Stephen Karpuk

Stephen Karpuk Answered

I believe in hiring the best candidate for a job not just because of a need for diversity. If more diversity is needed then train and empower those who might not be represented or even aware of the opportunity but I don't support hiring just to fill the diversity need.

Stephen Karpuk Answered

I support pay equity in the workplace. I believe that the union(s) or staff plus the HR department need to determine the details on this issue. There are often precedents that can be used and guidelines to be followed. I am in full support of this being implemented in the city or whatever workplace.

Stephen Karpuk Answered

I am not a union member, but my wife is.

Stephen Karpuk Answered

To me this is a journey that we will learn about, share and walk with those who need it, and be open finding mutual solutions to achieving goals we set. Respect, reflection, earned trust and time will get us there. I have and will continue to work on this topic.

Stephen Karpuk Answered

This is a provincial issue but we can design, create and manage a city that makes recruitment and retention easier for those who are trying to fill our health care and other job vacancies. A safe, secure, prosperous, healthy, and exciting city that we create will attract, and more importantly retain, workers and visitors alike. That is what I want to do at city hall as a city councilor.

We can also lobby hard and provide local solutions for provincial and federal governments to fund.

Stephen Karpuk Answered

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.

Stephen Karpuk Answered

To me the "fiduciary responsibility" is an obligation to work is the best interest of a party or others. It involves trust and responsibility. As an elected official I believe that we have that obligation to look after the best interests of our constituents or community. I believe that this can also be viewed in the lens of financial, or planning, in health or some other measurement. I will respond to the the financial and planning side.

For the financial side, I believe we as elected officials need to be vigilant with how the taxpayers money is spent. Sitting at City hall is not any reason to assume you are entitled to extras like working lunches/dinners all the time. I bring my own lunch to work and plan on it every day. I see no reason why that should change just because I am a city councilor. We need to look at the bottom line for decision and find efficacious ways to ensure the money spent is done in the best possible way. To me that means sometimes you will have to spend money to save money. We have a duty to be accountable, transparent and communicate effectively to those we serve. That is all part of the fiduciary duty to me financially.

From the planning side, our duty is to look at what will be best for all of our citizens. This is hard because sometimes the outcomes from some policy or decisions may not appear to benefit all. That said, if we look at the long term goal(s) and desired outcomes, we have to be comfortable making those kinds of decisions. I think trying to have less "in camera" decisions is also part of this obligation. I know we have some difficult decisions ahead and I am comfortable that I could make those to benefit the majority of our citizens.

Stephen Karpuk Answered

I think there are many ways the City of Kamloops and I as a Councilor can affect housing in Kamloops. As housing is largely controlled by cities this is an area we can affect change. BC Affordable Housing plan is fairly clear on what needs to be done. https://housingcentral.ca/

We need efficiencies for builders. Less red tape, more building options, faster permitting processes, more clarity on zoning and more willingness to look at multifamily building is key to this working.

We need to look at housing authorities, like Whistler did and many EU countries do to create Co-op and other housing arrangements. We need to look at increasing supply by encouraging TRU to follow UBC and build more on campus housing supply so that the community units are more available for non-student residents.

We also need to work with retrofitting existing building, which are the vast majority of our cities, so that they are more energy efficient. Rebate and retrofit programs benefit all by reducing energy costs and environmental costs.

Stephen Karpuk Answered

Yes. I understand the current living wage in Kamloops is around $17. Fortunately that is where most employers are at in Kamloops and most job vacancies are offering when I look at the vast number of job vacancies. We just need people who want to work, and who know how to work to go to work. We also need to adapt our work schedules to fit the needs of families. Perhaps it's time to find ways to adapt some job positions to allow single parents who can't find daycare to work from 9 till 2. Offer full benefits and this way they don't need daycare space. This potentially could allow them to work 25 hours per week and studies have shown that they are often as productive as 35-40 hr workers. It might fill some of job vacancies and increase the standard of living and well being of some of our community members.

Stephen Karpuk Answered

Safety, health and future vision.

