West Kelowna city staff against renaming park for business man

West Kelowna city staff ran a criminal record check on a dead pub owner to see if his name was suitable for use at a municipal park.

And while nothing untoward was discovered about Bob McPherson, former owner of WhiskiJack’s Pub in Westbank, city staff recommended the park retain its current name of Avondale.

The city has a policy of not renaming existing parks, unless there’s confusion about two parks with similar names, West Kelowna city council was to hear from staff Tuesday. Instead of renaming the entire park after McPherson, who died in 2011, council should name a new playground in the park after him, staff suggest.

The McPherson family offered in April to raise $75,000 to pay for the new playground equipment. In return, they also asked council to rename Avondale Park to Bob McPherson Park, in honour of what they said had been his generous support of many worthwhile community initiatives over the years.

As owners of the popular pub in Westbank since 1992, the McPhersons have helped raise more than $1 million for good causes over a 25-year period, council heard in April.

“Bob worked very hard to improve the business as well as its reputation,” reads part of a letter from the McPherson family to council. “He got involved in the community, sponsoring teams for both adults and kids.

“He became well-known as the face of WhiskiJack’s, and could be counted on to share a funny story or lend an ear to someone’s problems.”

At the April meeting, council signalled its general support for renaming the park, pending more information from staff.

As part of their follow-up report, staff ran a criminal record check on McPherson.

“Based on the biography provided by the McPherson family, a criminal record check that revealed no issues, and the research and investigation done by the City of West Kelowna, should provide council with a comfort level to install commemorative signage and name the playground after Bob McPherson,” parks planner Mark Roberts writes in a report to council.

An option for council was to ignore the staff recommendation and apply McPherson’s name to the entire park rather than just its playground.