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This story was originally published May 21, 2020:

Adrenaline, some anger, and once again the question of why: Peachland was again hit by vandals last night, and one of the suspects got a rude awakening early this morning by a District employee, who says he held the intruder in place until police arrived.

Craig Buchanan rushed over to Swim Bay when one of his co-workers found a man sleeping in the lifeguard station shortly after 6 a.m.

“I held him down and told him not to move,” Buchanan said.

He added the young man – who appeared to be in his 20s, didn’t fight back, and West Kelowna RCMP arrived minutes later.

 

Const. Marcus Pearson with the West Kelowna RCMP confirmed a man was arrested at the scene, and he’s facing one count of Break and Enter to a non-dwelling house.

There’s a variety of damage along Beach Avenue this morning – from broken LED light stands to kicked-in panels on light posts, to damaged fencing on one home. A rock with a rope around it – used to anchor floaties in the lake, was taken out of the water and smashed on the ground. It all happened overnight, and it’s possible more than one person did this.

“Because it’s an ongoing investigation, it’s hard to tie all the damage in to the specific person and to that location,” Pearson says.

“So, we’re mainly focused on the Swim Bay area. Once you get too far out, you can’t tie it to that person, especially without video footage.”

Police will be going through the yacht’s club’s surveillance video. Footage from their camera is the only video available.

The yacht club’s Rear Commodore Bill Van Noortwyk got an early morning phone call from a member, and rushed down to check the damage.

 

“Pretty much every boat on one side (facing the lake) was broken into. Fire extinguishers were vandalized and they got into our shed. It’s just such a, excuse me, a piss off.”

He says most people don’t even keep valuables in their boat, and it looks like the suspect(s) mostly unzipped covers and rummaged around.

“There might be a beer or two in a couple of them. But no wallets, no money, no drugs. Nothing worth the time to break in.”

He says while insurance will cover damage to individuals’ boats, the yacht club is on the hook for fixing their fence, fire extinguishers and the shed.

“I’m angry. I have to budget like a bugger to moor my boat here, you know what I mean? Like, we’re not rich people. A lot of us don’t have really expensive boats.”

Buchanan (who is wearing the orange sweater in the main photo), said the person who he held and was taken away by the RCMP wasn’t what he expected.

“To be honest with you, he did not even look like that kind of kid. He was a clean-cut looking kid.”

 

 

Buchanan did tell him to never come back, though. And yes, the adrenaline was definitely there in the moment.

“It was going,” he said.

“I told him, I don’t ever want to see your face in here again.”

His co-worker Jamieson McDiarmid said they’ll be spending the day fixing the damage.

“At least he was caught,” he said.

“We seem to get that senseless vandalism and you can never peg somebody. So it’s nice he was caught.”

Bob and Sherry Corder were walking with friends along the Beach Ave pathway this morning, and were not happy to hear what happened last night.

 

 

“We saw the police cars and we don’t often see them here,” Bob says.

“It’s very disappointing.”

West Kelowna RCMP continue to investigate. Call the detachment (250) 768-2880 or Crime Stoppers if you have any info – 1-800-222-TIPS.

This story was originally published October 15, 2020:

Small towns like Peachland have some big expenses – and because many don’t pay attention to local politics, spending often goes unchecked. That’s why there needs to be a provincially-mandated municipal auditor general, says the BC Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

As subscribers read exclusively last week, in eleven years the District of Peachland has paid $6,416,617 to Urban Systems, a consulting firm that has been a significant part of Peachland’s water treatment plant, planning and development projects, the Beach Ave walkway and more. Their relationship is documented as far back the 1990s.

And while the District of Peachland has a bid process for their municipal consulting, “if you constantly only go to one well, you can wind up with some form of favouritism,” says Kris Sims, speaking on the phone from Vancouver earlier today.

“This is one reason why we need a good auditor general office, so that we can just check. Maybe it is perfectly fine to deal with one consulting firm for decades. But we need to have a mechanism to at least check.”

