EDITORIAL – Why $150-million police station should go to an AAP

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

KAMLOOPS TAXPAYERS are in for another big bill for another big project. City Hall wants to spend $150 million to build a new police station.

Council this week wisely decided not to pull the trigger just yet, sending it instead to a Committee of the Whole session for more discussion. Councillors will have to decide whether or not to direct creation of a new borrowing bylaw, but it goes beyond that — will the project be put to taxpayers via a referendum, or through an Alternative Approval Process?

The latter has a bad name in Kamloops, thanks to last summer’s process in which both a new performing arts centre and a four-sheet ice hockey complex were approved. The AAP was touted by councillors as cheaper and quicker than a referendum — the latter in which voters would decide through an election-style vote.

Opponents of the AAP were, in fact, in court this week, arguing that the AAP should be overturned.

Problems with the AAP were many. Timing was one of them. Shortages in public information were another. But the biggest by far was that the projects in question were nice to haves, not must haves. People should have had an opportunity to say they wanted what was being proposed, or that they didn’t.

The AAP was simply the wrong process, and will taint the projects — at least in the minds of many — forever. But the police station is a different story. It’s a necessity. If we want RCMP to continue doing their job well, we must provide them with the facilities in which to do it.

The current detachment building has become too small. Disappointingly, an initial plan to upgrade it in order to extend its life, then convert it to a City Hall, is off the table. The experts that look at such things have decided the best course of action is to build a whole new building beside the old one, then demolish the old one for parking.

It’s unfortunate that the issue arises so soon after residents, willingly or not, were encumbered with $140 million for a PAC and $135 for a big ice. Resistance to spending another $150 million would, no doubt, be substantial. But a new police station is needed for the safety and security of the community. It’s not an option.

So, when council ultimately decides to go ahead with the project — and it will — it will have to bite the bullet and get the money the AAP way rather than a referendum that would risk defeat.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.