(Following is a copy of a letter to North Cowichan Mayor and Council):
The process and means at which you are moving ahead the new RCMP building is wrong in so many ways. There is a better process than what you have done. Shameful.
So a group of citizens would like to send this message and some suggestions to council. It is not that we oppose a new RCMP building. We just want public input. The process has been flawed, undemocratic.
So here are some points so you may have a different message platform than emails from taxpayers.
Observations in seeking approval via AAP after the fact.
1. Why did North Cowichan Municipal council apparently lack the processes and technical staff capabilities to independently review the federal and provincial technical criteria required to incorporate into an RCMP detachment building and seek comparison with other recent, similar facilities across Canada of which there are many?
2. Why did council proceed to enter a contract, of unknown form and magnitude, as long ago as 2019 and allocate other substantial funds and resources to this project before seeking community approval?
3. Why did council not hold community information sessions before publicly seeking bids and competitively awarding contracts for design and later construction of a facility, best meeting the unique goals and preliminary budget restraints of North Cowichan, recognizing that it is the largest such expenditure in Municipal history?
4. Why not seek abandonment, or revision, of the current Fort St. John duplicate design and contracts until they meet all of the North Cowichan processes and standards set out in 1, 2 and 3 above before seeking approval by means of a referendum?
5. Why not seek, as far as possible, Vancouver Island sourced management, labour, materials and systems for construction of the building?
6. Why not follow similar procedures for the design and construction of our new community hospital?
This is far from over. Please consider the suggestions and work for the citizens of North Cowichan who will be paying for this.
Wallace Malay
Chemainus,