More broadly, a municipal auditor general would essentially be a team of experts whose job is to keep an eye on spending by municipal politicians and staff. It’s important, says Sims, given the amount of consulting small towns with limited in-house staff tend to do.

“And the thing is, if there were more staff, and there were tons of them, your property taxes would probably go up,” says Sims.

“Whereas if the municipality hires when needed, and as needed from an outside group, that’s probably usually better value for money. But, and this is the key – if we had an auditor general who kept an eye on this stuff, then we’d know if it was good value for money, and we wouldn’t be guessing.”

She says the current system of accountability from the province isn’t effective.

“It’s in name only – we have a Pomeranian now. We need a Doberman. And that way if it’s there and it’s permanent, it becomes part of a culture of accountability, which is what we want to build here.”

As District of Peachland CAO Joe Mitchell pointed out last week, the District just doesn’t have the in-house expertise to put some projects together.

“Typically what we get Urban Systems to take care of, is those larger projects that we don’t have the capacity or the technical skills, like we don’t have anybody on staff who can design a water treatment plant or even manage a project of that size,” he said, noting the numbers over the past 11 years, from a relative low of $255,930 in 2012 to the highest, more than $1.5 million in 2018, are mostly due to the water treatment plant, which Urban Systems has had a hand in since they developed Peachland’s Water Master Plan in 2007.

Big projects like the water treatment plant happen because of federal and provincial grant funding, and Sims says taxpayers shouldn’t be mistaken – all of this Urban System spending does come from Peachlanders’ pockets.

“I’ll be blunt,” she says.

“If it comes from any level of government, of course it’s taxpayers’ money…if they’re getting a grant from the federal government, that’s federal taxpayers’ money. That means people from Peachland to Peterborough are paying. If they are getting a provincial grant, that means people from Peachland to Vanderhoof are paying. If (the District) is getting funding from any form of government, every nickel of that is taxpayers’ money.”

She adds that because most people don’t pay attention to the intricacies of municipal governments, a lot of spending – whether it’s effective spending or not – goes unnoticed.

“So much money and power run through our local city halls and there’s almost nobody keeping an eye on things. It’s dedicated local reporters, quite often, who actually keep tabs on this stuff, and it can add to millions of dollars.”

The Union of BC Municipalities – which says on its website is ‘a common voice for local government’ did not have anything to say about consulting services used by municipalities.

“This is not something that we have a comment on,” said executive director Gary MacIsaac in an email.

“These are local decisions and UBCM does not provide commentary in this area.”

Do you want to see how Peachland compares to others when it comes to consulting expenses? Check it out here.

There’s more:

October 8: Eleven years, $6.4 million spent: Urban Systems and the District of Peachland 

October 8: Urban Systems: A $6 million timeline

This was originally published August 10, 2021

Pete Coolio, according to Mayor Cindy Fortin, arrived at CAO Joe Mitchell’s office for an after-hours meeting. She says the councillor closed the door behind him and talked about a deck. The next day, June 16, she received a phone call from Mitchell.

There’s details (and different versions) in between of course, but the gist of it has played out in local news headlines – after an in-camera meeting July 20 attended by all councillors, the mayor, the CAO and the District’s lawyer, Councillor Coolio was censured. He can no longer deal directly with the CAO and other District staff (unless he makes arrangements through the mayor and has another councillor or District staff person present). He can’t serve on any committees, or take part in any conferences or seminars in his role as a councillor. And he had to write an apology letter to the CAO and to all of council. He’s written the apology and the matter will be dealt with publicly for the first time tonight, during the regular council meeting.

Coolio’s behaviour doesn’t meet the standard expected by council, says the agenda report for tonight’s meeting, “and is deserving of censure.”

When we spoke on the phone yesterday, Fortin said Coolio brought in a paper that June day for Joe to sign.

“It was on letterhead, filled out already to sign off on this illegal deck and even if he says now ‘it’s been inspected, it’s passed and everything – well, now it has, maybe, I don’t know. And ‘Maybe this meeting didn’t happen’, was another thing he said when Joe refused to do it (sign). You just can’t do that.”

