By James Peters

Local Politics

Kamloops local government watchdog group to restart, refocus next month

Sep 30, 2019 | 4:35 AM

KAMLOOPS — A local government watchdog group says it is reawakening after a period of rest.

Spokesman Randy Sunderman says the Kamloops Voters Society (KVS) has formed an interim board of directors, and plans to meet in October to reset its vision and mission.

The interim board includes Sunderman, Chris Ortner, Tom Rankin and Leslie Lax.

Sunderman says the passion for the society waned somewhat after KVS members Dieter Dudy and Denis Walsh were elected to Kamloops council in 2014.

“That took away a couple of our leaders at the time,” said Sunderman. “From that period, a number of us were fairly fatigued by some of the things we’d been doing and so it was decided that we take a little bit of a break. So we’ve done that, and after a period here, we feel that there are enough issues that we’d like to speak about, so we’re restarting the whole exercise.”

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“Back in May (2019), a group of us started doing some research on the industrial tax base in the city,” he continued. “We made a submission to the [City of Kamloops] at that time. Ever since then, we’ve been talking about getting the Kamloops Voters Society back and going.”

In a news release, KVS says it “believes in maintaining a high quality of life in Kamloops, wise use of taxpayer dollars and early, effective and ongoing participation in decision-making,” but Sunderman notes further refining of the group’s vision will take place at an Annual General Meeting, which will take place on a yet-to-be-determined October date.

“At this stage, we’re talking to people and reaching out to those who worked with us before and new people who are interested in being involved, said Sunderman. “[We’re] looking to get started by having a meeting here to revisit our vision and mission in mid-October or so.”

Sunderman says the timing in relation to the ongoing federal election campaign is coincidental.

“We stay focused on local issues — basically the City of Kamloops, maybe the regional district. Those kinds of issues are the ones that we typically find the most interesting, so that’s where our focus is. We’re not even probably going to be organized by the time the federal election is over anyway.”