Welcome to Your Kamloops!

Quick updates from Kamloops City Council today....

First City Council meeting in a month and we had a pretty action packed agenda. Here are some notable items:

•  After a presentation from Dr Silvina Mema and other officials from Interior Health, we supported the concept of a safe consumption site in Kamloops in principle. I think this "preliminary" endorsement  speaks to council's understanding that we are in a public health emergency with regards to overdoses in the community and the desire to engage the community further as to how such a site could be made successful not just for drug consumers but also for businesses and neighbourhoods. We also talked about the need for other harm reduction measures, the importance of finding suitable and acceptable locations, and the importance of thorough engagement. We are still very early in the process and council might not support this initiative in later stages. 
  
  
• We received a staff report detailing capital projects in the community that overall came under budget. We transferred the surplus funds back to the original funding sources. 
  
  
• We decided to replace all remaining diesel buses in the Kamloops transit fleet with CNG buses.
  
  
• We approved the property tax exemptions for various places of worship and non profits in Kamloops. We decided to approve a property tax exemption for the Desert Gardens senior centre, which staff had originally recommended we discontinue. 
  
  
• We supported the development permit for an exciting looking new downtown commercial and residential six storey building downtown, next to the Doubletree Hotel.
  
  
• We witnessed incredible bravery as four mothers, two with children who have had cancer and two who have tragically lost a child to cancer, presented to council on the importance of greater awareness of research into childhood cancer. Council unanimously and solemnly proclaimed the month of September "Childhood Cancer Awareness Month". 

 

A Bit of a Bittersweet Start to September....

Mayor Peter Milobar announces his bid for the Kamloops North Thompson BC Liberal Party Nomination.

I've always wondered why people run for provincial or federal elected office. I have a lot of time and respect for our current local MLA duo and for our MP. My Dad even tried twice to get elected an MLA.

But, at city council, we look for reasons to agree and to work together. That's in the culture of most local governments. In Victoria and Ottawa, it seems they look for reasons to disagree. At least, thats how it often seems. I've shared these sentiments, from time to time, with our local MLAs - so hopefully its no surprise to them how I view this.

Just recently, two of my council colleagues, Mayor Peter Milobar and Councillor Donovan Cavers, have announced bids to get into provincial politics. Peter first has a tough nomination election against another very solid candidate, Stephen Puhallo. And, Donovan will have a tougher battle trying to be the first Green ever elected in Kamloops in a provincial election. 

Councillor Donovan Cavers announced as BC Green Party Candidate for the Kamloops South Thompson Riding.

So, although I wish them the very very best, I can't help but have a bittersweet feeling. Council is potentially losing contributing members. And they are going into a pretty tough place for people who are more use to working together than working against folks. 

And another person dear to me, former city councillor Nancy Bepple, recently posted a new shiny profile picture on facebook. All excited, I commented "Nancy 2018", thinking this was the early steps in a bit to get back on city council. And then Nancy also announces for the provincial NDP. 

Former councillor Nancy Bepple's Shiny Facebook Photo

 

I am also hoping that, if elected, they will bring more cross partisan styles to their work. I've seen the three of them do this for a long time locally.