January 2024 Update from the Board of Directors

Dear all,

Welcome to the 2024 paddle season. I write this on a chilly, but very sunny Saturday afternoon, on behalf of the Kelowna Paddle Centre board of directors and management, to catch you up on recent goings on. I hope that you are somewhere warm and/or enjoyable, be it on a ski trail, ice climbing or enjoying a cup of cocoa by the fire. I also hope that you are thinking about, and preparing for, all that you might achieve in the year ahead. 

Since the last time that many of us chatted there has been much afoot at KPC. I’ll shoot to hit the high points. 

Succession

No, this is not a reminiscence about HBO’s awesome, though short, series. Rather, for those of you who are not aware, Tamlyn Böhm, our first/founding manager for KPC has advised the board that she will be leaving us at the end of July to pursue new adventures. As there will be ample time to fete Tamlyn, I won’t expound here on the many ways in which she has helped the Paddle Centre develop. Still, I would like to recognize and appreciate her commitment to the Centre, and particularly its paddlers and the community that has grown up around it. Her aplomb in the heat of the action, her ability to stay cool and problem solve on the fly, and her generosity in supporting paddlers across a broad spectrum of ages and abilities, will be greatly missed. More to be said about this in the months ahead.

In the meantime, your Board has been working on plans to fill this critical role in the organization. Currently, we are finalizing an updated job description. As readers will appreciate, this is an interesting role to define, given that there are elements of management and administration, coaching, programming, marketing, project management and resource development, to name but a few, that constellate around the position. Part of our deliberations explored the Centre’s priorities, particularly over the next several years, to lead us through this exciting, and at times daunting, stage of our development. We expect to have a new position description at our February Board meeting for review and (hopefully) approval such that we can get an advertisement in the field later in February. We’ll have a further update on the position profile and recruitment process next month.

Facilities

To borrow from Lennon and McCartney, this process has traversed a long and winding road…For several years, members of the KPC’s Board and Building Committee have had innumerable meetings with City staff to devise a plan for KPC that would integrate it into the larger vision that the City’s planners have for the park on which we now sit. Through last year the design would have housed all our requirements as well as some City facilities. As was reported at the AGM, once detailed costing was completed, we received an estimate that it would cost ~$4 million. Both KPC reps and City staff saw this as a target that would be very (did I mention very) difficult for us to achieve.

Consequently, there was a reset, where the parties resurfaced the possibility of a project that would retain and renovate the current house and boat storage, as well as see new construction of a smaller City facility. In amazingly short order, Chris Little’s company developed renderings based on this “new” concept. Since then, the renderings have been reviewed by various City staff. Responses have been overwhelmingly positive. The notional estimate for this version of the project plan would be approximately $2 million, with a confident hope that a portion of the cost will be borne by the municipality.

In December, the Board approved a motion intended to maintain the momentum of this initiative. The following is an excerpt from the minutes of the meeting:

The BOD supports communication to the City of our desire to proceed with the Little Building Solution Paddle Centre design and a framework for construction of a renovated paddle centre. Moved by: Tom Maxwell Seconded by: Marianne Morgan

Motion Carried

Motion #2: 

The BOD requests that Hugh Culver, on behalf of the BOD send an email to the City as cited below. Moved by:  Dennis Silverstone Seconded by: Murray Chalmers 

Motion Carried

Thank you for the meeting on December 13th. After much consideration, the KPC Board would like to propose a framework for proceeding with the construction of a new paddle centre. We understand the complete cost of the new public washrooms and renovation of the 3030 Abbott building, not including landscaping to be about $2 million. Of that, KPC is prepared to invest a maximum of $1.25 million for the renovation of the existing house and the building of new change rooms.

We are proceeding with a detailed cost estimate to move this project forward. 

We would like to reach an agreement on the framework. 

When are you available to discuss?

Since this communique was sent, the City accepted in principle our commitment for financial investment approved on December 18^th. We anticipate a follow up meeting with the City over the next couple of weeks, to further work on the addendum to our MOU. The goal is to complete this work in February. We are also preparing to move forward with the detailed cost estimate.

To close on this topic (at least for the moment), I’d like to acknowledge the amazing work of the KPC members who have persevered with this process, committing hundreds of hours to move the project forward. Included on this list are Joey Hertz, Jim Bates, Tamlyn Böhm, Greg Redman, Jeff Fink, Natasha Elliott (my apologies to anyone who I may have missed). And, throughout much of this journey, Hugh Culver has led the way. Hugh’s unique blend of charm, intelligence and tenacity is uncommon and has been invaluable to KPC. Given how much work has been done on our behalf, when next you cross paths with any of these folks, I encourage you to acknowledge all the often invisible work that they have done.

Fundraising

It won’t be a surprise to anyone reading this note that fundraising will be a major focus for the years ahead, and likely evermore. In the fall, KPC retained Kathy Butler, a premiere fundraising practitioner in BC, to help us develop a fundraising plan to guide our work to acquire resources to fund the project. With the inflection point in November, where the scope of the project shifted, Kathy’s work was paused. However, now that we appear to have a path forward supported by key constituencies, we will restart her preparation.

And, how can you help? Well of course, you can cut a cheque to KPC (or transmit through whatever method your generation is comfortable with). However, as important (perhaps even more so), we need KPC to have an amazing season. Throughout our discussions with the City, we have stressed that the Centre is not the bastion of a small cadre of affluent devotees who indulge in a niche activity. Rather, our vision is to promote and enable accessible paddle sports that are accessible to, and inclusive of, all community members (which is essentially what the KPC mission statement on our website says). Our argument for support is predicated on this perspective. 

One way that we can demonstrate that KPC is what we purport it to be is by showing the tangible benefits to the community that we provide. If we can increase memberships, expand program registrations (especially summer camps) and attract more community members to participate in public programs, we will be better able to affirm for the City that providing valuable and scarce water front public park land to us is a good investment in the health and vitality of Kelowna. 

So, how can you help? In many ways! To name but a few, 

• buy your annual membership early.

• bring a friend or family down to try out the facilities. 

• let your colleagues at work know about this.

• volunteer for a committee or to help out with one of the classes.

• Welcome new members and help them become part of the KPC community.

• Etc…