Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson. (Photo via Kamloops Chamber of Commerce)
An attempt by the Mayor of Kamloops to try and end the ongoing Alternative Approval Process he initially supported fell flat at this week’s City Council meeting, as no one seconded a motion he put forward.
Reid Hamer-Jackson used part of this mayor’s report Tuesday to try and bring and end to the process through which is City is hoping to get approval to borrow up to $275 million to build a performing arts centre and a four-sheet arena multiplex.
“I’ve been hearing from a lot of citizens – like many citizens – about the AAP process,” Hamer-Jackson said. “People, there’s a few groups around that are trying to get the information out to people. They’ve asked for a lot of AAP documents which they haven’t been able to get a hold of.”
“I’m just looking to try to lessen the tax burden on the City of Kamloops, the citizens, and get that…I mean, this AAP process, there has been so many people that don’t know about it that I’ve talked to so I’d like to put a motion to cancel the AAP process and go back to work and get some conceptual designs.”
That motion was not seconded by a member of council meaning it was not debated.
Mayors wants grant funding; questions arena location
Hamer-Jackson said he wanted the City of Kamloops to look into possible sources of grant funding from higher levels of government and raised a number of questions about the proposed arena multiplex.
“There are programs available – maybe not today – but programs through the federal government, and the Canada Community Revitalization Fund in British Columbia,” Hamer-Jackson said. “And it says right in there that shovel ready projects are given priority.”
“I don’t know why we don’t have a shovel ready project on the rinks.”
The City of Kamloops says it will be fundraising to build aspects of Build Kamloops to the tune of at least 10 per cent.
“A corporate campaign is underway, however official commitments wouldn’t be made until after a project is confirmed to be moving forward (i.e. after electorate approval of the long-term borrowing) so that contributing organizations have confirmation of their commitment and the timeline associated with it,” the City said, in a statement.
Some residents in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District who use facilities in Kamloops may also financially support Build Kamloops, though that hasn’t yet been finalized.
Tuesday’s council meeting was not the first time where Hamer-Jackson “raised questions” about what he felt was a lack of detailed design connected to Build Kamloops.
“I was on the board at Kamloops Minor Hockey in 2009 and we needed ice rinks back then,” Hamer-Jackson said in early July. “We need pools and things like that, but like I said over the last year and a half, all that has come to the forefront has been a shovel-ready project [for the arts centre].”
The conceptual design for the Centre for the Performing Arts downtown – the top priority in the City’s Recreational Master Plan – was the result of work and spending by Ron and Rae Fawcett of the Kelson Group.
“Thanks to the dedication and significant investment of local philanthropists Ron and Rae Fawcett, the City has a comprehensive conceptual design for the Kamloops Centre for the Arts that will allow this project to proceed much faster than the other priorities identified for Build Kamloops,” the City’s Capital Projects Manager Matt Kachel said in a January report.
“The Fawcett’s have advanced the project to a point where no further progress can be made without the City moving it to the next phases, which are validation and detailed design.”
In early February, Council approved spending $7-million to complete the validation and detailed design work for the arts centre to get the project to a Class “A” shovel-ready state.
A Build Kamloops timeline released by the City shows that planning work for the arena multiplex and the indoor curling and racquet sport complex – which would include conceptual Class “D” cost estimate drawings – is expected to get underway later this year with design work to begin in 2025 and 2026 respectively.
No money has been earmarked by the City of Kamloops to take those yet to be created Class “D” cost estimate drawings to Class “A” drawings, which is required for many grant applications.
Speaking Tuesday, Hamer-Jackson also questioned whether the location for the arena multiplex – on a city-owned plot of land in Dufferin, next to Kenna Cartwright Park – was the right one.
“I don’t know why we have four rinks proposed the furthest away from the community,” he said. “They’re at the highest elevation, the furthest away.”
“I’m kind of throwing it out there, but it looks to me like you could add another rink onto the front of Valleyview, just like we did in North Kamloops. What I’m saying is I just don’t know – again – we’re environmentally friendly, I don’t know why we would have rinks that are just the furthest southwest of Kamloops up in the snow belt.”
Mayor accused of being ‘disingenuous’
Councillor Mike O’Reilly, the Chair of the Build Kamloops Select Committee, accused Hamer-Jackson of “sitting back and throwing darts” at a proposal he had indicated his support he for on numerous occasions.
“We asked you to be on the concept working group, finance working group, user engagement, communications engagement group – any form of participating and shaping what Build Kamloops will be. You chose not to,” O’Reilly said. “You chose to sit back and throw darts when you’re on the microphone. And that’s your choice.”
O’Reilly used his Councillor’s report Tuesday to say the location for the arena was chosen by council as a whole.
“You were at the meeting,” O’Reilly told Hamer-Jackson.
