy them now," said Tucker. "We have to maintain what we have for people to be able to use. Not everybody uses trails, a lot of families use parks and those parks need to be maintained. And I think it's important that we start investing in them and maintaining what we have."

Tucker also thanked council and staff for all of their hard work on the budget.

Public input provides residents a chance to share their thoughts with city council, they're intended to help council make informed decisions.

The entirety of Tucker's public input can be watched online, they begin speaking at one hour 43 minutes, and again at five hours 40 minutes.