Council urged to make suggestions about the overdose prevention site

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City staff put forward the recommendation because they did not feel there was enough clarity from the health authority about the consultation process following Interior Health’s presentation to council and after receiving a letter from the health authority.

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” The administration feels that the letter didn’t speak as specifically as council I believe would wish with regards to the public consultation process especially those properties businesses and residential that may see themselves as directly affected by the OPS site if it is established at all within the community,” said CAO Will Pearce in his presentation to council .

Pearce also stressed that Council should clearly express what they would like to see in the consultation process for a location, now that Interior Health has put the breaks on the procurement process.

” While my report was written in advance of this community update released today, the administration’s recommendations stands and we would encourage the mayor and council to clearly express that their expectations are as part of the consultation process and that it directly involve engagement with affected property owners, businesses and residences within 100 meters of a proposed site,” said Pearce.

But several Councillors wondered if the 100 meter zone is large enough to match the amount of residents and businesses that may be affected by the site.

” A hundred meters from a location is not anywhere near adequate., this affects, certainly in Calgary, certainly one of the ones in Kelowna affects the entire neighborhood, not 100 meters,” said Coun. Scott Anderson, who suggested the city host a town hall on the topic.

Coun. Scott Anderson says 100 meters isn’t big enough . He argues that overdose prevention sites impact entire neighbourhoods so consultation should be broader than what city is recommending #VernonBC pic.twitter.com/U5u8Tzz8e1

— Tiffany Goodwein (@CityNewsTiffany) April 8, 2019

Councillor Kari Gares and Councillor Akbal Mund agreed stating that 100 meters may be too small.

Coun. Brian Quiring argued differently and said that expanding the consultation zone may minimize the concerns of those most affected by the site.

” The problem is once you start to hear from everybody and the people most affected, it sometimes waters down the position of the people most affected, and that’s a little bit of my concern is that it just becomes a big blizzard of blah blah blah, and the poor people that are potentially right adjacent to it, it gets watered down,” said Quiring.

He also pushed for council to be included in the consultation process with the adjacent properties.

But Mayor Victor Cumming disagreed.

” I would be cautious about us taking on responsibility for their process and their implementation desires,” said Cumming.

Councillor Quiring also pushed to ask Interior Health to include the results of the consultation in the evaluation process before selecting a site.

” That way we could ask for the evaluations and hold their feet to the fire with respect to having considered the comments by the adjacent property owners,” said Quiring.

‘We actually can make a difference’

The health authority’s decision to cancel the request for proposals until more consultation takes place was welcomed news to council.

Coun. Scott Anderson called Interior Health ‘s decision to press pause on the procurement process, a true testament to the powers of local government.

” A lot of people were saying it was a jurisdictional issue, they can do what they want , we can’t do anything. This is a good chance to point out that we have an efficacy of political power which in many cases exceeds jurisdictional power , that we can actually make a difference , the people of the city can make a difference” said Anderson.

Interior Health announced that they would be cancelling the request for proposals on Monday afternoon.

In their announcement, Interior Health said that they plan on posting the request for proposals in the near future, and that their main objective “is to establish a successful overdose prevention service that meets the needs of diverse community groups.”