Vernon councillor wants to temporarily stop spending from one city fund

Photo: Castanet file photo

A Vernon city councillor wants council to stop spending money from one reserve fund, at least for now.

At council’s March 10 regular meeting, coun. Brian Guy put forward a notice of motion to stop withdrawing funds from the Kin Race Track reserve.

“I'm going to introduce it now to debate next time, but the motion would be that there be no further withdrawals from the Kin Race Track Park Reserve until staff has provided council with a plan and a cost estimate for a community park to be located at that site,” said Guy.

The site and funds have been a topic of discussion for council over the past few months after elected officials learned the initial plans for the site were extremely costly.

Council agreed to pivot plans for the area instead of building a large-scale athletic park; the area is now being considered for a passive park. Council agreed to spend up to $100,000 from the reserve fund to plan for the park.

Funding from the reserve originally came from a Fortis BC grant for legacy projects. A point raised when council agreed to spend $825,000 from the reserve to purchase and install a new video scoreboard for Kal Tire Place – a decision Guy and coun. Kelly Fehr opposed.

Guy’s notice of motion to halt spending from the reserve will be before council at its next meeting on March 24.