Ahead of the Oct. 17 municipal election, CFJC Today asked candidates for Kamloops City Council to complete a questionnaire, offering voters the chance to evaluate their candidacies.
QUESTIONNAIRE:
Describe yourself, your professional background, and why you’re running for public office in Kamloops?
I am a long-time resident of Kamloops, with my family having moved to Kamloops in 1965. I am married to Lynn, and we have two adult children. I am an economist with degrees in economics and biology. I have operated my own company for the past 37 years and specialize in economic development, land use and feasibility assessments. I have worked for over 130 municipalities and Indigenous communities across Canada on a variety of assignments. I have also worked for provincial and federal governments, NGOs and a range of business sectors.
I have been involved with several boards and committees in Kamloops. Past boards include Venture Kamloops Business Care; Thompson Country Community Futures. I was also a member of Kamloops Kiwanis.
Current boards include Aberdeen Neighbourhood Association, Kamloops Voters Society, Kamloops Area Preservation Association, and I am on leave from the Kamloops Chamber Policy Committee. I am also a member of the Propolis Cooperative.
At the provincial level I have sat on: the Provincial Inland Port Steering Committee, Economic Development Association of British Columbia board, and Forum for Research and Extension in Natural Resources (FORREX) socio-community advisory board.
I am part of the Pivot Kamloops team, which is four individuals focused on bringing meaningful change to Kamloops. I am passionate about community development and feel that I can contribute to the future of Kamloops. I am also concerned about the city’s financial position and issues of street disorder and the unhoused.
What do you think is the biggest issue facing the City of Kamloops and how would you use your elected position to address it?
The city’s finances will be the biggest issue facing the next council. The city’s core infrastructure is aging, and we are seeing regular emergency infrastructure repairs and upgrades. In addition, there is critical infrastructure in the form of a new police station and fire hall that will move forward in the next council term. Meanwhile, according to BC Stats, the City of Kamloops’ population peaked in 2025 at just 109,000 and has started to decline and is not anticipated to reach the 2025 level again until 2033.
Further, according to the city, end-of-year debt balances will rise from $98.9 million in 2025 to $445.7 million by 2029. City debt interest alone will rise from $2.5 million in 2026 to $20.4 million in 2030. This means that of total debt servicing in 2030, only about 38 per cent will go towards principal payments and the remainder to interest. This is significant change and for comparison, in 2030, total operating expenditures on transit are $30.6 million.
These changes in city debt are before the city takes on any new major capital projects or makes unscheduled investments in failing infrastructure like the recently reported emergency expansion joint repairs on the Eighth Street bridge or the recent Barnhartvale water system failure that resulted in water being shut off to 19,000 Kamloops residents.
The growing debt load will hang over the next council as they make deliberations on what projects and programming they can support and at what level. During this election campaign, many of the incumbent councillors talk about responsible taxation, but this is something that should have been a focus on day one of being at the council table.
Moving forward, I will be supporting five critical steps that will need to be undertaken to balance residents’ property taxes with the city’s demands, this will include:
Following a term highlighted by infighting and tension at city hall that impacted Kamloops’ public image, how would you ensure civil discourse and good governance would take place between yourself, fellow elected officials and city staff?
It is about respect – remembering each person on council brings a different perspective to the table. Councillors need to be good listeners and remember to stay focused on problem solving.
Considering recent years of large municipal tax increases in Kamloops, how would you address the city’s tax rate going forward?
There are two sides to this equation – expenses and revenues.
Expenditures will include two key initiatives, including:
Prioritize Core Infrastructure – Prioritizing core infrastructure investments and ensuring the delivery of forward-facing services and programs.
Core Review – Moving forward a core review of spending at city hall, looking at areas where we have had rapid increases. The review will also include looking at efficiencies and greater use of technology to support the delivery of front-line staff to drive productivity within the corporation.
Revenue. We are becoming increasingly dependent on real property taxes. According to the city’s five-year financial plan, real property taxes will rise from $173.3 million or 72.6 per cent of total revenue to $227.2 million or 76.4 per cent in 2030 (City of Kamloops. Nd. P21). The city needs to pursue a variety of revenue sources, including:
Establishing a formal fundraising model – I will be pushing for a more formal partnership and fundraising model when it comes to building new Build Kamloops projects. For example, after over 10 years of planning, the Performing Arts Centre has only secured a $7 million grant from the Strategic Priorities Fund. A closer look at this fund finds most communities using their funding share of this for critical infrastructure like water and sewer, with Fernie using it to build their new fire hall, and Kelowna using it to build critical infrastructure. Looking around the province, there are many excellent examples of community fundraising campaigns for raising corporate, legacy gifts and other incremental project funding.