I think most people in Kamloops see safety as number one and this is a broad area. Kamloops has changed in the past 4 years and it has not been for the better. People often tell me they don't feel safe in certain parts of our city and that list is growing. Business owners and employees tell me that they don't feel safe, at work, walking to and from work, during business hours or after hours. Seeing businesses shut down due to the safety of their employees or because they just can't handle the thefts, vandalism, or such is telling. When people tell me they are thinking of moving or won't be retiring in Kamloops, I know that we have a problem on safety.

Safety is also 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 a plan to follow would help a lot. Also I think 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. Removing this 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. Safety is knowing you won't wreck your vehicle, or bicycle hitting a pothole while commuting.

Safety is also having a truly connected trail system, hopefully the River Trail, so that non-vehicular traffic can move around our great city without being hit or killed. I have been hit twice on my bike while commuting to work and as such I now ride on the sidewalk on my commute from Brocklehurst to Aberdeen. Now is the time to finish this trail system. Safety in the air we breath because we have less people in combustion engine vehicles and more in clean air commuting or recreating.

Safety for businesses is also an issue. Businesses should know that the city will work with them to expand and succeed not put up road blocks or bureaucracy. Entrepreneurs need to know and feel safe that Kamloops is open for business and will encourage them to join our community. Builders need to have efficiencies in the the process to meet our housing needs for those needing safety in shelter.

Safety is knowing that ALL of Kamloops is 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 finish the diking to reduce our already identified flood risks and in doing so would help us finish our River Trail. We need to accelerate our FireSmart Program in Kamloops to reduce our risk of an interface fire burning our community.

Safety is know we 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.

On the health front, we need to lobby for more autonomy from IHA. Kamloops is not well served by the IHA and it is too top heavy with VPs. Kamloops and the areas we serve needs its long overdue cancer clinic and a cardiac clinic here. We also need health through community design of greenspaces, building designs, recreational amenities (trails, facilities, etc), and transit. We can only do some much at City Hall but we can come up with local solutions that we can lobby hard for.

On the future vision. I think we need one. Kamloops is not Kelowna and we should not try to compare ourselves to them. We need to find our future and make steps to see it happen. An Arts Centre, or a convention centre, the Rivers Trail, or ??? we need to define ourselves and show off just how great this city is. That said we need to be fiscally prudent and responsible and ensure that what we decide makes sense financially in either the short and or long term.

Stephen Karpuk Answered

I am a charter member of the Rotary Club of Kamloops over the past 18+ years and I am currently serving my second term as club President. I have been very active as a club member. I was instrumental in bringing the 2017 RCMP Musical Ride to Kamloops raising almost $90k for community. This money benefited the Away Home program, McQueen Lake Centre, and the Therapeutic Riding Centre. I am hoping we will be successful for bringing the 2023 RCMP Musical Ride back to Kamloops.

The funds from our club's fundraising over the past 18+ years has supported schools for AV equipment, jerseys, robotic kits, scholarships, white boards, chrome books, etc. It also supported programs, like the starfish backpack programs, Rotary Youth exchange, young leadership programs in Kamloops and in Canada.

For a couple of years now I have been actively helping the Kamloops Food Bank by coordinating Rotarians to distribute the yellow bags into areas not serviced by the newspaper delivery. This has increased the returns for Rotary Food Drive (Saturday September 24th!). I have been in 27 Rotary Food Drives over the years.

Our club has an adopt a road and trail that we pick up trash and pull weeds on.

I have been a mentor to our junior Rotary club, the Kamloops Hybrid Interact club, aged 12-18, for the past 4+ years and I am currently acting again as a mentor to these incredible young people.

I have also arranged for our club to work with our City staff to reduce our fire risk and do some FireSmart fuel reduction on some city greenspaces. We are planning to begin this work next March 2023 in the Sifton area of Aberdeen in partnership with our Interact club and local community members.

Overall, I feel the that my continued involvement in Rotary benefits our community and me. I get the fellowship, fun from working with a great group of people and I think our community benefits from the changes we are able to funds or make happen.

Stephen Karpuk Answered

I have been a candidate for the City of Kamloops City Council position in the 2017 and 2018 elections. I finished 10th in 2018. I was my own campaign manager, financial agent and with some family and friends, put up my own signs. This campaign will be the same to keep costs demonstrate by example I believe in fiscal responsibility.