Council candidates quizzed at forum

Eleven of the 16 candidates vying for one of six West Kelowna council seats in the Oct. 20 municipal election attended a forum organized by Heather Yeats at the Westside Alliance Church Tuesday evening .

Each candidate had one minute to introduce themselves and then were randomly selected to answer impromptu questions on everything from downtown to their volunteer backgrounds.

Winston Wammer came out swinging in his introduction.

“We’ve had 10 years of a council that has not listened or communicated adequately with our community, that has been indifferent to our concerns, has not been proactive, has not demonstrated strong leadership and has ignored our concerns.” he told the crowd. “We need change.”

When asked about a city hall for West Kelowna Wammer said about six out of 10 residents he has spoken to think West Kelowna needs a civic centre.

“We don’t need a Taj Mahal that just shuffles paper,” he said. “We need a civic centre that serves the community.”

The centre could include space for the Interior Health Authority, a seniors’ centre, a teen centre and maybe a meeting room, he said.

Rosalind Neis, West Kelowna’s first mayor and two-term councillor, defended her absences from council meetings.

“You’ve all been given a piece of paper showing the attendance and unfortunately, yeah, I haven’t made every meeting because I’ve been saving lives with the Red Cross across the planet,” she said.

Neis told the crowd she is the one on council always pushing the gauntlet.

“The City of West Kelowna does not have enough money to give you all the things that you want. We might have enough to do the things that we need,” she said, noting the city’s severe infrastructure deficit.

Neis also came out against a new city hall when asked.

“We have a City Hall,” she said. “I don’t believe we should be building anything new and extravagant.”

Instead Neis reiterated her solution to overcrowding by putting a second floor on the current location.

“I would rather have my tax dollars go towards building a new community centre,” she said.

Jayson Zilkie, a 34-year old Mount Boucherie Secondary School graduate, told the crowd he believes in community safety, strong partnerships, economic development and improved traffic flow.

Zilkie has a degree in business and marketing, is a senior manager for one the 50 fastest growing business in Canada and runs his own small business in West Kelowna. He currently serves as board member and treasurer for the Kelowna Gospel Mission.

“I am committed to see a West Kelowna where businesses can