Tom Dyas and his views on irrigation districts

[Chessman]

I have written about this Tom wanna be politician Dyas before but now for sure you have to ask yourself ...is he clueless about the issues and solutions needed for Kelowna? I watched an interview with Tom wanna be politican Dyas on Castanet.net about what he thought were the major issues of focus needed as Mayor of Kelowna. His first stated need was addressing safety/homelessness/crime in the downtown. It was more blah, blah, blah..and how about his rather limited vocabulary ( uses same word tracks over and over ) ? How long before the people of Kelowna tune him out ? He is short on details around what he will do to solve the crime issue and his oversimplification of the subject is unnerving and makes you question if he is just trying to parrot the briefing notes given to him by his handlers?

So now let’s move to the subject of water. Kelowna has the ridiculous number of 5 self governing bodies that supply water to the 150,000ish people that reside in the City I love and have lived in all my life. Mayor Basran and Council have been working to address this incrediblely expensive redundancy that Kelowna has dealt with for generations. It costs an extra $500,000 to $1,000,000 per year (at a minimum ) for these 4 water districts and the City to provide varying levels of water quality to its citizens. Where I live we still suffer from boil water advisory’s every year and have for almost every year of my 50+ years. So do most of if not all of the other 3 water districts . Each of the 4 water boards/districts have there own paid trustees ( each trustee costs the taxpayers approx $20,000/year). So we pay more than we should for water and get water quality that is less than it should be , substantially less than it should be .
Tom wanna be politican Dyas says we should leave the system the way it has been...” it works “ ..to quote him.
What is he nuts ? Spend a $million more than we have to and get water quality that is unacceptable? And he wants to leave it as it is????
Tom wanna be politican Dyas’s justifies his reopening this subject because he talked with the Water Board’s Trustees. Or..perhaps could it be because it is something Basran wanted? Does it sound like Trumps cutting and dismantling anything Obama created strategy?
What about talking to the citizens of Kelowna ? No ,Tom only talks with the paid administration of these Boards.. Remember these Trustees get paid and we have 20 Trustees costing at least $20,000 per year for each of them ....but Tom wanna be politican Dyas can’t see the forest for the trees and is listening to his paid buddies and not to the needs of the citizens. The staff of the City of Kelowna should be managing these water districts along with the water system they already manage.

How can anyone vote for someone so ill-informed?

Basran was on the right track to address this issue for Kelowna Citizens. Tom wanna be politican Dyas says he wants to keep the 5 organizations managing water as a priority for him as Mayor. Vote Basran not Tom wanna be politcan Dyas.

Perhaps Tom “the developer” should try to get a waterslide built in Penticton ? Oops ...he failed at that the first time!

[XT225]

Basran was on the right track to address this issue for Kelowna Citizens. Tom wanna be politican Dyas says he wants to keep the 5 organizations managing water as a priority for him as Mayor. Vote Basran not Tom wanna be politcan Dyas.

Perhaps Tom the developer should try to get another waterslide built in Penticton ?

Oh, pullleeeze do not send ol Tom back down to Penticton. We have had quite enough of him and his waterslide fiasco. Both him and Jakebeit have to get gone.

[Giardinera1]

It had everything to do with the fact his old pal Jim Csek is a stakeholder in Rutland Waterworks. I can't find out what that means financially - on their website he's listed as "administrator" but rumour is he has some significant financial stake. Also, there's power.

Csesk owns Kelowna Now and Csek creative. His wife Nicki sat on the Chamber of Commerce with Tom. KN laid out many pre-election announcement interviews painting Tom as a good guy. Looks like a favour, to me since it makes no sense to oppose amalgamation from a City finance position. Csek used to have the contract for some COK marketing. Maybe they're mad they lost it and hope to get it back.

[SteWe]

Csek still has the Chamber contract. They've also design and developed Tom Dyas' campaign site. Kelowna Now always fails to disclose these conflicts of interest in their reporting - there are oodles of them. The Chamber is one ugly organization, and fwiw this site here is a big member too.

