1. Citizen priorities at the centre of Council

Council priorities should reflect the most important needs of the people it serves.

Citizens are at the centre of municipal government. Strategic planning, budgets, staff work, and public reporting should show how Council is responding to the priorities residents identify. Listening should continue throughout the Council term, not only during an election or after a major decision has already been shaped.

• More meaningful opportunities for residents to be heard throughout the Council term.
• Clear connections between citizen priorities, Council plans, municipal budgets, and staff work.
• Public reporting on what Council promised, what was completed, what changed, and why.
• Independent questions about recommendations, costs, consequences, alternatives, and results.
• Decisions explained in plain language so citizens can understand both the choice and the tradeoff.

2. Safe streets and liveable community

Everyone deserves to use Kelowna streets, parks, transit facilities, neighbourhoods, business areas, recreational areas, public amenities and the Okanagan Rail Trail safely.

People experiencing homelessness, addiction, or mental illness deserve compassion and an effective path to help. Residents, employees, customers, families, and transit users also deserve public spaces that are safe and available for their intended purpose. Compassion and reasonable public standards are not opposites. Kelowna needs both.

I recognize Mayor Dyas and the current Council for taking Kelowna’s experience with repeat offending directly to Ottawa and advocating for bail reform. Municipal governments cannot change criminal law, but they can document the local impact, speak clearly for the community and press senior governments to act.

• Clear expectations for the use of streets, parks, transit facilities, neighbourhoods, business areas, recreational areas, public amenities and the Okanagan Rail Trail.
• Better coordination among police, bylaw services, outreach teams, health services, housing providers, nonprofit organizations, and neighbouring communities.
• A public picture of available services, capacity, locations, responsibilities, gaps, costs, and results.
• Reporting that distinguishes crime, social disorder, response time, repeat incidents, public confidence, and reporting behaviour.
• Practical action that protects public spaces while connecting people to appropriate help.

3. Every public dollar tied to a need and a result

City spending should begin with a defined citizen need, disclose the complete cost, identify who benefits, and establish how the result will be measured.

Fiscal responsibility is not an automatic promise to cut services. It is a commitment to protect essential services, test value, identify duplication where it exists, and direct resources toward the results citizens need most. A growing budget is not automatically evidence of better service.

4. Wildfire readiness and essential service resilience

Kelowna cannot control every ignition or weather condition, but it can control how prepared the community is.

Wildfire presents an immediate threat to life, homes, agriculture, tourism, transportation, water, insurance, and the regional economy. Preparation must happen before an emergency reaches the city.

• Wildfire mitigation in interface areas around Kelowna.
• Rapid detection and response capacity.
• Clear evacuation routes and emergency communication.
• Regional planning and shared emergency resources where they improve response.
• Protection of drinking water, agricultural water, transportation, and other essential services.
• Investments measured by proven risk reduction, readiness, complete cost, and public benefit.

5. Infrastructure that keeps pace with growth

Growth must be supported by infrastructure that is properly prioritized, transparently funded, and responsibly maintained.

New infrastructure receives public attention, but stewardship also requires the City to understand the condition and replacement needs of the assets residents already own. Council should make the timing, funding, and consequences of capital choices clear.

• A public understanding of major City assets, condition, replacement timing, risk, and funding gap.
• Clear priorities for roads, transit, water, parks, public facilities, and other essential infrastructure.
• Full lifecycle costs rather than construction cost alone.
• Fair and transparent allocation of growth costs.
• Capital reporting that reconciles the original promise, approved budget, final scope, final cost, delay, and reason for change.
• Procurement that preserves fair opportunities for qualified smaller contractors where project risk and value permit.