Okanagan regional board cancels taxpayer-funded catered food

Councillor James Miller recently put forward the motion to do away with catered lunches at the biweekly regional board meetings, which he calculated to total around $30,000 a year.

Catered food is a fairly common practice during board meetings at the municipal level, but it’s food that’s covered by the taxpayer.

One regional board recently voted to eliminate the catered meals.

“Every other job that I’ve ever been part of unless it’s a special occasion such as a going away party,  Christmas perhaps, maybe if there’s an incredible VIP who comes into the building, we simply brown bag or go to lunch,” said James Miller, a Penticton city councillor who sits on the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS).

“I think that the RDOS director shouldn’t be an exception.”

Miller recently put forward the motion to do away with catered lunches at the biweekly regional board meetings, which he calculated to total around $30,000 a year.

“It doesn’t sit well with me because $30,000 is coincidentally about the amount that it costs to sponsor one bed at Discovery House men’s recovery center, and so I would rather brown bag it,” Miller said.

“I’m not suggesting this is what’s going to be done with a $30,000 savings, but I just think that feeding the masses is not a priority right now.”

Electoral Area I director Subrina Monteith agreed and supported the motion, which passed in a 19-1 vote.