But it was all a misunderstanding, Councillor Coolio tells me. I called him Friday and he wanted to tell me his side of the story (other media had already gotten it wrong, he told me). It took a few days, but on Monday afternoon, he went on the record:

“There was just no reason to think anything had gone wrong,” he said, explaining his account of that June 15 meeting. It was actually about building permit delays, he said.

“The purpose of the meeting was to say, ‘what can I say to people who come up and complain about the three month wait.’ Because I’m out of ideas. Specifically, I said I want to help as an ally, I don’t want to keep bringing negative comments from people.”

Coolio said he had some documents with him. Some of those papers had to do with a house that was sold this spring.

“It was for my new neighbours that I never even met yet,” said Coolio, who added in a separate statement that all this had nothing to do with his position as a Realtor with Royal LePage.

He recommended that the new homeowners get a building permit for a deck-related construction project, and he says the intention was for them to have a positive experience with the District of Peachland.

 

“There’s nothing in it for me, there just isn’t. The house had been sold, cheques had already been put in the bank, it’s done. I’m the one who said ‘let’s do this right.’ Real estate cases are 7-10 years old, you don’t want this to come back and bite you in the butt in ten years when you can fix it now. So get the permit, do the right thing.”

He noticed that a District bylaw – 2273, under the Inspections section, says that if a registered professional provides letters of assurance, the District will rely solely on field reviews undertaken by the registered professional, basically as assurance that the construction “substantially conforms to the design, plans and specifications and that the construction complies with the building code.”

And while he’s still not clear on exactly what that means, he interpreted it as an opportunity to find an efficiency: Joe Mitchell is a professional engineer, and as part of his CAO duties, he works with the planning department.

“As far as I can figure out, you take a letter, the engineer does, and sends it to the planning department and they look at it for their consideration. And it doesn’t mean you get a building permit, it just means the field inspection is simpler, that’s all.”

I questioned, with all the engineers in the world, why ask Mitchell? And why bring the document, if that’s not what the meeting was about?

“I figured he could explain it to me,” he said.

“Councillors can’t be expected to understand bylaws without it being interpreted by, I would say, the corporate officer or the CAO. There’s no better person to interpret them.”

So, now to the document in question. According to the agenda package for tonight’s meeting, Coolio attempted to persuade Mitchell to sign a document that would approve a non-permitted existing deck on a property he was involved in selling. A few times, I asked Councillor Coolio about this document and how it was presented to Joe Mitchell.

“I showed him the document and I said ‘would you be able to sign this kind of document, is this what it is, would you?”

He also said this:

“I showed him one from another engineer, but it had one from a Gold seal. I didn’t know how the bylaws worked, and then I showed him one that would be from him asking him how the bylaws work….what he (Joe) said was just ‘No, I’m not that kind of engineer.”

Coolio says he’s never admitted to any wrongdoing.

“I was flummoxed,” he said of the results of the July 20 meeting, where the censure was handed out.

“I had evidence to the contrary for every single point.”

He says this all feels very personal.

“It’s already been such a toxic environment. I always enjoyed talking with Joe. I really have, and I always told him, he’s a real life superhero. I’m here to represent taxpayers, that’s it. That’s my job as a councillor. I have asked some questions that are not popular, and I will not stop doing that.”

He says disagreements with the Mayor started becoming more prevalent after he questioned the Climate Change Coordinator position – an initiative of the Mayor’s Task Force on Climate Change.

“I stood up against some stuff that angered the mayor and it’s not a mystery to anybody.”

I asked the Mayor and the rest of the councillors – is this all a personal thing?

They all answered – emphatically – no.

“I’ve heard talk that it’s the Mayor against Pete or something, and that’s totally ridiculous,” said Mayor Fortin.

“I’m the mayor and I have to write a report when the CAO comes to me about something a councillor has done. It would have been negligent of me to not do something. I think it’s important to be clear that when I get a complaint or a report from the CAO that a councillor has done some misconduct that’s alarmed him, I have to act on it.”

