Dyas commits to independent audit of city’s finances

September 14, 2022

KELOWNA — Kelowna Mayoral Candidate Tom Dyas has announced that as Kelowna’s next Mayor he would commit to hiring an external third-party to undertake a line-by-line audit of the City’s finances.

“Over the last eight years property taxes have increased 30% and development charges have increased by tens of thousands of dollars — yet we haven’t seen drastic improvements to infrastructure or services as a result,” said Kelowna Mayoral Candidate Tom Dyas. “An independent third-party audit of the City’s finances will allow us to re-examine our spending and provide us with ways to modernize and improve Kelowna’s service delivery, while saving money and maintaining or improving service levels.”

Over the last four years, the 39 largest municipalities in Ontario have conducted similar audits with costs for the audits ranging between $50,000 to a maximum of $200,000 per municipality, however the savings found have been extraordinary. Through a financial audit, the City of Richmond Hill (population 200,000) found savings of $3.77 million and the City of Thunder Bay (population 110,000) found savings of $8 million — all without cuts to services.

“As a small business owner myself, I’ve had to make payroll and pay businesses expenses for over 37 years, and I know the importance of stretching every dollar and truly considering the return on investment of additional spending,” said Dyas. “Any large corporation, like a municipality, should conduct external audits of their finances in regular intervals in order to determine if they’re getting value out of their spending, it’s business-grounded solutions like this that will save taxpayers money and allow us to provide additional services without new taxes.”

Letter to the province on 800% increase in city fees to build carriage houses

August 19, 2022

Hon. Minister Murray Rankin
Minister Responsible for Housing
IRR.Minister@gov.bc.ca

Hon. Minister Nathan Cullen
Minister of Municipal Affairs
Muni.Minister@gov.bc.ca

By Email: 

Dear Ministers, It has come to my attention that in the midst of a housing affordability crisis, the Province of British Columbia is forcing the City of Kelowna to increase development cost charges (DCCs) on carriage homes from $2,500 per unit to $22,419 per unit.

As you know, Kelowna, much like many other communities in Canada, is facing historically low rental vacancy rates. This means there are simply not enough homes to house the number of people who live in our community. In order to solve this crisis, without drastically altering the landscape of our community, “missing middle” housing has been proposed as a significant opportunity to address this crisis. Missing middle housing includes carriage homes.

Carriage homes provide an opportunity for existing residents and homes to add a rental property to their property, without drastically increasing pressures on water, sewage, roads, parking and other critical community infrastructure. It’s considered gentle density. These homes are then rented out and often meet the needs of young couples, retirees, students and more.

By maintaining a low DCC rate on carriage homes, the City of Kelowna is incentivizing the construction of much-needed missing middle housing.

The rhetoric from Government of BC, under the leadership of Premier Horgan and former Housing Minister David Eby, has been clear that they want municipalities to increase the availability of housing in our province. In Ontario by comparison, DCCs are waived for all secondary suites in order to incentivize missing middle housing. 

Therefore, I am at a loss of words for why the province would seek to drastically increase costs for renters and property owners, while discouraging a healthier mix of housing options in Kelowna.

Ministers, I ask that you please explain the rationale behind your decision.

Have you measured the level to which this decision will disincentivize the construction of new missing middle housing? Have you measured how much this will increase market rent for new carriage home rental units?

Given that Kelowna is in the midst of a housing affordability crisis, I implore you to revisit your decision and allow Kelowna to maintain its $2,500 per unit DCC rate for new carriage home construction.

Thank you for your consideration and I await your response, 

Tom Dyas Announces Support for RCMP Recommendations

August 8, 2022

KELOWNA — Kelowna Mayoral Candidate Tom Dyas has announced that as Mayor of Kelowna, he would seek to expand the Police and Crisis Team (PACT) and ensure there is a full-time nurse at the Kelowna RCMP detachment’s cell block. This is the first step in what will be Dyas’ comprehensive crime and safety platform.

“As Kelowna’s RCMP continues to face mounting mental health-related calls, we need to ensure that the City takes a leadership role in demanding that our RCMP officers are partnered with nurses, who have the experience in helping those facing mental health challenges,” said Tom Dyas. “Our RCMP officers have been clear that they need stronger partnerships with health professionals to to effectively do their jobs and keep people safe. As the leader of our city, it’s a Mayor’s duty to fight to ensure they have those supports — and that’s what I’ll do.”

