Q&A: Kent’s mayor excited to see pool dreams come true

It takes a village to run a village. Or at least a district.

That’s what District of Kent Mayor Sylvia Pranger told the Current when we asked her about her council’s ongoing work in the district. Pranger talked to The Current about her community’s ongoing projects, including the ambitious new Lets’emot Aquatics Centre.

In an interview halfway through her third term as Kent’s mayor, she talked about how important the support of a community is in pursuit of such a project—and how those community ties form valuable connections not just between people but between neighbouring cities, towns, and First Nations communities in the region.

This is part of a series of mid-term interviews with the mayors of Fraser Valley communities. You can read the others here: Ross Siemens (Abbotsford) | Paul Horn (Mission) | Ken Popove (Chilliwack) | Victor Smith (Hope) | Fred Talen (Harrison Hot Springs). Our interview with the mayor of Langley City will be published in an upcoming edition. Langley Township has ignored The Current’s request for an interview with Mayor Eric Woodward.

This interview between Pranger and FVC Local Journalism Initiative reporter Grace Giesbrecht has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.

The new pool

Fraser Valley Current: It’s been about two years since the last election. What would you say some of the achievements of you and your council have been over the last few years?

Sylvia Pranger: Over the last two years, our biggest project is the start of the Lets’emot Regional Aquatic Center. That's a huge project for our community, and we're excited to see that actually coming to fruition.

FVC: The new pool is a pretty ambitious project, especially for such a small community. How does it feel to see it finally get off the ground?

SP: It feels like a dream come true. The Fernie Coombe Pool has been just an amazing asset in our community, but staff have had to be very, very creative to keep it going. It's 47 years old, and it's fighting to stay alive till the new aquatic centre is complete. We're so excited to be able to provide year-round swimming and activities for the community…Without the grants and the support of the community, this would not be possible. The biggest grant we received, for which we had MLA Kelly Patton's support, was for $10 million. That was a huge bonus to get it going.

FVC: Is there any prediction so far of how funding the pool will affect tax bills in the community going forward?

SP: We haven’t gone through that portion of the firm numbers yet, but we are also talking to our neighbors, and when we have had those opportunities, then we will be able to come up with more firm numbers for the cost of operating…The district and the staff have been working extremely hard to put away reserves over not just this term but previous terms of different councils, knowing that the life of the Fernie Coombe pool was coming to an end. Staff have been frugal about putting money away for this huge project.

FVC: Are rising construction costs a concern?

SP: That's always a scary thought, but our staff and the construction supervisors are keeping an extremely close eye on costs, and we at this point, and I'm sure into the future, don't anticipate going over our budget.

FVC: I'm curious if you currently have any idea of what staffing the new aquatic centre will look like? I know there's a lot of aquatic centres in the area that have had troubles in summers past getting enough lifeguards to operate.

SP: I do. We actually had a special program to train lifeguards where we're actually subsidizing the training in order to get lifeguards, young lifeguards, to stay in our community, and we've done that for two years, and we will be continuing with that, and we’re. hoping to secure enough staff to safely run the pool.

FVC: Is there any advice that you would give another small community that was looking to build something of this scale?

SP: Keep dreaming and work hard at partnering with the province and the federal government and community members and hope, just don't give up. We have applied for so many grants. But just keep dreaming and really, if you keep at it, it will work, and when the dream actually happens, it's really rewarding.

A community of communities

FVC: The pool is a huge project. Are there any other projects or accomplishments that you think stand out, looking back on the last two years?

SP: We have done some rural paving, and look forward to doing more as it’s in the budget. We add it into our five-year capital plan all the time. We also have a brand new fire truck and a new regional fire training centre, which allows much more in-depth training for our firefighters. But that was also done in partnership with our neighbors, whose firefighters will all train here. They can simulate, for example, a fire in a home, and even a barbecue fire right on a deck. So it's a huge asset, and it would not have been possible without our neighboring communities supporting us, like Harrison Hot Springs and Seabird Island First Nation. It's amazing. The grand opening was just a week or so ago.

There was also a huge culvert replacement and a fish enhancement project with it, which was a joint project, again, with the Seabird Island band. So we're kind of scattering, or not scattering, but trying to find ways to do things in different areas of the community.

FVC: Speaking of your neighbours in the area, I’ve heard there’s a bus route proposed on Highway 7, north of the Fraser. I was wondering what your thoughts are on how the prospects for this bus route look and how it would benefit the community?

SP: There are many people who just can't afford a vehicle anymore, like students and seniors, and I think, because we now have a route from Hope as well, between Hope and Agassiz, that the logical next logical step is from Agassiz to Mission … There are some questions that still need to be answered for the Agassiz to Mission route, but it would be beneficial for communities, including even First Nations and then rural communities along the route for sure, to have a connection by bus, so that if they need to get to appointments, or even to the West Coast Express, they could do so.

FVC: What has the relationship between Kent and Harrison Hot Springs been like the last two years? Do you expect it to change now that the council at Harrison is more settled under new leadership?

SP: We've always had a good working relationship with Harrison. We do some joint projects. We also have a joint emergency committee now, and our emergency coordinator serves Harrison, Kent and Seabird Island. So we have had good working relationships with Harrison in the past, and look forward to a really good relationship with them coming up.

FVC: Have you met with your new counterpart there yet?

SP: I had a meeting with the new mayor, Mayor Talen, and we are looking forward to a joint council meeting in the very near future.

Looking to the future

FVC: As you look to the future, what are your thoughts on how Kent and Agassiz will be able to develop more housing, especially as the province is pushing for more density? What does that look like?

SP: There's a tough question for us, because we're primarily a very, very good agricultural community. Our basis is agriculture and we have a very good record of supporting agriculture as an industry, but the industry also uses a lot of land, and that leaves us little to zero land for development purposes … Affordable housing is an issue here, and our vacancy rate is only 1.4% so that's very, very few available homes for renting and for low-income people. So that is a big challenge for us, but we're doing the best we can with our bylaws. We’re allowing people to develop secondary suites everywhere, as well as carriage homes, just in order to increase the availability somewhat.

FVC: Are there any big goals that you envision for you and your council's term for the next two years?

SP: We’ll continue to work with our neighbors and also the completion of the new pool—that is a big enough project to keep us all out of trouble for sure for the next two years. But that isn’t to say we won't be doing the ongoing work that the community needs. We need health care, we need to work on all of the issues that every other municipality deals with. Affordable housing is a huge issue, and we will, as a council and staff, work on that for the next two years and into the future as well, because those issues are not going to go away.

FVC: We recently had the provincial election, and while we still aren't certain who won, any provincial election brings promises and potentially changes, including to policies that have a big impact on cities and towns like Kent. So, is there anything you hope specifically to see in the aftermath of the election? [This interview took place on October 22, before it was confirmed that the NDP would be able to form a new government.]

SP: That's a good question. And aftermath is probably a good word. We won’t know for more than a week and maybe even longer who is actually going to be premier. I want to give a shout out to our former MLA Kelly Patton, who worked tirelessly for Kent. Some of the grants we received I'm sure are due to some of the work she did in the background. But we have always worked with any government that's in power, and I respect those that run provincially. Our council will work with whoever forms the next government, and I hope—I do more than hope, I hope and pray—that they see small communities are so important and how the work that small communities do contributes to the overall picture in the province.