It could be spring before Kelowna’s priorities are made public

KELOWNA – The first of five private sessions was held by Kelowna city council yesterday on their journey towards setting priorities for this term of office.

The current council was elected on Oct. 20 and sworn in Dec. 5 but won’t have their priorities sorted out until March. Five priority-setting meetings are scheduled through to March 4.

“Usually, the mayor makes his comments in a document that comes forward to an afternoon council meeting towards the end of the process,” city clerk Stephen Fleming told iNFOnews.ca today, Jan. 15.

The first day of spring is March 20, so it could be close to that date before the priorities set in the in camera meetings are made public.

Kelowna council meets Monday mornings to discuss some items in public and others that are closed to the public and media, termed in camera. Those meetings deal with items such as buying property, legal issues or provision of a municipal service.

The priority setting discussions are deemed to be in camera.

Monday afternoons are set aside for regular council business, which is where the priorities will be presented and discussed.

The exercise is only done at the start of each term of office.

In 2014, council priorities were:

• Clean Drinking Water
• Building Vibrant Urban Centres
• Ensuring a healthy, safe, active and inclusive community
• Delivering a balanced transportation network
• Acting as a catalyst for business
• Providing strong financial management
• Housing diversity
• Homelessness
• Public Safety
• Preserve agricultural land

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