A Sicamous man is concerned the district is failing to look after its own when it comes to hiring for municipal work.

Kevin Kruger has put his house up for sale. A resident of Sicamous for six years, Kruger says he and his family can no longer afford to live in town and are moving, possibly to Saskatchewan where he says job prospects for industrial labourers such as himself are brighter.

The downturn in the economy and the impact it’s had on the area has certainly influenced Kruger’s decision. But the final push came from the District of Sicamous itself.

In late August, Kruger applied for a utility/operator in training position advertised by the District of Sicamous. The job called for at least one year’s experience operating equipment and machines. Kruger, whose credentials he lists as including the operation of grader, backhoe and Bobcat, alleges the position wound up going to an applicant from Peachland. This said to Kruger that neither he or anyone else in the community was good enough even for a beginner labourer position with the district.

“If you’re talking specialty needs, you’ve got to have certain tickets for this and that, if there’s no one available, sure, you look out of town,” says Kruger. “But when you’re talking about what’s basically a labourer’s position, why would you hire someone from out of town when there’s 40 people who applied for this job and I can guarantee you, at least 15 of them were from Sicamous?”

Kaija Isherwood of the Sicamous Employment Place says there is currently a highly skilled labour force in the community available for work

“During July and August of this year, we had a record number of people accessing our services which, based on last year’s numbers is very unusual because in the summer here everybody is usually working,” says Isherwood. “To us it indicates a lack of employment opportunities for Sicamous residents.”

Kruger says he supports local business by shopping local as much as possible and he feels the district should be doing the same.

Responding to Kruger at last week’s regular council meeting, district administrator Alan Harris took responsibility for the hiring decision.

“The hiring outside of the three director positions is the responsibility of the administrator,” said Harris. “The policy that’s followed by staff in hiring is a policy that recognizes qualifications and also recognizes people living in the community. I have no problem with regards to how this position was filled and I stick by the decision of the manager of works and services and that’s all I have to say.”

Mayor Malcolm MacLeod later said he supports staff’s decision, and that the city always looks to hire locally first as long as applicants have the right qualifications for the job description.

Kruger, however, says he asked a councillor if the district has a hiring policy, one which states preference, where possible, is given to community residents. He was told there is no such policy.

Isherwood says the current unemployment rate for the Southern Interior region is 11.8 per cent, and she suggests this is even higher in the Sicamous area.

“We really encourage all of our Sicamous businesses to hire local people who are unemployed,” said Isherwood. “Many of them own homes in the area and some have listed their homes because they are in the danger of losing them because they can’t find employment in the area.”

At this point, with his own work options in Sicamous seemingly exhausted, the one thing Kruger and his family want from the district is to see is a policy in place that puts emphasis on hiring local.

“We have people leaving town because they can’t find work here, and to bring someone else in who might not move to Sicamous… I just get upset because I didn’t think it was fair and I thought someone from town should have had this position,” says Kruger.