You might see my People, Planet and Prosperity tagline on my signs. I feel we need to drop the silos and consider everything holistically instead of looking at social programs OR climate action plans OR business retention OR attracting doctors. We are a community where folks can't help but bump into each other and have an impact as a result.

As a current director with a credit union and past director with many non-profits in Kamloops, I am accustomed to reviewing year to date financial statements as well as how those numbers measure up to the budgets, at least quarterly. There are existing, legacy thoughts that Council holds; I've been hearing for years that their responsibility with the budget is only to approve the items put forward by staff. I also understand that they only view the numbers annually because the Local Government Act only requires this annual update. I can confirm that by viewing the finance committee agendas for the past two years, I did not see any financial statements or comparison to budget. As a fiduciary or steward for Kamloops taxpayers, Councillors need to take more responsibility for the budget and take that deeper dive.

In terms of funding social service agencies that are expected to support people struggling with mental health and addictions, I would like to see a more cooperative and collaborative approach, with an invitation to a table where every single social service agency is welcome and has an equal right to be there, instead of staff and Councillors playing favourites with the people they view as doing it 'right.' We need a gap analysis completed by an unbiased external party to determine what services we already have and who is being serviced vs. what services are needed and which populations are not being serviced. It's nice to talk about the positive outcomes but it's time to be accountable to all the citizens of our community.

I have heard from many that the City planning and engineering department is difficult to work with; having said this I do not have any personal experience with this and cannot give specific examples. I would like to send the message to staff that the City is “Open for Business” and that efficiencies are needed along with policy improvements. For example, expediting the process by pre-approving designs for carriage houses and other housing opportunities. Maybe the application for a legal basement suite could be an online form if it’s not already.  I could also see moving developments that offer a certain percentage of affordable units to the “front of the line” and I would like to ensure that cooperative housing complexes would not face added red tape because they’re not a commonly known development model.

My message is simple; let's make it easier for residents to live a comfortable life, do business, have an impact, feel safe and thrive.