According to the Kelowna RCMP, they received more than 3,100 mental health-related calls in 2021. In an interview in January 2022, Kelowna RCMP’s media relations officer called specifically for an expansion of PACT and an on-duty nurse at the Kelowna RCMP detachment’s cell block. Currently, there is one nurse in the PACT program and no full-time nurse at the detachment.

“Our own RCMP detachment is telling us that they need support from those with professional training or experience to deal with the increasingly challenging situations they’re facing when it comes to mental health-related crises in their day-to-day work,” said Tom Dyas. “As Kelowna’s Mayor, I will demand that the province and Interior Health come to work with us to provide this support. We can’t simply sit back and hope that things will get better, we have demand and take action if we want to get results.”

Statement from Tom Dyas on Extreme Heat

July 26, 2022

KELOWNA — Due to the continued inaction by the leadership at the City of Kelowna, Mayoral Candidate Tom Dyas has put out the following statement:

“15 people in Kelowna died last year as a result of the heat dome, we need decisive action to keep people safe this week and we’ve seen nothing. While decision-makers debate over jurisdictional responsibility, Kelowna’s residents continue to be put at risk due to extreme heat.

The City of Kamloops and the City of Penticton have proactively communicated and activated their municipally-run cooling centres, and yet we’ve seen radio silence from Kelowna’s leadership.

The City of Kelowna says they need Interior Health’s permission and Interior Health says it’s the City of Kelowna’s responsibility. Residents don’t care whose responsibility it is, they want action – and right now there’s an abject failure in leadership and action. The City’s number one responsibility is the safety of their residents, and right now that’s not happening.”

Tom Dyas will fight to save Kelowna Springs

July 26, 2022

KELOWNA — Kelowna Mayoral Candidate Tom Dyas has announced that as Mayor he would fight to save Kelowna Springs Golf Course from being turned into warehouses.

“Leadership is about making difficult choices, and while we must plan for the growth Kelowna is going through we have to be extremely thoughtful so that we don’t erode the amenities and lifestyles that have led people to call Kelowna home in the first place,” said Kelowna Mayoral Candidate Tom Dyas. “Residents have told me that they expect their next Mayor to fight to save Kelowna Springs, and that’s what I will do.”

Despite City Council supporting the designation of the lands to industrial when passing the OCP 2040, Council and Mayor revisited the topic of Kelowna Springs’ designation specifically on July 25, 2022. At that meeting Council voted 4-3 to revisit the topic again at a future meeting, with Mayor Basran, Coun. Woolridge and Coun. Donn voting against revisiting, and Coun. DeHart, Coun. Singh, Coun. Hodge and Coun. Stack voting to continue the discussion.

“In recent years Kelowna has lost Central Park to Walmart, Fairview to housing, Shadow Ridge eventually to an airport expansion, Michaelbrook on day to baseball fields, and Kelowna Springs now designated for warehouses — the potential cumulative loss of these five courses is significant,” said Dyas. “While significant changes in a growing city have to be expected, it is important that we never lose sight of why people choose to live here in the first place.”

Tom Dyas announces candidacy for Mayor of Kelowna

June 29, 2022

KELOWNA — Local entrepreneur, former President of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and head of Kelowna’s successful 2020 Memorial Cup bid, Tom Dyas, has announced he is running for Mayor of Kelowna in the 2022 municipal election.

“Kelowna has seen tremendous growth over the last eight years and while we’ve seen some positive changes, our leaders have failed to address many of the key priorities of our residents,” said Kelowna Mayoral candidate Tom Dyas. “Kelowna has one of the highest crime rates in the country, housing prices are out of reach for too many, our infrastructure is ageing and yet we’ve seen 29% increase in taxes over eight years — it’s time for residents to get results.”

Tom Dyas is a community leader, having been actively involved in Kelowna Minor Hockey, and sitting on countless community steering committees and boards aimed at community development — including the Journey Home Task Force, the Airport Advisory Committee, the Child Advocacy Centre and an Okanagan College committee tasked with designing new courses.

“Residents need a Mayor who will listen to them when they say crime has gotten worse, housing is unaffordable, roads are congested, and a 29% increase in property taxes is too much,” said Dyas. “As your Mayor — my promise to you is to never say that good is good enough and to never say that any issue we’re facing as a community is not my problem. Being a leader means listening and stepping up when others won’t — and that’s what I’ll do as your Mayor.”