Replacing West Kelowna fire crest comes at a cost
The first symbol used by the City of West Kelowna should be replaced at a cost of $15,000, firefighters say
A multi-coloured crest used by West Kelowna Fire Rescue on uniforms and vehicles is “expensive to reproduce (and) does not have great historical significance to the department,” reads part of a report to council from the fire department.
“With the 70th anniversary of WKFR approaching in 2019, the department is looking to revert to using the previous historical crest going forward.
This crest is simple in design and cost-effective to produce in all formats,” the department says.
But city managers do not support the spending of $15,000 go back to the crest in use before West Kelowna incorporated in 2007.
The issue of whether to stick with the current crest or go back to the old one is one of the smaller decisions to be made by West Kelowna councillors as they deliberate the 2019 budget, which calls for a tax hike of three per cent.
Other taxpayer-funded supplemental requests are $104,000 to continue with security patrols in central Westbank, $36,000 to increase payments to paid-on call firefighters, and $50,000 to hire a professional negotiator to represent the city in upcoming contract talks with the municipality’s two main unions.
Almost 30 new city positions are recommended for 2019 in the budget, including eight additional firefighters, two new RCMP officers, and a variety of clerks, planners, and equipment operators.
West Kelowna was incorporated in 2007 after residents narrowly voted to create a new municipality rather than join Kelowna. The municipality’s name of ‘West Kelowna’ was chosen in a referendum the following year, and the name had its first public expression when ‘West Kelowna Fire Rescue’ decals were attached to firetrucks in January 2009.