May 16 proposed counter-petition deadline in process for purchase of KDN property by City

NEWS — The next step toward the City’s purchase of the Kamloops Daily News building at 393 Seymour Street will be taken next week with the setting of May 16 as the deadline for a counter petition.

The counter petition — formally known as an alternative approval process — gives opponents of a borrowing bylaw an opportunity to try to stop it.

The City reached a deal with Glacier Media for purchase of the building a few weeks ago but it won’t close until the City can take out a 30-year $4.8 million loan.

Approval has been received from the province for the City’s loan authorization bylaw and the only remaining hurdle is a possible petition, which would need signatures from 10 per cent of the 68,410 eligible voters in the City.

That means petition organizers would have to collect 6,8741 signatures by 4:30 p.m. on May 16 to succeed. Then, names would be checked to make sure they were eligible.

So far, there have been no hints of the loan for the purchase being challenged. If a counter peition was started and did collect the necessary number of names, council would have to give up on the loan or put it to a referendum.

A resolution in front of council Tuesday confirms the number of eligible electors, sets the deadline and authorizes the form that must be used for any petition. Barring any hiccups in the counter-petition process, the KDN purchase is expected to be completed in August.