Bepple is back after eight years away from Kamloops City Council

KAMLOOPS — With just three incumbents returning to Kamloops city council, there will be five brand new councillors around the table at city hall come November 1.

Nancy Bepple was first elected to Kamloops council back in 2008 and served two three-year terms. Bepple didn’t receive enough votes back in 2014, which led to an eight-year hiatus. Now she’s back, and along with her previous council experience, will bring that long-term view to the 2022 edition of council.

“For one thing, people asked me to run, so that’s a really important thing,” Bepple explains. “Two, it was a good time in my life to do it. I retired from TRU, I have time to do the work that’s required. And three, I have a real strong passion for it.”

Don’t call it a comeback — she’s been here for years. Bepple was a rookie city councillor back before any of the current incumbents were a twinkle in their campaign managers’ eyes. After an eight-year break, she’s back where she wants to be.

“Whatever you do, I think you should enjoy it,” Bepple says. “I enjoyed the time before. I want to do it again, I think I did a great job. It was a chance to do it again.”

Bepple is excited to bring that experience back to council. She says projects like the North Shore Community Plan were started when she was first elected. Now, well over a decade later, she’s excited to see them come to fruition.

“You can see, like, Bright Eye Brewing, and you can see some of the other buildings along the Tranquille corridor are a direct result of that plan,” Bepple says. “I’m very excited about the North Shore plan they’ve updated and how that might be rolled out.”

The population within city limits continues to climb toward 100,000, which Bepple sees as a positive. However, she wants to ensure that growth occurs in a sustainable way.

“We have to be really mindful that we don’t pay the cost of growth. Some of those things would be higher and higher housing costs if we don’t look at ways to bring the cost of housing down. It could mean more frustration when we’re driving around town because there’s more and more traffic. One solution is to make it easier for people to do other things, like take the bus, use a bike, walk instead.”