Herb Haldane’s letter in the March 21 edition is remarkable on a number of levels.
The revelation of how much the five-year EPCOR contract is really going to cost Sooke taxpayers.It could have been a one-year contract thus allowing the incoming council to attempt to negotiate more favourable terms or even a different management model. The reality is that taxpayers have been handcuffed for five years by the outgoing administration who chose to thumb their noses at the community.
Equally remarkable is the further revelation that senior district staff and Councillor Maja Tait attended a farewell party for the outgoing EPCOR manager.
It emerges that none of the newly elected councillors or the mayor, with the exception of Tait, were invited. A clearer sign of hostility and favouritism is most difficult to conceive.
That tells us a lot about the political acuity of Councillor Tait. Did she not realize the optics of how this would play out in the community? She has irrevocably tied herself to an initiative that was soundly rejected by Sooke taxpayers as, indeed, have senior staff. Impartiality is an unknown to this group.
D.R. Matland
Sooke