By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
The race to become Osoyoos’ next mayor is heating up, months in advance, with a second person declaring his interest in the top council job, this time in the form of an incumbent councillor.
Zachary Poturica is officially stepping into the race for mayor, arguing the town cannot afford a reset at a time when it faces major water and wastewater upgrades, health‑care instability, housing pressures and generally aging infrastructure.
“I think it’s the time,” he said in a wide-ranging interview with the Times Chronicle about his decision to run. “I’ve really enjoyed the last four years. We’ve got some pretty significant projects to move forward and make sure that they get completed – water, wastewater obviously being the big ones… those are projects that we can’t delay much longer. They have to happen.”
Poturica is positioning himself as a continuity candidate: someone who has been involved in the discussions and planning to address Osoyoos’ infrastructure woes, and who has also been closely involved in negotiations with the province and regional partners.
His is not an agenda of tearing down, but rather continuing the work already started on the many fronts facing the town. “I want to finish what we started,” he says simply.
Water and waste
The centrepiece of Osoyoos’ challenges is clearly the complicated and costly overhaul of its drinking water and waste water systems, which he observed were “definitely the biggest cost we’ve ever spent on anything,” and likely the biggest for some time.
Responding to criticisms around an apparent lack of visible progress, Poturica points out the lengthy time frame for technical and regulatory work with provincial ministries such as Interior Health, among others, to ensure a future system meets or exceeds modern drinking water standards.
But he does acknowledge there is frustration within the community over the pace of the file.
“I would love to see a one‑year or two‑year build, but we’re in year four now just on ‘how do we get to shovels in the ground’,” he said, adding that he “certainly” hopes construction will start within the next four‑year term. “I think the residents certainly hope so too,” he added.
“There’s a lot of work that has had to be done behind the scenes,” he said. “We’re working with the province, we’re working with the ministries, we’re working with Interior Health… to ensure that whatever we do will meet and exceed those drinking standards moving forward.”
A one‑year pilot project to test what is currently in the lake water and what treatment will be needed has now wrapped up. In parallel, council and staff spent roughly another year trying to secure a feasible site for new infrastructure eventually landing on municipally owned land near Strawberry Creek.
“We lucked out there finding a location that “A”, we already own [and] “B”, there’s no necessary remediation of the land,” he said, noting that the elevation at the site reduces the need for costly uphill pumping as well.
The more intractable problem, of course, is how to pay for it.
“It’s a significant cost,” he said. “It’s great that we have a plan on the books – it’s how do we fund it afterwards.”
But despite the challenges along the way Poturica argues the town is in a stronger position now than at the start of the term, in part because Council has been willing to reconsider the town’s historical reliance on groundwater.
“The big one there was changing the source, or having that conversation on the source,” he said. Testing has revealed issues in the wells, including higher‑than‑normal ammonia levels that he links to past agricultural activity. “We’re seeing ammonia concentrations that are higher now than should exist in normal well conditions… there’s those challenges” he explains.
Aging roads and buildings
Alongside the critical water and sewer infrastructure are the other bits of ageing roads, sidewalks and town buildings all part of the same long‑term picture confronting the next council and with it, significant financial challenges.
Of concern to Poturica is Highway 3 and the bridge area, something he sees as priority concerns for pedestrian and traffic safety, especially given the corridor’s role as both a key highway and a busy local street.
In motel row, he said, pedestrians – particularly those with disabilities – encounter a “semi‑curve on one side” and then are “rolling into grass [or] rolling into nowhere,” with inadequate crosswalks and accessibility features and very busy traffic.
A recently completed transportation master plan sets out a slate of long‑term projects with the aim of coordinating paving with underground replacements, as seen on 89th Street and Quail where “we’re replacing water, sewer and roads at the same time.”
“We’re in a situation now where we have a lot of facilities… near end‑of‑life. What do we do long term?” That includes community buildings such as the seniors’ centre and the Desert Park recreation facility.
The latter, he said, was “built by volunteers,” reportedly for about $75,000 in the 1980s, and at one point “fell over once in the wind.” While a temporary repair is planned to keep it functioning, “there is a limited life in that building,” he cautioned.
One thing that has helped enact a sharp and needed course correction was the rigorous set of asset management plans introduced under the outgoing CAO, he said, as these have forced council to confront those pressures more directly and not sweep them under the rug.
“In the past… pipes in the ground [were] pipes in the ground until they break,” he said. “Now… you know they’re breaking, or they’re expected to break, and you ensure we have those funds in place to repair and fix and upgrade them.”
Inflation has clearly made the stakes higher. “Here’s what that $10 million question was,” he said, holding his hands apart. “A $10 million question now is probably 30 [or] 40 million,” as he stretches hands wide apart.
Fighting for provincial dollars
Securing outside funding will be a key test for the next mayor and council. With infrastructure failing right, left and centre around the province, largely stemming from being built in the same era and with the same philosophy of “put in the ground and forget it,” securing provincial funding has become highly competitive.
Poturica noted it’s become an environment where Interior communities are competing not only with Metro Vancouver and entities like TransLink but also with each other and soon even newly incorporated neighbours like Okanagan Falls.
“It sounds like, you know, let’s say a billion dollars sounds really great for the province,” he said. “Well, $750 million of it just went to Metro Vancouver, $200 million went to TransLink, and you’re now fighting for $50 million with 100 other communities.”
But things are not quite that dire, he notes, saying that the town has been “very successful” in presenting a unified message to Victoria.
“Council agrees that this is what needs to be done,” he said of the water project. “We’ve been pretty fortunate the last couple years [to have] some very supportive ministers and staff… They’ve helped us out along the way and helped point us in that direction. They just don’t have the funds in the bank to cut the cheque the way we would like.”
Short‑term rentals
Poturica also defended the Town’s controversial overhaul of short‑term rental rules, which took roughly three years of debate, open houses and surveys.
“We know short‑term rentals were a very divided topic,” he said, describing public feedback as “49–51 per cent in favour.” A vague, one‑line bylaw that simply banned stays under 28–30 days had proved nearly impossible to enforce and action was clearly needed.
The new framework, he said, has reduced the total number of short‑term listings but increased the share of legal operators and made safety, access and nuisance enforcement easier.
“Are there as many [short‑term rentals] today? No. But are there more legal operators today? Yes,” he said.
He also argued that the changes are beginning to stabilize housing for seasonal and service‑sector workers.
“We’re hearing from small businesses that have struggled with staffing… now that staff are able to stay in town, keep their families here,” he said. Some workers who once relied on employer‑sublet arrangements are now taking over leases themselves, “free[ing] up the business from bearing that risk.”
Experience and style
Asked why he sees himself as the right person to lead council, he cited deep local roots, his work on council over the last four years and long‑standing political experience.
“I grew up in this community. It’s the community I want to continue living in,” he said. “Our family’s been in the community here since the ’50s, and I’m committed to staying here my entire life.”
He described himself as a “civic geek” who has been immersed in municipal issues since childhood and has worked “with multiple parties, multiple levels” provincially and federally – experience he says has helped open doors in Victoria during his current stint on council.
Poturica also addressed criticism from some residents who see him as quiet at the council table.
“My mind is always thinking,” he said. “You don’t always have to talk. There’s a lot of conversation that happens behind the scenes… I’m not going to repeat what’s already out there.”
He said he ensures he’s fully up to speed on the briefing notes and reports before meetings and is “pretty well comfortable with the decision I’m making, and why I’m making it” by the time council votes are cast.
“There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done,” he said of the coming term. “I want to continue to be a part of that… I want to continue making this community a great place to be.”
