kamloopsthisweek.com | kamloopsthisweek |
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2021 | Volume 34 No. 8
kamthisweek
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DIRECTOR SAYS BOARD COMPLICIT
Kamloops resident Jacob Adams lets the Thompson-Nicola Regional District know what he thinks of KTW’s recent feature series of stories on spending at the organization. JESSICA WALLACE/KTW
JESSICA WALLACE
STAFF REPORTER
jessica@kamloopsthisweek.com
A longtime Thompson-Nicola Regional District director is breaking rank and accusing the board of directors of complicity amidst spending revelations reported last week by KTW. Last week, KTW reported more than a half-million dollars charged to former TNRD CAO Sukh Gill’s taxpayer-funded credit card in five years, prior to his sudden departure last year. The spending included on parties, restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, gifts and more. Regional district board chair Ken Gillis earlier told KTW the board did not know the extent to which the spending occurred and called it “distressing” and “excessive.” TNRD Area E (Bonaparte Plateau) director Sally Watson, however, said the board did know and that spending was part of the culture of the TNRD, pre-dating her election in 2002. Watson said she expects blowback from colleagues, after Gillis was deemed by the board to be spokesperson on the matter, but she is speaking out. “Because I have to live with myself,” Watson said. “And my code of ethics, as opposed to their code of silence — I’ll take my code of ethics first.” Watson said spending was bad in the early 2000s. She said Kamloops politicians participat-
TNRD Area E director Sally Watson: “There was never any attempt to do it less expensively. And this is all on the board.”
ed in a so-called “Kokanee Club,” going for beers after meetings on the taxpayers dime, usually at Hotel 540. Watson said the spending got worse in the past decade. Gill became TNRD CAO in 2011. Watson pointed to UBCM functions and high-end hotels and justifications made by the board — that the high-end hotels limited walking for older directors and the events were for networking purposes. She dismissed those arguments and called criticism by the public, with respect to board complicity, “absolutely justified.” “There was never any attempt to do it less expensively,” Watson said. “And this is all on the board. This has nothing to do with decisions made by staff members. See WATSON, A15
A message for regional district JESSICA WALLACE STAFF REPORTER jessica@kamloopsthisweek.com
Armed with signs accusing the Thompson-Nicola Regional District of being “corrupt,” Jacob Adams parked himself outside the TNRD Building downtown on the weekend to express his frustration over revelations about five years’ worth of spending via former TNRD CAO Sukh Gill’s taxpayer-funded credit card. The Kamloops This Week series of stories detailed more than a halfmillion dollars charged — including on big parties, high-end restaurants, regular coffee shop visits, luxury hotels and expensive gifts — in five years before Gill left the regional district under murky circumstances last year. After reading the stories, Adams,
25, said he couldn’t sit at home on a Saturday. Adams, a Queen’s University business grad, grew up in Kamloops and moved back to the city a year ago. He owns a house and pays property taxes, including to the TNRD. Adams also works in the private sector and has a corporate credit card. When he looked at the regional district’s spending, he questioned the lack of receipt itemization and oversight, along with frequency and dollar figures attached to the expenses, noting the private company for which he works has stricter spending protocols and is not publicly funded. The regional district maintains Gill’s spending occurred within policy and policy changes have since been made.
It is not good enough, however, for Adams. “If your judgment is, ‘Ah, it’s fine to spend $10,000 at these dinners,’ what is their judgment on issues that are going to affect us in the long term?” he asked. Adams also wants to know why more than a half-million dollars was spent on severance for Gill, whose departure was officially labelled a “retirement” as part of a legal agreement between him and the TNRD. Adams wants money repaid to taxpayers. “These people are the leaders in our city,” Adams said. “They set the bar for ethics. They set the bar for how people should behave and we follow our leaders. “When our leaders are this shady, how do you expect other people in this community to act responsibly?”
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