“We looked at private land, we looked at governmental land, we looked at TteS land. We looked from the borders out in Dallas to Westsyde to the top of the hills. Ultimately, what we decided was rather than investing money in a private land acquisition, we wanted to put that money into the facility itself.”
O’Reilly also touted the economic spinoff of the proposed arena location, saying the facility would give people who have to use the sole outhouse near the main entrance to Kenna Cartwright Park an amenity.
“We have facilities, Sagebrush Theatre is a prime example, that is not around anything for economic spinoff. It’s an island on its own,” O’Reilly, who previously told Hamer-Jackson that a downtown location was always envisioned for the arts centre, after the mayor suggested a location on River Street.
“We wanted this [arena] facility in the southwest that is going to see over 65 per cent of the growth over the next 35 years…You have had a chance to be a part of the conversation. You chose not to,” O’Reilly added.
“To sit there and throw darts is disingenuous. You have every opportunity [to be a part of the process] and you’re squandering that. You’re not a part of the conversation. You’re throwing darts, which is fine.”
“No, its not fine,” Hamer-Jackson responded. “You making stuff up. I sat on the first select committee meeting there was. I was a no vote, very similar to where I sit today…lets have some truth to it.”
“Absolutely, lets have truth about being part of it,” O’Reilly said.
Hamer-Jackson said his vote on the initial select committee “didn’t count very much.” Like all councillors however, the mayor has one vote around the council table, as outlined in Section 123 of the Community Charter.
“I did sit on the first Select Committee. I had standing committees but they were abolished by council. I was on the first committee, I think it was called the governance committee,” Hamer-Jackson said, after O’Reilly completed his report. “I was a no vote, so it didn’t matter.”
The Council Committee Governance Select Committee referenced by the mayor was struck in March 2023 determine the makeup of standing committees at City Hall. That committee – and later all of council in a 7 to 1 vote – suggested the elimination of standing committees.
The Build Kamloops Select Committee – comprising of O’Reilly, Kelly Hall, Margot Middleton, Katie Neustaeter, and Dale Bass was formed in June 2023 to try and fast-track goals in the Recreation Master Plan. Councillors Stephen Karpuk, Nancy Bepple, Bass, and Bill Sarai were also named as liaisons to the Concept Development Working Group, the Program Finance Working Group, the Communications Working Group, and the User Engagement Working Group respectively.
Hamer-Jackson was asked to be a part of the Build Kamloops committee but he declined.
“I did sit in on a lot of the committee meetings and I was quite shocked that the committee didn’t include citizens,” Hamer-Jackson, whose decision to put his friends and election supporters on some standing committees led to the council vote to eliminate those committees, added on Tuesday.
“The working groups or the co-committees, I was in on those. Those committee meetings I listened in on a lot of them so to be a no vote would be kind of like doing the same thing over and over, like the governance committee that we had. So maybe you should change your ways.”
Mayor an ’embarrassment’ to Kamloops
Right as he finished his response to O’Reilly, Hamer-Jackson turned to Councillor Hall and told him to put his hand up if he had something to say.
“I just said to the mayor, I said you wonder why you’re not allowed to speak on behalf of council, you wonder why cannot represent the City at functions. You wonder why these provisions are in place. I would suggest that you need to take a look in the mirror,” Hall said.
“Take a look at yourself and take a look at how you position yourself within this community because quite frankly, I find you an embarrassment to our community and I still say to this day, you need to resign.”
“Well, Councillor Hall, I would say just because I don’t vote with you and I vote against spending $7.1 million on an already shovel ready project, and you call me weak-kneed. Just because I don’t have the same mind as you does not mean I need to resign.
“I don’t want to throw dirt here but there’s a lot of people who want you to resign. So you can keep asking me all you want. It’s not going to happen.”
There is no shovel ready project connected to Build Kamloops just yet. The figure referenced by the mayor is expected to yield those drawings by June 2026, according to the City.
More recently in June of this year, Hamer-Jackson voted in favour to authorize the creation of the Alternative Approvals Process.
That vote was to tentatively approve the borrowing of up to $140 million for the Centre for the Performing Arts and up to $125 million for a new ice complex, and $10 million for future Build Kamloops initiatives, pending the results of a counter-petition by voters.
In late July though, Hamer-Jackson was the only person to vote against the formal start of the process, that is set to wrap up on Sept. 13.
The City says barring any significant setbacks, construction on the Centre for the Arts could begin next year, with construction on the multiplex following suit in 2026. If that happens, both facilities are expected to be open by the end of this decade.
The Build Kamloops initiative also includes a new leisure pool on the North Shore, a large curling club facility to accommodate the consolidation of the two curling clubs, new indoor field space, and a new all-ages community centre.
It may also include housing in some of those facilities, if it is found to be feasible.
The initiative also includes a trio of smaller projects – a new seniors community centre in North Kamloops, a renovated indoor soccer dome, and new daycare spaces near McDonald Park.
You can find more about Build Kamloops, including the scope of the selected projects, here.
