Jeremy Deutsch - Kamloops This Week Published: February 16, 2010 9:00 AM
The city’s economic-development arm may have a new lease on life, but one city councillor isn’t happy with how much it will cost taxpayers. Last month, Venture Kamloops signed a new five-year service agreement with the city for $530,000 a year, plus a two per cent annual increase. But Coun. Denis Walsh opposed giving the organization a $70,000 — or 15 per cent — raise as part of the deal. Given the recent personnel changes at Venture Kamloops and the effects of the recession, Walsh argued it wasn’t appropriate to increase the budget. “In these times, we all have to tighten our belts a little and see how it goes next year,” he told KTW. Venture Kamloops previously received $464,000 a year from the city. Walsh, the lone councillor to vote against the new agreement, said he has no issue with Venture Kamloops, but worries the increase could set a precedent for other service agreements the city holds. Over the years, Venture Kamloops has undergone a number of changes, both in its role in the city and in its leadership. Two of its CEOs have come and gone in the last five years. Most recently, Gail Scott was fired last March, with less than a year on the job. Dan Sulz was hired in August as the new executive director, with a mandate to create a new strategic plan for the organization.
Randy Diehl, chief administrative officer of the city, said the $70,000 increase is to help offset staffing costs after the split between Venture and Tourism Kamloops. VK previously looked after the tourism portfolio for the city until Tourism Kamloops was created as its own entity. Venture Kamloops has three full-time employees. At the time, Diehl said, the city knew the organization was short a salary, but the previous CEO undertook fundraising to make up the difference. Venture Kamloops had signed corporate sponsorship deals with a handful of organizations, including the Kamloops Airport and the Kamloops Indian Band. However, after some time, Diehl said, the sponsors didn’t feel there was any benefit from the agreement, while Venture Kamloops felt it was in a conflict of interest and couldn’t favour its sponsors, so the practice was stopped. The organization still has an agreement with the airport, but it’s not clear how long that will last.
When the city met with the business community as part of Venture Kamloops’ strategic- planning process, Diehl noted the city wanted the organization to provide the same range of services it always had, without cutting funding. Venture Kamloops will spend the next five years focusing on business attraction and retention, along with marketing. Coun. John O’Fee defended the contract renewal, noting every city the size of Kamloops has some sort of economic-development agency. He said the “rational route forward” is to pursue economic development through Venture Kamloops and believes the organization has evolved and become more focused on practical attainable goals. However, O’Fee added, the city will be watching Venture Kamloops to ensure it is meeting its targets and expectations. “Every place we put money, we need to look at,” he said. All groups that sign a new service agreement with the city will be getting the two percent annual increase to reflect inflation.
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Don Quixote note: The Vernon Economic Development Department in the year 2010 is budgeted for $247,643. (P.59) 2010-2014 City of Vernon Proposed Financial Plan. - 8.73MB 
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