All needs important, says mayor, when evaluating Sonora Centre request
By ROY WOOD
Mayor Sue McKortoff has a message for everyone anxious for a decision on turning the Sonora Centre over to the Osoyoos Independent School (OIS) committee: It’s complicated, but we’re working on it.
During her regular report at the end of Monday’s council meeting, the mayor addressed questions many people have asked about the request from the OIS group for the town to give them the second floor of the recreation centre for use as a high school campus.
“We are happy to support the people of Osoyoos, but we need to support all of the people in town and not just small groups … so we have to be very careful to look at all sides of the issue,” she said.
“So, it does take time and it takes careful consideration. But believe me, we’re all trying to do what’s best for the town.”
In an interview later, the mayor said: “We’ve had several phone calls … several people coming in, wondering why it would be so difficult to donate the top floor of the Sonora Centre to an independent school.”
But not all the input has been in favour of the proposal. “We’ve also had lots of emails from people saying, ‘don’t you even consider allowing the independent school top go there. That’s a community centre. You’re going to take away programs,’” she said.
“Whatever we do is going to be difficult for some people,” said the mayor. “We can’t please everybody and so I just kind of wanted people to know that this is not something we take lightly. But we need to look at all the angles here. …
“People assume, when they don’t know all of the issues involved, that it should be an easy decision. … But we can’t (decide) without considering all of our residents and doing what’s in the Community Charter and the Local Government Act. We have to follow those rules,” she said.
The OIS committee is seeking use of the Sonora Centre plus financial help from the town. It is working toward a partnership agreement with Good Shepherd Christian School that would create the independent high school to replace the soon-to-be-closed Osoyoos Secondary.
McKortoff said the town has not had a response from the committee regarding several requirements the town has before it will entertain providing resources to the independent school.
They include:
- an outline of the governance structure;
- a description of proposed educational services;
- operations and administrative structures;
- clarification of the role of faith-based curriculum
- identification of the needed requirements from the town;
- specific facility sites and requirements;
- the numbers of committed students; and
- a timeframe.
McKortoff said the town also hasn’t heard from the school district about the town’s request to begin negotiations to rent the old high school building.