Fall city hall referendum

Photo: Contributed

West Kelowna residents can expect to go to the polls again in late summer or early fall.

Voters will be asked to approve borrowing up to $10.5 million for a new city hall, as part of a larger complex on Elliott Road.

The city-wide referendum was made necessary after more than 10 per cent of residents signed Alternative Approval Process forms opposing the move.

While enough residents said no, Coun. Bryden Winsby questioned what they were saying no to.

"Did they say no because they are opposed to the project, or did they say no because they want a say, they think everybody should have a say?" asked Winsby.

"I'm going to go with that. I'm not going to accept for a moment that the residents of this city don't want a city hall. I'm not buying that."

Winsby said the process all along has been transparent and believes it would be shortsighted to derail a project that makes a lot of sense.

"This is a community centre, it is not a city hall, it never will be. We took it away from the community. It misses it, it needs it back. The sooner we can give it back, the better."

The point was also raised that a promise had been made to the community to eventually return the building to the community as the Mount Boucherie Community Hall.

"This is a must have, not a would like to have," said Coun. Carol Zanon.

"This is not a want, this is a need. In order for us to have an effective and efficient operation, we need to have our staff housed in a proper building. There's no doubt we have outgrown this facility," added Coun. Rusty Ensign.

Most councillors had their own reasons — and their own questions — that spurred them to vote for a referendum.

Coun. Rosalind Neis, who did vote in favour,  initially asked why there wasn't more debate and discussion around putting a second story onto the current city hall.

That idea was shot down by Coun. Rick de Jong, who said engineers stated the footing is not built to accommodate a second floor.

"The building would collapse if we added a second floor," he said.

Neis though did question who would really benefit from construction of the new city hall.

She doesn't believe it will be the residents of the city.

"A 100-seat council chamber. I wonder who that benefits. I doubt that benefits our citizens at large. I think it benefits our council and staff," said Neis.

"I truly believe this proposal extremely benefits the private developer. I don't know if there is a massive benefit to the public at large."

"I don't think Interior Health will be bringing forward services that benefit the citizens at large. I think they will be bringing forward services that benefit Interior Health."

Council was presented with three options Tuesday, scrap the proposed project, go straight to referendum in early July, or petition the province for an extension in order to hold a referendum after summer holidays are over.

Council decided to ask for the extension, without a firm date.