[Lady tehMa]

So now let’s move to the subject of water. Kelowna has the ridiculous number of 5 self governing bodies that supply water to the 150,000ish people that reside in the City I love and have lived in all my life. Mayor Basran and Council have been working to address this incrediblely expensive redundancy that Kelowna has dealt with for generations. It costs an extra $500,000 to $1,000,000 per year (at a minimum ) for these 4 water districts and the City to provide varying levels of water quality to its citizens. Where I live we still suffer from boil water advisory’s every year and have for almost every year of my 50+ years. So do most of if not all of the other 3 water districts . Each of the 4 water boards/districts have there own paid trustees ( each trustee costs the taxpayers approx $20,000/year). So we pay more than we should for water and get water quality that is less than it should be , substantially less than it should be .

Chessman, I'm going to take a guess here that you live in the Mission, correct? SEKID? Or perhaps even Glenmore?

Well, I live in Rutland. And you know what? Rutland waterworks has been well managed, well cared for and is providing good quality water to Rutland folk.

My concern is that you grabby mission folk are going to squeeze Rutland dry to take care of your own water. After all, it's not like all those million dollar homes being build up in the Ponds and the other new subdivisions could help with paying for SEKID upgrades - I mean, that's a shocking idea that you should pay for your own business! /sarcasm

So stay out of our water, and you can do whatever you want to with yours.

BTW, I agree Tom Dyas is not a good choice.

[2x4eyes]

Chessman. ..Not sure where you live but we've been on Rutland Waterworks for over 20 years and it is one of the most well run water utilities in the City. It is extremely rare and almost unheard of to have any boil water advisory or anything of the kind...

The whole 'amalgamation of water systems' is, to me and several Rutlanders I've spoken with, an outrageous act of complete disregard for the wishes of those who live in the Rutland community. Several have been very clear in that this should not go through and yet their voices continue not to count. Why is this? Why should my family and I have to pay additional taxes to deliver water to other parts of the City? Why should my family and I have to pay higher rates for water because someone thought it would be a great idea to build a whole whack of condos and the like in an area where water service already struggles to begin with?

And I'm sorry, but you couldn't pay me enough to vote for this man...

[Mark1111]

Tom wants to leave the water districts alone? I didn't know that. He just moved to the top of the pile. Long live Rutland water.

[CTF]

I don't live in an irrigation district served area but I have friends who do. They oppose City of Kelowna taking over because they fear a massive increase in their water rates. Not suggesting this would happen but it is a fear that some have.

[kgcayenne]

Rutland Waterworks is good with system maintenance and renewal, and is unwilling to yield to developer whims. Also, the Rutland wwks area is ripe for redevelopment, City wants alllllll those water fees.... not necessarily to improve the Rutland system.

[CTF]

Rutland Waterworks is good with system maintenance and renewal, and is unwilling to yield to developer whims. Also, the Rutland wwks area is ripe for redevelopment, City wants alllllll those water fees.... not necessarily to improve the Rutland system.

Exactly. These are the types of concerns I was hearing about.

[Giardinera1]

The commercial rates for RWW seemed pretty high when I was a property manager of some businesses up there an I found them hard to deal with. But maybe their residential branch is better?

[burnedatstake]

tom is dangerous. he has carefully crafted visions outlined by those in the chamber and his close support. on paper there is a chance your interest piques with each bullet point. but as we saw in the lives - there is absolutely no substance. he has no idea how to facilitate that vision. why? hes a stooge for the chamber and business interests. the business interests tell people what might snare the voters into giving them power. and then the chamber and tom do precisely what the want. lower everything that they want for the business class - and raise everyone elses taxes and services to facilitate grandiose fluff. if you think things are bad with developers and homes now - wait till these guys get into power. basran will look like a saint. and the business clan with have things so cosmetic downtown that you will be getting tickets and violations for having a screaming baby or something. this guy and his crew are bad news. plain and simple.