Project partnerships with surrounding governments – Kamloops needs to more actively engage its surrounding neighbours to invite them to participate in funding key strategic infrastructure projects. This can come in the form of joint taxation partnerships arrangements with neighbouring communities or unilaterally from user fees from non-city residents. In numerous examples around the province, pro-active user fees have led to collaborative taxing arrangements over time.
Increasing non-property tax revenue – I will push for exploration of new non-property funding sources. This will include better linking our land planning activities to our economic development priorities; perhaps along a similar model as the Calgary Municipal Land Development Corporation which, as part of its mandate, is to manage land and infrastructure investments to optimize financial returns and enable long-term social, environmental and community resilience. Also, explore if the city’s Climate Action Plan can be the focus to lower costs within city buildings or building new utilities revenues (i.e., District Energy projects). There are many more things the city could be doing here as well.
As major infrastructure projects are on the horizon in Kamloops, how would you prefer the city go about gaining the electorate’s approval – via referendum or the alternative approval process (AAP)? Why?
The Pivot Kamloops team is advocating that the AAP be reviewed, and clear rules be established on how, when and for what it can be used for by the city. One guiding principle will be that major capital projects that are critical infrastructure, such as sewer, water, roads, police stations, etc., would be the only projects that could move through the AAP in the city. All other projects would go to referendum, ideally tied to municipal elections.
The use of the AAP for the performing arts centre and multiplex was launched in the summer of 2024 and was followed by limited information on a short timeline. This approach did not treat all perspectives of the spending ask equally and was perceived as opportunistic in the community. It required those opposed to spending considerable time and resources organizing and communicating their perspective. The province’s own guidelines on the use of the AAP suggest it should not be used when the project is contentious.
What are your thoughts on communication between the City of Kamloops and its residents? Are there areas of improvement you’d like to see?
Communication between residents and the city needs to improve and we need to formalize several key opportunities, including:
Allowing room for all people to attend council meetings and again bring enquiries – It is critical that residents have access to council meetings. Utilizing the Kia Lounge on a regular basis to accommodate attendees may be required. Bringing back resident enquiries is an important part of connecting with residents and should be reinstated.
Establishing neighbourhood associations as “stakeholders” – Currently, organizations like the Business Improvement Associations and Chamber are considered stakeholders and are given opportunities to directly participate on a variety of city outreach programs. This is a good thing. For example, the Chamber participates in budget feedback in a formal setting that offers tangible input. In 2024, the Kamloops Voters Society asked to have neighbourhood associations as stakeholders, but so far, the city has declined. Allowing neighbourhood associations to formally participate in the budgeting process (66 per cent of property tax comes from residents) and on developments in their neighbourhoods would strengthen community involvement and better reflect local knowledge when projects are developed.
Revamping the budget consultation process – The Kamloops Voters Society pushed for the establishment of the budget meetings and saw them come into place about a decade ago. While the first couple were interactive, they have steadily moved towards information sessions. While it is a good opportunity to meet staff, the process has become less about input and more about presentations. The process would be improved by having a community committee that includes representatives from residents, businesses, developers, non-profits, etc., and serve as a sounding board through the early development of the budget each year. This can be done by having it earlier in the budget cycle and better articulate how citizen input has been incorporated.
Enhance follow-up to resident enquiries – The city has increasingly turned to digital and online tools such as “Let’s Talk Kamloops” to communicate with residents. While this can be a helpful step in having simple enquiries addressed, it needs to be aware of its limitations. The city should assign specific staff to follow up challenging enquiries and to make sure the question has been adequately addressed in a timely fashion. We have seen instances where an individual has been passed from department manager to department manager with no resolution coming until the individual gets frustrated and leaves. This is not a good use of staff time, nor does it support the resident’s information needs. By having an individual responsible to follow up and advocate, questions should be resolved quicker with more satisfactory outcomes.
