Public input ban extended as council cites mayor as reason
City council has voted 7-2 in favour of extending the suspension of public input until the end of this council’s term.
Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson and Coun. Nancy Bepple were the two votes against the extension.
Coun. Mike O’Reilly said things have been running “very smoothly” since council removed the public input section from its agendas, but said he would be open to “allowing the mayor to chair a meeting properly.”
Couns. O’Reilly, Bepple, and Kelly Hall all expressed concern with the mayor’s ability to chair meetings during public input sessions.
“I’m not going to sugar coat it. We have a challenge with the chair not being able to manage public inquiries. History has proven,” Hall said.
“It’s immaterial who comes to the podium. It is the job of the chair to make sure that public inquiries are done in a way that follows the discourse statement of council,” Bepple said.
Bepple asked the city’s corporate officer, Maria Mazzotta, if council had any way to replace Hamer-Jackson as the chair, but heard that only the chair’s decisions could be appealed, and he could not be replaced on a routine or ongoing basis.
Hamer-Jackson, meanwhile, said he would like to see things return to the status quo, and challenged councillors to send him links to videos of him mishandling public input during council meetings.
The mayor and Coun. Stephen Karpuk argued over those instances and a past grievance, with Karpuk noting he would be changing his vote to in favour of extending the ban as a result.
Council adopts new Official Community Plan
A new plan sets out the city’s goals for the next 20 years, including more housing to support a growing population, further densification, and new town centres
The new plan is based on expected growth and the housing needed to accommodate it. The plan sets out an increase in population to 134,000 by 2045.
Community planning manager Stephen Bentley said based on current build rates, Kamloops expects to see about 14,000 units of housing constructed.
To accommodate new residents, the plan includes 3,605 low-density housing units, 3,635 medium-density units and 6,760 units in high-density buildings of five storeys or more.
The plan also sets out new town centre designations for Aberdeen and Valleyview, which would see redevelopment in those centres to support them as mixed-use, transit- and pedestrian-oriented areas.
Council postpones AAP decision again due to Canada Post job action
Council has again opted to postpone the use of the alternative approval process (AAP) until job action at Canada Post officially comes to an end, in order to accommodate mail to and from the city regarding any petition action.
The next usage of the AAP concerns three projects, including borrowing for a new police services building, the purchase of property at 965 McMaster Way, and a third phase of Tranquille Road upgrades.
Previously, upgrades to the Kamloops Centre for Water Quality were also included in the proposal, but that item was dropped and funded through other streams.
Canada Post and CUPW reached a tentative agreement in December, which could be finalized by Jan. 16.
Coun. Neustaeter and Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson were both opposed to the postponement, with Neustaeter saying the AAP was not an appropriate way to get approval for the projects.