Carol Youngberg has decided not to run again for Town of Osoyoos council. (Richard McGuire file photo)
It was a last-minute decision, but Councillor Carol Youngberg only announced Friday, the last day for nominations, that she would not be seeking re-election.
Youngberg said she made the decision Thursday morning while attending the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) conference in Whistler.
She cited health concerns as well as new laws for Realtors that she says would make it very difficult to continue serving on council. The full impact of those laws only became clear to her during discussions at UBCM, she said.
Revisions to the B.C. Real Estate Services Act came into effect on June 15, which aim to increase transparency in real estate transactions.
Youngberg said she wanted to keep her heath matters private, but she said they are “partly stress-related” and not major.
“My health comes before anything,” she said.
As for the new real estate laws, she said they impose strict conflict of interest rules on Realtors, “particularly when you are in a position of an elected official.”
She said she doesn’t want to put her real estate license in jeopardy.
In her past four years on council, Youngberg said there were only two issues on which she had to declare a conflict of interest and recuse herself.
Ironically, one of those issues she sees as being a win for the town.
Youngberg said she made local developer Hart Buckendahl aware of the opportunities at Meadowlark Subdivision and the Richter Remainder property south of the new fire hall. And she showed him the property and introduced him to the late director of planning and development, Alain Cunningham.
“It worked out really well, but having said that, going forward it was difficult to sit in on any of the policy changes, planning, zoning and all the subdivision guidelines that they had to put together,” she said. “I had to recuse myself.”
The town’s deal with Buckendahl and his company, Ellcar Construction, generated more than $1 million in revenue for the town, Youngberg said.
A second highlight of her time on council, she said, was the resurrection of Desert Park, the aging equestrian facility. Youngberg was active with the Desert Park Exhibition Society before being elected to council, serving as its president and playing a major role in bringing back horseracing.
While she was on council, the town partnered with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS), which provided funding to help revamp the main building and grandstands.
Youngberg said that after leaving council she plans to renew her role with Desert Park and is hoping to become a director again, working with Town of Osoyoos community services to encourage more events at the park’s infield.
She said the agricultural side of the Desert Park Exhibition Society is very busy, with users from throughout the Okanagan and Similkameen, but she acknowledges that the grandstand is underused.
Youngberg also points to her role on council as a director on the Okanagan Regional Library’s board.
“Osoyoos is one of 28 regional libraries served by this board,” she said. “It is so important that we continue to support and grow small libraries in rural British Columbia.”
Youngberg said her decision not to run again was “very difficult.”
Her time on council taught her a lot about what goes on behind the scenes and the challenges that staff faces.
She said her big passion has been community involvement and over the years she has been active with such diverse groups as the Toastmasters, Rotary, the Osoyoos Royalty and the Osoyoos Festival Society.
“I am very passionate about our community and I will continue to always be as long as I am here,” she said.
Youngberg has been a resident of Osoyoos for 42 years, coming here in 1976, and she has been a Realtor for about the same length of time.
She is originally from Nipawin, Saskatchewan, but she grew up in Prince George. She also lived five years in Kelowna.
She has one adult son, Chad, who works in the oil business in Alberta.
Her late husband, Terry Yusep, who died in 2012, used to own the Rialto Hotel for 35 years, but Youngberg was not involved with that hotel, which Yusep’s family sold in 1980.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
It’s too bad it took the real estate council codifying what has always been conflict of interest for Youngberg to finally step away.
It’s an inherent conflict for any licensed realtor to be taking part in zoning and development decisions in an town for which they or their brokerage conduct business. She should have been forced to surrender her her license and brokerage as a condition of taking office when first elected.
She now holds unique and privileged information and insights in to the town’s future planning that should further bar her from conducting real estate business within city limits for at least the next few years.
This is exactly the sort of thing that seems to be happening within town counsel walls. A real estate agent involved in zoning and development decisions for the town? How shady does that seem when you have someone that can provide information to family, friends or developers she can directly benefit from.
How dumb are the town counsel to have let this happen?
Just another example of the nonsense that is being allowed to happen, where in other city or town counsels this would not have been overlooked.
This town counsel seriously needs to have the DEAD WOOD removed!