'I'm livid': Kamloops Heritage Society upset about city's claims about St. Andrew's on the Square takeover

Peggy Broad is not happy with the City of Kamloops.

The Kamloops Heritage Society (KHS) president says after reading a press release from the city about the ongoing conflict over downtown heritage site St. Andrew's on the Square, she was on the verge of tears.

"I honestly don't know what to do anymore," Broad says. "This is just sheer, outright bullying."

The conflict between the KHS and the city has been simmering for a couple of months.

St. Andrew's on the Square is leased to the heritage society five years at time, with the option to renew nine times. That agreement was signed in the late '90s, after the city acquired the historic church; the heritage society has been integral in refurbishing, repairing and running the site since then.

At the beginning of this year, the city's finance committee began reviewing all service contracts, which included the KHS. It was determined that the lease shouldn't be renewed and the city would take over in March 2020. The plan was put before city council in an in-camera meeting (contracts like this are always discussed in in-camera meetings) on July 9; council agreed with the finance committee's decision to not renew.

On Aug. 21, the city sent a letter to the KHS, notifying the group of its decision.

Mayor Ken Christian says the decision can't be reversed because staff have already "actioned" it.

"Once staff have actioned a decision of council, you can't revisit it," he says. "So you can do something new, something different, but you can't revisit a decision. Otherwise, you'd have staff not knowing what to do."

"It's a procedural requirement," Christian adds.

In response to the city's decision, the society launched a petition, calling for "some new form of a working relationship." The petition states the society would also like to provide council "with more information to make an informed decision that was not provided originally."

During this week's council meeting, minutes from a second in-camera meeting, where Coun. Denis Walsh tried to revive the issue with a motion for more information, were released. Members of the KHS took the chance to bring it up during the meeting's public inquiry time.

Bernice Mitchell (KHS treasurer) and Sheila Park (former KHS president) discussed a variety of issues, including concerns about the employment of Melody Formansky (the one full-time employee with the KHS who takes care of St. Andrew's), maintenance of the site and how the city plans to handle the site.

In response to the pair's statements made at the meeting, the City of Kamloops issued a press release. It's that release that has angered Broad.

"I'm just livid about this because it makes us look like fools," she says. "It's just wrong."

One thing she's quick to point out is the cancellations of events, particularly weddings. Since the news about the transition was made public, six couples have cancelled their nuptials at the church.

"Concerned residents have called the city after being informed by the society that their bookings may be cancelled," states the release from the city. "The city has not directed the society to cancel any bookings."

Broad says that's not what's happening at all, telling KamloopsMatters she has contacted the city's culture manager Barbara Berger to ask what the KHS should tell clients.

"I said, 'The clients need to know. We need to know what to tell them,'" Broad says. "'I need a firm answer,' and (Berger) said, 'I can't give you that.'"

That was the only email contact the KHS has had with the city in the last month, according to Broad. In general, communication issues have fuelled the tensions between the city and the society, says Broad and Formansky.

KamloopsMatters has reached out to Berger for comment and is waiting to hear back.

Christian says the city has been trying to negotiate with the KHS, but isn't getting anywhere.

"We have been desperately trying to negotiate with them about a transition from their management to ours, and they have flatly refused to negotiate and that's the bottom line here," the mayor tells KamloopsMatters. "They could have had many opportunities to meet with our staff and to talk about the transition but they're not."

However, Broad and Formansky say the KHS wants to talk, but it hasn't heard anything from the city since a meeting with Berger and Coun. Mike O'Reilly in early October. (There was that one aforementioned email exchange about what to tell clients, Broad says.)

"To say we're uncooperative, I'm livid. We did no such thing," Broad says. "To say that we wouldn't have meetings with them, we went to the meetings, we haven't heard anything since."

Broad says the city's press release also mischaracterizes what will happen with items in the church. The city owns the heritage building, but items inside have either been donated to the KHS or bought by the society. In the release, the city says it's aware of culturally or historically significant items and that it wants to buy them but hasn't heard back from the KHS.

Items lent to the KHS will be returned to their owners if the city takes over the site, Broad says.

Formansky says some items will be for sale, but what exactly will happen with the lot still has to be determined; she cites a lack of communication again. Formansky's employment is also unclear, she adds.

There's also confusion surrounding operational grants the KHS has received in the last couple of years.

During this week's council meeting, Mitchell noted there was a story in the media that the society had received grants the last two years. The group got grants between 2012 and 2017, but not in 2018 and 2019, Mitchell told council.

"We haven't gotten the ones they mentioned the last two years, and we did not even apply for it. I mean, I asked about it, but never got an answer so I said, 'OK, we're never going to get it,' and moved on," Formansky says. "We're not giving amounts, but we have a healthy bank balance, thank you very much."

Broad thinks the reason city council decided to end the lease agreement is because of concerns over the KHS's ability to manage the site. Christian says that's not the case.

"It's a reflection of a change in our corporate view of asset management and, as I mentioned in the meeting, we have a number of heritage buildings; we value heritage buildings, we value St. Andrew's on the Square," he says. "We intend to continue to operate it exactly the way they have operated it, but we're going to take over the entire envelope of that building and we're going to be able to manage in the longer term all of the capital needs of that building."

He says the city's concern is that KHS would continue running the building until "something big comes up" and then KHS would have to call the city for financial help.

"What we'd like to do is make as seamless as possible, certainly for their employee, and secondly, for those people they mentioned that are planning events," Christian says. "They should not take away that in any way shape or form that we're disappointed in their service. It's about taking a longer-term and more comprehensive view of the management of the asset. End of story."