Not taking action would have called into question the integrity of the entire council, said Mike Kent, who is serving his second term as a councillor.

“When something like this occurs, it’s definitely a very, very unpleasant thing for every person involved. But as a council, you have to address issues like this if it crops up, and if you don’t, you’re doing a disservice to the community if you don’t address it.”

He says this was “absolutely not” a personal thing.

“We wouldn’t make group-based decisions based on a personal vendetta. In that case, that would be calling into the integrity of the rest of council. And that’s not how we operate or do business.”

Councillor Pam Cunningham added that it’s just smart, anyways to have someone else in the room when you’re having a meeting with anyone as a councillor. She says the fact Coolio never signed council’s Code of Conduct is significant.

“At the end of the day, if someone misunderstands you, it’s to your benefit to have another person there anyways because then it’s a he said / he said / she said kind of thing.”

Although it was only Pete Coolio and Joe Mitchell in the room that day, Fortin says she’ll stake her reputation on believing Mitchell’s account of the event.

“I guess people have to decide who to believe. Joe has the notes and everything. And if it wasn’t the way it was, why was he so upset, and why did he get in touch with me the next day? It happened, and I’ll stake my reputation 100% behind Joe any day of the week. I know it happened. I heard the distress in his voice after it happened and what benefit would Joe have from this? Nothing.”

 

Like most decisions they make, councillors based this censure-related one July 20 on their understanding of the information in front of them. The previously-mentioned Code of Conduct – and my own research into conduct-related policies doesn’t outline specific consequences for these kinds of actions. So I asked, who determined the censure repercussions?

Fortin didn’t want to get into detail, because it was part of the in-camera discussion on the 20th, but it was between the lawyer and councillors “and we went back on experience, with all of us, putting it through to the lawyer. I know of a few things that happened before with censuring. I think it just came from the knowledge of what has happened before in other communities and with the RDCO,” she said.

Councillor Keith Fielding has served a few terms, including his time as mayor.

“I can recall something similar in some other municipalities, but nothing in Peachland, certainly not in my time, anyway.”

Fortin, along with a couple other councillors, pointed out that because Coolio sat on a single committee, he’s never attended a conference or seminar, and he’s been absent at council meetings, the censure shouldn’t affect him too much.

Coolio said damage has been done to his reputation, though.

“Look, this was just a misunderstanding. Because it is. It obviously has to be,” he said.

As for councillors Van Minsel, Condon and Fielding, all three don’t have much to say:

“I have nothing to say about this, I have no comment,” said Van Minsel, when I reached him on the phone yesterday.

“I’m going to keep myself out of this. I think there are five smart people around the table who will do the same.”

Councillor Condon acknowledged they didn’t know much about this saga until they got the agenda package for that July 20 in-camera meeting.

“The interpretation you have to put on it is – was Pete being demanding and belligerent or was Pete simply asking ‘how do I get around this bureaucracy.’ That’s the two ends of the spectrum. But since nobody else was there, we really don’t know. That’s exactly the crux of it.”

I left a couple messages for Joe Mitchell on Monday – I wasn’t optimistic, as he hadn’t spoken to other media, but he sent me an email around 6 p.m:

“The report that went to council outlines the incident with Councillor Coolio which occurred in June. This information is factual and will be discussed tomorrow evening at the Regular Council meeting,” he wrote.

Here is his account, as it reads in tonight’s meeting agenda:

“A meeting took place on June 16, 2021 between Councillor Coolio and CAO Mitchell in which Councillor Coolio engaged in inappropriate behaviour. During the meeting, Councillor Coolio attempted to use his office as an elected official to persuade the CAO to sign a document that would approve an un-permitted existing deck on a property that he was involved in selling. The CAO refused to sign the document and reported the incident to the Mayor. The Mayor sought legal advice on the matter.”

Back to Mitchell’s email – he says again, that his resignation as CAO was for personal reasons.

