Okanagan Regional Library
One of the duties I have as the elected representative for Central Okanagan West is to represent both RDCO Electoral Areas on the Okanagan Regional Library (ORL) Board. As a lifelong user of the Library System it is an honour to be on this Board. I am amazed at the cooperation between the very diverse communities and regions that make up Okanagan Regional Library Board … a great group of people trying to make their communities better through their libraries.
Our latest ORL Board meeting was Wednesday November 16 2016 where policy, direction and budgetary issues were discussed. An important item for RDCO Electoral Areas is population count due to the budgetary implications that surround this number. It is my understanding and belief that past numbers have not been accurate but in fact greatly overestimated and therefore costly at tax time. Our numbers were recorded as high as 12,000 residents when I have not seen any evidence of numbers exceeding 6000. The populations given to me reflect much lower counts with Central Okanagan East at approximatly 3700+ and Central Okanagan West at 1900+! Note: Westbank First Nations are considered a part of Central Okanagan West for RDCO Board elections but provide separate funding to ORL based upon their population and assessments. These inaccurate population counts for EA West, EA East and WFN went unopposed by the EA representative for the entire period of his “representation” 2010 thru 2014 costing the residents tens if not hundreds of thousands in tax dollars. I questioned these numbers when first appointed to the ORL Board. After much due diligence the ORL Management and the RDCO Finance Department have reached an acceptable population total that is far closer to what I believe is our true population.
Other items we covered were the new ORL Strategic Plan and its roll out to the public and the system is was designed to provide direction for. We also discussed Commercial sponsorship, First Nations involvement, new and innovative programs (3D printers, green screens, audio booth …), as well as a new Branch in the shopping mall at the Westside Road traffic circle by the WFN Council Building. This new Branch will serve West Kelowna, WFN and EA West residents along Westside Road and offer an opportunity to provide an ORL Branch with a First Nations thyme and possibly First Nations local art and cultural artifacts for the public to view.
If you haven’t been to a Library lately maybe your next trip to town should include a stop at a local branch to see what a 21st Century Library looks and operates like. Beside the brick and morter libraries there is a whole new aspect in the e-books, audio books, Lynda.com and aids for those with reading or other pysical and learning disabilities. Check it out … you will be amazed at the resources available with your FREE library card. For more information go to the ORL Website.
Here is a link to a picture of the new Summerland Branch. summerland-libray-google-search