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In the first of our Community Builder Series, we speak with West Kelowna's Father of Incorporation, Doug Findlater. Once one of the strongest opponents to incorporation, he ended up leading his community into it. And that's why KelownaNow considers him worthy of Community Builder status.
By the turn of the century, there had been four different Westside incorporation studies over the decades. Time after time, voters rejected the idea.
"The Westside has always been the land of the free," Findlater explained. "We still don't have a parking meter anywhere on the Westside," laughed the 69-year-old former Mayor.
After ten years as Mayor and twice being elected as a councillor, Findlater still has a feel for why people were so reluctant to embrace municipal status. "More government, more regulation, more cost. We're doing fine as we are. Why would you change?"
But after spending four years heading up the Westside Governance Committee, and the process opened his eyes to the benefits. "I was schooled. I was educated by that time on what a municipal government can do compared to what a regional district can do."
It was the work of Findlater and his committee, in 2007, that led residents of the Westside to form a municipality. And rather than join The City of Kelowna, opt to make it their own.
"It did tend to be the north end closest to the bridge wanted to join with Kelowna," recalled Findlater, "and the south end, the Westbank end wanted to go it's own way, although there were people on both sides in each area."
It was dubbed Westside District Municipality, by Municipal Affairs Minister Ida Chong. A subsequent community survey saw the name West Kelowna edge-out Westbank as the name.
A dozen years later, Findlater looks back and glows with pride.
"It's beyond my wildest dreams," he said.
"We didn't get everything done that we wanted to, but all the plans, all the funding, everything is in place to go forward, it takes time."
Findlater is convinced that the community would not be what it is today without the leadership that comes with municipal status.
"In the last ten/eleven years, we've discovered a lot of situations that were really untoward. They were done sloppily, and they would not be approved today. It was the wild west."
He said it's been a wild ride, but he's convinced the community has achieved something, that everyone can be proud of.
"My belief system is I'd like to leave the world a better place than when I found it," said Findlater, "and I think we're in a better place than we were two decades ago."
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