“The District of Peachland has always been a fantastic place to work and I leave with nothing but appreciation for all of the elected officials and staff that I have had the opportunity to work with.”

He signed the email Joe Mitchell, P. Eng, District of Peachland.

This story was originally published in May, 2022:

Far from home and right in the middle of one of the most horrendous battles of WW1, Lieutenant George Conway Jackson’s only option was to keep going. He may have known his chances weren’t good – as one of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, the young lieutenant was among the outnumbered soldiers sent to fight on a stretch of open land with no protective cover. This battle was more a political decision than a tactical one – and by the time the Battle of Loos was over, the bodies of 20,000 soldiers lay unidentified.

Conway was born in Scotland, but when he was 24, he decided Canada – and specifically, Peachland, was where he wanted to be. Everyone called him John, and he was well known and liked. He had only been in town for a year or so – but when war broke out, he returned to his home in England, and enlisted, just like his brother. His mother, Eliza sent him off with a treasured possession – a prayer book, which also contained information that more than 100 years later, would identify him as the much-loved Peachlander whose full identity – until very recently – was a mystery.

 

Most of you know already that Peachland can claim a very sad truth – we lost more men per capita during the First World War, than any other community in Canada. Of those 60 brave Peachlanders who enlisted, 17 were lost forever. Their names are on our cenotaph, but when you look at the memorial plaque that’s at the Peachland Legion, three names are missing photos. And one soldier, Lt. J. Jackson, didn’t have much information – until it was revealed that his name was actually Conway, not John, as Peachlanders called him.

And for local researcher Anne Wigfield, that turned out to be the missing piece to the puzzle. She has made it her mission to properly identify these soldiers, and yesterday during a short, but touching ceremony, a new plaque was unveiled. Now, all 17 of Peachland’s WW1 fallen have pictures with their names – and we know a lot more about Lt. Jackson.

 

“It gives me goosebumps,” said Jean Saul, the Peachland Legion’s vice president. She accepted the new plaque from Barb Dionne, of the Peachland Historical Society.

“I will look after this with all my heart.”

Back to Lt. Jackson: That prayer book, given to the young soldier before he went into battle, may have been the last thing he was looking at before he died. According to Anne’s research, Jackson was killed while signalling for reinforcements in crossing the second German trench. He was heading up what was left of his company, and he was badly wounded. He must have fallen very close to the enemy lines – because a German soldier noticed Jackson after he died. He was holding his mom’s prayer book.

This German soldier was a young man with a mother, too. According to Anne’s research, he was touched by the peaceful look on Jackson’s face. He read some of the words in the prayer book, and decided he would keep it and try and return this precious item to Jackson’s family – one day. But that day didn’t come, because the German soldier was also killed in battle. The book was passed on to his sister, and Eliza Jackson eventually received the prayer book, along with a letter her son wrote, just two days before he died.

Word of John Jackson’s death reached Peachland, and his friends insisted his name go on our cenotaph. Eliza’s prayer book – which linked the John Jackson in Peachland to his given name, Conway George Jackson, now sits in a special spot at the Imperial War Museum in London, England.

And thanks to the work of Anne and Don Wigfield, we now know more about these brave young men. More stories like this are in their book The Roads of Peachland – and you can talk to them about it tomorrow, at the art gallery (from 1-3 p.m., at the historic yellow schoolhouse). Copies of the book can be purchased at that time.

(ED NOTE – this story was originally published in May, 2022. You may purchase this book at the Peachland Museum)

 

Now there are 17 photos to go with the 17 names of our WW1 fallen. Don and Anne’s work is the reason we now have more info and photos for Lt. Jackson, Sgt. Harold Birkett, Pte. Robert Laidlaw and Pte. Frank Chapman.

The Peachland Museum’s Facebook page also has a bit of background (and you can visit the museum any time!). You can go to the Legion and see the plaque yourself. Maybe stop by the cenotaph afterwards, have a moment, and say thank you ❤️  🍑