To light up, or not to light up; that is the question.
Some 451 Seymour Arm property owners will be given their say about getting electricity to the community in a Sept. 28 referendum.
At their July 18 board meeting in Salmon Arm, Columbia Shuswap Regional directors agreed to use $7,500 from the rural feasibility study to finance the referendum.
This sparked a question by Area D Falkland-Silver Creek-Ranchero director René Talbot on how voters would be advised of the referendum. He pointed out several people who own cabins in Seymour Arm reside in the Vernon area and asked why notices would not be placed in the Vernon Morning Star.
“The last time, people weren’t aware of the wharf (referendum), and they ended up having two or three days,” he said. “It’s great you’re letting people who live there know, but what about the others?”
Talbot also wanted to know when forms requesting mail-out ballots would be available.
Carolyn Black, CSRD’s deputy manager of Corporate Administration Services, said request forms would be available online Sept. 3, giving voters three-and-a-half weeks to return their forms, receive their ballots and send them back to the CSRD office.
“People can also pick them up at our office and get them back by fax,” said Black.
Area F director Larry Morgan noted the regional district has already held one open house regarding the referendum and will be holding another one in August.
“We are doing everything we can to make sure people know,” he said, noting the referendum is being held when seasonal people are still spending a lot of time in Seymour Arm. “If they’re not aware of this I don’t know where they’ve been. There has to be some responsibility on the part of people up there to make themselves aware.”
If the referendum is successful, property owners within the service area will pay a parcel tax based on the physical characteristics of each parcel. Official notices advising eligible voters of the referendum will be placed in the Shuswap Market News in mid-August.