Penticton council looks to change shape of city’s future with 6 notices of motion

Penticton’s forthcoming council meeting on December 20 is expected to be an unusual one.

When the agenda for the meeting was released, among the routine requests for zoning changes or zoning variances and among the updates on vacation rentals were six motion notices, covering topics from bike lanes to housing.

A member of the city council can apply at any time, but they are uncommon. In some parishes, such as Ashcroft, eight years of council can elapse just by introducing a single notice.

count. Campbell Watt, whose motion to expedite hiring of firefighters for the city is one of six being discussed, said it may be only his third announcement at the council table in eight years.

So far, Penticton has had up to eight resignations for a council period that only started in November.

The notices to be discussed at the December 20 meeting include Watt’s motion for the firefighters, two from Mayor Julius Bloomfield, one from Coun. Helena Konanz, one of Coun. Amelia Boultbee and one of Coun. Isaac Gilbert.

Bloomfield’s application notices include a request for the city to review the cost to the city of funding its own Car 40 program and have employees explore options for getting the city to allocate land for affordable housing projects.

A freeze on the final section of the Lake-to-Lake cycle route is key to Boultbee’s proposal, with the pause lasting at least until a review of lessons learned and ridership information from the first three phases is shared with Council.

Konanz’ motion calls for the compensation councils and the mayor to be frozen for 2023.

Gilbert’s motion would direct city staff to consider what a living wage for the city would be, how much it would cost to onboard city staff and city subcontractors, and present those costs for consideration in the 2023 budget deliberations.

The notices appear to show a new council that is rapidly changing from the previous one, and one that is moving aggressively to shape the city’s policies and future developments.

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