Heritage Commission gets its wish to remain separate from Community Arts Commission

NEWS/ CITY HALL — The Kamloops Heritage Commission got its wish for independence as City council voted today not to merge it with the Community Arts Commission.

They made the decision after heritage chair Andrew Yarmie and other commission members pleaded with council not to force the merger.

“The majority of members wish to keep the title Heritage Commission as they feel it is important for maintaining public contact and awareness of our role in the community,” Yarmie said.

“The heritage commission has a good track record and we want to keep it that way.”

He said when the merger of the two commissions was first broached there was “an understanding that if it did not work for the commission it would not take place.”

Yarmie and members Patricia Howe and Allan Costco outlined several projects the commission has completed and ones it is currently working on, including protecting Stuart Wood school as a heritage building.

In answer to concerns about the commission being able to get quorums at meetings, Yarmie said the heritage commission has several residents lined up to join the commission.

Howe said some heritage commission members are concerned that combining the duties of the two commissions will lead to inefficiencies.

The two commissions go in “totally different directions,” she said.

“We joined the heritage commission as volunteers and are not comfortable with the merger… We believe the meetings will be too long and cumbersome.”

She suggested the City look at Skype as a means of making sure commissions have quorums.

Mayor Peter Milobar said the issue wasn’t about the past work of the heritage commission but “really was around the quorum and finding members to even apply…. It seemed like a natural fit to fix some of the quorum issues.”

Coun. Tina Lange asked if the commission had considered making the board larger but Yarmie said the quorum would have to be changed.

Culture manager Barb Berger told council she continues to believe a combined cultural commission is better but supported the cultural commission’s request.

Coun. Ken Christian moved to keep the status quo and said the original merger plan “struck me as a pretty novel idea and perhaps one that is a bit ahead of its time.”

He said it might be something to consider in the future.

“When it was first presented to council it seemed like a pretty good idea to me” but that was assuming both commissions agreed, said Coun. Tina Lange.

Council supported the status quo as requested by the commission but a motion by Coun. Donovan Cavers that staff look into technology alternatives to resolve quorum problems for all commissions and committees was defeated.