ST. ANDREW’S ON THE SQUARE – Dome of silence over City-society meeting

No news might be good news as the City and Kamloops Heritage Society met today to discuss future operation of St. Andrew’s on the Square.

City cultural manager Barb Berger, society chair Peggy Broad and St. Andrew’s manager Mel Formanski met this morning (Oct. 11, 2019). Acting mayor Mike O’Reilly, filling in for Mayor Ken Christian while the mayor and several councillors are overseas, also sat in.

While there were no official comments coming out of the meeting, other than that it went well, indications are that it focused on details of how the old church is being operated, rather than on a new service agreement.

A letter from Christian to the society in late August put the society on notice that its lease on the building would not be renewed, which came as a surprise to the society. The public has come to the defence of the society on social media, saying the society should continue to run the church, but the City is holding its ground.

The dispute between the society and the City came to light in an Armchair Mayor column last Saturday. The decision to remove the society is expected to come up for discussion at council when the rest of council gets back from Japan.

There’s been no indication whether or not it will be done in open meeting or behind closed doors, which is where the original decision was made.