FEATURED HEADLINE
Doug Gilchrist is the unelected city manager of Kelowna. This file is about how he used that chair: a public payroll he would not apologize for, and a 27.8 million dollar waterfront take that closed before the public was asked. Mayor Tom Dyas owns the political sales pitch. Council owns the yes. Gilchrist owns the staff work, the talking points, and the shrug. No charge. No conviction. No proven kickback in his name. What follows is the public record stacked in one place.
In 2019, his first full year in the job, the sunshine list put him at about 264,000 dollars. By 2024 the salary sat near 362,000 and the package with expenses near 384,000. The 2025 Statement of Financial Information printed 373,852 dollars plus about 22,000 in expenses. Carson Binda of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation called it eye watering: almost Vancouver city manager money in a city a fraction of the size, more than 100,000 above Premier David Eby. Global News asked. Gilchrist said he was certainly not going to apologize for what he gets paid or for what the city pays staff. He pointed at the airport, the landfill, and regional work. Dyas did not haul him back. In the same stretch council voted itself a large raise. Councillor Ron Cannan refused his. Gilchrist took the top line and treated the comparison as an insult.
That is the man who then helped walk a dead hotel onto the public books.
The dirt is the old Willow Inn ground at 289 Queensway, empty after the inn came down in 2009, used as parking while a tower lived on paper. Edmonton based Westcorp spent years on a high rise hotel and condo scheme. Company names on the public file: Westcorp, Westcorp Projects Inc., owner vehicle 1324632 Alberta Inc. on older permits. Philip Milroy, founder and chief executive. Gail Temple, chief operating officer and the face of the Kelowna hotel file for more than a decade. Jonathan Milroy on the asset side. Permits came and went, including files in 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2022. Plans ran as high as a 33 storey mix of rooms and residences. Temple said construction pricing and interest rates made the hotel unfeasible. The last permit died. The lot stayed a lot.
On 16 October 2025 the city announced it had already bought three pieces from Westcorp for 27.8 million dollars: 289 Queensway (assessed about 22.7 million), the office at 1440 to 1460 Pandosy (assessed about 5.8 million), and the marina and pier (about 1.6 million assessed). Staff called it a bargain because the cheque sat under combined assessment. Taxpayers heard after the sale. No referendum. No alternate approval process. No town hall before the money moved. Staff said Municipal Finance Authority borrowing stayed under the ten percent liability servicing threshold, with headroom spoken of near 60 million, so electors did not have to be asked. Legal dodge. Political fact: the largest purchase in the city’s life was treated like a private closing.
Dyas said they started talking to Westcorp because it was no longer clear the site would be built, and he did not want condos or townhouses on that water. He sold a world class hotel and marina, tourism, events. Gilchrist sold strategy. He told Jim Csek on NowMedia the city was in the driver’s seat, that this was a great public asset, that they would hold three to five years and hunt a partner. He said he had not received negative feedback. He said citizens could phone his office. Sharron Simpson, former councillor, called the buy profoundly wrong and a bailout. Cannan asked in open meeting what it had to do with water, sewers, and streets. Binda said hall should not role play as a developer with taxpayer credit. Resident Linda O’Farrell called it excessive. Oscar Haupt wrote that Gilchrist’s accountability was atrocious. Temple wrote that Westcorp still believed in a hotel even if they would not build it. The criticism existed. Gilchrist’s public answer was excitement and a direct line.
The city did not take over the cash register. Westcorp stayed on to manage the office, the marina, and the parking so rent, slips, and stall fees could be said to cover interest. Westcorp Property Management Inc. holds a B.C. brokerage licence at 200 1460 Pandosy, inside the building the city bought, effective 7 October 2025. Philip Milroy’s shop sold the dirt and kept the day job on the till. The marina is 68 slips, fuel, rentals, a public pier. Real money. The management fee, term, audit, and split were not put on the table as a public ledger.
The borrow is MFA credit. The slogan was no impact on taxation because asset revenue would carry the cost. By April 2026 council was looking at a short term MFA structure: interest only for as long as five years, then a lump of principal. Interest only is rent on debt. The 27.8 million does not vanish. If the flip is late or the income misses, the lump still lands on the city. Avington Financial Limited was hired to hunt a hotel flag, a developer, and an investment group. No flag named. No tower up. City hall is a hotel desk with a hold clock.
Gilchrist came up through city real estate, the shop that values civic dirt and structures buys. He then sat above that shop on the biggest land take in city history. The appearance is a man marking his own homework. The culture under him is the old Kelowna brand: hall as a service counter for projects, process for residents. He did not need a bag for that brand to be his. He staffs it.
He also sits on the ethics gate. The code of conduct sends complaints about councillors to the city manager and the clerk before council is even told a file exists. In 2024 that pair was Gilchrist and Stephen Fleming. They decide merit. Dyas spoke of due consideration. The public got quiet. The unelected staff boss is the first filter on whether elected people get investigated.
What Gilchrist has not done is the only work that would count as accountability. Purchase contract. Valuations. Who negotiated. Whether he recused. Westcorp management agreement, fee, and monthly take. MFA rate, interest only window, principal date. Avington mandate. Code of conduct log: date in, date out, kept or killed. Pay grid next to Eby and Vancouver with his name under it. Until those pages exist he is not the public’s manager. He is the highest paid man in the building, about 374,000 dollars, who closed a private stall with public credit, left the seller on the keys, told the town to call him if they were confused, and refused to apologize for the cheque.
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