Prioritizing is hard but not impossible. In short I am prepared to raise taxes to address these concerns because we will need to if we want change. It may come to a point where insurance dictates that diking for flooding or FireSmart Fuel reduction programs must be completed before insurance Co's will cover these risks. In some parts of the world that is already happening. We should not wait till we are forced to. I think we need to be be proactive rather than reactive.

Finishing the dikes would allow for the Rivers Trail to be completed and doing so can add to our infrastructure of recreational and transportation network. It would also allow us to develop more businesses that service this so that should cut down on our costs by increasing our tax base. Change zoning to permit business development along this Trail so that it makes money, through tourism and taxes.

On snow removal or the lack of. I think a simple solution is to put front plows back on city trucks, give the staff training and experience in that equipment and its use, plus an effective plan to follow. It would help a lot. If we implemented a simple even and odd day parking rule, where even numbered sides of the street are vacant on even numbered calendar days and vice versa for odd, we could have snow plowed to the curb and or removed so that snow does not build up on our streets. We are used to this already for summer watering, use it for snow clearing in the winter. Our city pays out quite a bit for insurance for claims of trucks damaging other vehicles during the winter. Changing how we clear streets should save some money even if it costs us to properly equip, staff and implement this change. I think we all agree it needs to be better and I know we can do better.

Removing snow also should cut down on our pothole problem, because there would be less snow melting into cracks to cause potholes to form. Potholes need to be filled, but more importantly, we need to make sure that we have proper road paving so that potholes are less likely to form as well.

ALL of Kamloops should be safe from the flooding and fire risks that we may face. Alternate commuting/escape routes from Juniper also need to be there for Westsyde and Rayleigh (ie. a bridge link across the North Thompson). We need to build a ready to go plan for a North Thompson bridge crossing so if and when federal and or provincial funding is available we have a shovel ready plan to implement. This would reduce the wear and tear on Westsyde Road from Jameson Creek truck traffic saving us money on repairing Westsyde road. It would also allow more economic and recreational activity in Westsyde and Rayleigh thereby increasing our tax base. AND it would allow easier emergency services to service both sides of the river, even amalgamate hall 4 and hall 5 for Kamloops Fire Rescue.

I think we have to have ALL Kamloops protected by fully staffed fire halls. Currently Hall 4 in Westsyde has 2 FT staff, Heffley/Rayleigh hall 5 has no FT staff and Dallas/Barhartvale/campbell Creek hall 6 has no FT staff. With the construction of the new City Garden towers downtown we need more Kamloops Fire Rescue staff to be safe. 32 members to be exact. Let's build a fire training centre in Kamloops that can assist us with recruitment of future staff and training current members or surrounding fire rescue staff. This will also help us retain current fire rescue staff who could instruct. This should bring in income to offset our current and future fire staff costs.

We need to accelerate our FireSmart Program in Kamloops to reduce our risk of an interface fire burning our community. We can use community partnerships and engagements to assist our city with this. Our Rotary club is doing just that and there are provincial funds available for this we need to utilize.

I am willing to spend money and increase taxes if needed, especially it reduces future costs, frustrations and or builds community safety and tax base.