For the past two years, a group called Kamloops Moms for Clean Air has been meeting, with the goal of improving the city’s air quality.
After a decision by Kamloops city council this week, the group will get some help broadening its scope.
Group member Gina Morris was at council to ask the city to set up an committee on air quality, which could include both citizens and representatives from industries. She also wants to see the city commit to an anti-idling campaign the committee could help direct, noting the city could use GPS in vehicles to track idling and reduce emissions.
“We could save more than double on fuel consumption what we spent to set up the program,” she said, adding money saved could fund a broader awareness campaign.
The city is planning to add GPS equipment of this type to its vehicles this year as one of its supplementary budget items. The cost to outfit the fleet is just under $189,000.
But, the issue of what kind of committee to strike, and what kind of time city staff should invest in it, sparked some debate.
Mayor Peter Milobar said the city is already running too many committees and needs to look at amalgamating or cutting some of them before the workload overwhelms city staffers who act as facilitators.
“I don’t want to see the day-to-day core business they’re supposed to be doing paying the price for all this committee work that has to be done,” he said.
Coun. Tina Lange suggested the city help Kamloops Moms set up its committee with some advertising support to call for members, as well as assistance finding a room to meet and drafting terms of reference, but otherwise staying hands-off.
But, parks recreation and cultural-services director Byron McCorkell said that’s not as simple a request as it may seem if the group meets on city property.
“Things just don’t open and close on their own and there’s staff involved,” he said. “We can do it. If council wants us to set this up, we can take people away for it.”
In a 5-3 vote, council agreed to help the air-advisory group get set up, with Milobar and councillors Ken Christian and Pat Wallace voting against the decision. Coun. Arjun Singh was absent from the debate.
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