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West Kelowna  

Councillor denies conflict

Rusty Ensign has denied he was in a conflict of interest over a development in West Kelowna.

The first-term councillor told his council colleagues Tuesday night a letter alleging conflict was based on inaccurate information.

Despite his assertion, Ensign did recuse himself from the matter in question, the West Bay Beach Resort development.

According to the city, Ensign's company entered into a demolition contract with the developer following a public hearing in September, a point reiterated by Mayor Doug Findlater.

"We have received a fair bit of legal advice on this as well, and other correspondence from the developer and various parts of the development agency to indicate there was an intervention between Coun. Ensign and the developer post public hearing," said Findlater, after Ensign had recused himself from the proceedings.

"There is an issue here where I think it's absolutely correct to pull this back and clarify the process and make it fully transparent."

Council agreed to rescind second and third readings of the OCP and zoning amendment bylaws Ensign had previously voted on. They then voted to adopt second reading once Ensign had left the room.

Despite comments from the mayor, Ensign maintained he did nothing wrong.

"I have had legal advice, and I would like to state for the record that I had no prior conflict of interest and the original letter that precipitated this wasn't based on accurate information. That action plan that was submitted to say I had a contract was overstating the situation," said Ensign.

"Having said all that, I am prepared in this case, out of respect for my colleagues and for the process, to recuse myself from any further deliberations and any more discussions on the matter."

While he supports the project moving forward, Findlater said it's the process council is trying to protect.

"When members of the public come to a public hearing, they believe and expect the people sitting around this table don't have any other interests, that they may be looking at whether there is a business opportunity for them," said Findlater.

"This is an inconvenience to the public, an inconvenience to the developer, it cost the city some money, some staff time and CAO time and legal consultation time.  We don't want this to happen again."

A new public hearing on the development will be held Dec. 8.



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