Opinion Volume 76 Issue No. 7 ThReview Wednesday, February 14,1999 — A6 A better tender: Process should be improved North Saanich council should immediately review the methods it uses to collect bids for major purchases. Tender specifications should be written and either advertised openly or supplied to interested companies on Tequest, not passed around verbally. That’s not fair to anyone — not taxpayers, not suppliers, and not even the district itself. : A recent mess could have easily been avoided. A piece of equipment was purchased for roadside mowing. A tractor with a mounted mower, worth close to $60,000. Some suppliers say the tractor purchased wasn't the one tendered for. One supplier says his bid — a replacement for an earlier bid — was somehow misplaced by the municipality. And because the munici- pality is left with no written tender to prove its side, there’s no way to find out for sure whose memory is failing. So some suppliers are left feeling they ve been shafted. A more formalized policy would have avoided that. Proper advertising of tenders informs taxpayers what the district’s money is being spent on, too. This single purchase may not appear to amount to much — but it represents about two per cent of the municipality’s annual operating budget. The district and council, of course, would save themselves headaches by knowing what they want when they seek it, and by outlining it all on paper for all who are interested. It’s more professional, it’s fairer and it builds rather than erodes credibility. Paying for the ALR: A choice you can make Central Saanich Mayor Ron Cullis put it succinctly: "An unspecified number of people in the community have the ability to change the community plan. Maybe theyll have the same effect on local merchants.” He was discussing the irony in the supermarket aisles. Retailers don’t carry much Peninsula-grown produce. They don’t carry it because people don’t buy it. People don’t buy it because it costs too much. So you can vote for the agricultural land reserve at the cash register by insisting on local produce. It’s a vote for quality, it’s a vote for a farming community. Without a lot more votes, the economic impetus will push dollars out of farming. » | HERE... HERE! WE CAN ARRANGE FOR ALL THE PRETTY PICTURES You'D EVES WANT... The editorials in this space, the left-hand side of Page Aé6, are those of the newspaper. They are written by the editor or under the editor’s direction, and the opinions expressed are independently developed by the editor and The Review’s editorial department. TheReview Serving The Saanich Peninsula Since 1912 9781 2nd Street Sidney, B.C V8L 4P8 or PO. Box 2070 Sidney, B.C V8L 3S5 Second Class Mail Registration #0128 656-1151 Publisher: Vic Swan Editor: George Lee AN ISLAND PUBLISHERS NEWSPAPER << PRIZE WINNE Ae Mm ROIAN COMM GN \ Sch EN ha