Heritage society not going down without a fight in battle with City over St. Andrew’s on the Square

It’s why members of the society keep fighting for St. Andrew’s on the Square.

“We’re a small board but we’re dedicated,” she said. “And we’re dedicated to the heritage of the city, not just St. Andrew’s on the Square.”

Starting in March, the City of Kamloops will take over operations. In a release sent out on Tuesday, the city argued that information provided to staff by the society showed “it was not able to generate enough of a profit to cover significant costs.”

“It wasn’t a reflection of anyone doing anything bad,” said Community and Protective Services Director Byron McCorkell. “It was simply, looking at the fact that the board had reduced in size. There’s basically not the same robust group of people around the table. Their operations are with a historic building that is going to have significant costs in the future. It just made good financial sense to bring it in under our operations.”

The heritage society says it is in a better financial situation than even two years ago. Parks says it did not receive a city grant in 2018, but bookings are up.

“If our bookings continue, and of course the farmers’ market is going until the end of March, so that’s helpful,” noted Parks. “The church group that we have comes every Sunday, so any bookings we have just help us keep going.”

Members of the society say six weddings have already been cancelled due to uncertainty. The City says it will honour any bookings and has come up with a transition plan. It would see the society remain on for 22 months. However, society members and one paid staff member aren’t overly excited about the plan.

“We looked at what you had offered for us to stay on for a further two years, I believe it was. Our employee does not wish to be on-call 24/7 for $20 to come in and set up and take down and do whatever when we’re not actually operating the building,” said society’s secretary-treasurer Bernice Mitchell on Tuesday at city hall.

It’s not only the operation of the building that’s being fought over. It’s the terms of the lease agreement, which the City argues the society is responsible for maintaining the interior and exterior of the building.

“This is where the situation seems to have changed,” noted McCorkell. “The lease has remained unchanged since 1998 when it was originally signed. Some of the individuals that have been speaking actually were signatories on that lease. The lease is a fairly simple situation where, ‘Here’s the building, you can have it for a buck, do with it what you will, maintain it, keep it operated.’ If the building needs a structural [repair], if the roof were to collapse, the City would be in to look after it.”

Parks added in talking to council on Tuesday, “Maintaining the exterior where the windows are now are in somewhat danger because the exterior window casings have started to rot because of water damage. My understanding was that was already part of the lease with the City and the City would be responsible for those items.”

The society plans to meet with the City in the coming weeks, still hopeful the decision will be overturned.

by Chad Klassen

Heritage society not going down without a fight in battle with City over St. Andrew’s on the Square

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