Keeping Rutland clean and safe is No. 1 priority for new prez of Uptown association

The success -- and funding -- of Rutland's first and only 'on-call team' is priority No. 1 for the new president of the Uptown Rutland Business Association.

"Recently there's been a change in the environment in Rutland and there's a demand and need to ensure safety, keep Rutland clean and safe and keep businesses in Rutland," said new prez Navjit Khun Khun.

The 'change in environment' Khun Khun is referring to is the spike in incidents police and by-law enforcement officers were called to in 2023.

So, the Uptown Rutland Business Association has started URBA On-Call Team, a service similar to the Downtown Kelowna Association's On-Call Team that responds to many of the incidents police and by-law would have been previously been called out to.

Both associations hesitate to call On-Call Team members security guards, but that is essentially what they are.

The associations prefer to consider team members area ambassadors helping ensure downtown and uptown are clean and safe.

"Businesses in Uptown Rutland can call on team members to help out during the day," said Khun Khun, who is also the director of legal and human resources with Rutland-based Canco Petroleum, which has 175 independent gas stations across the country.

Uptown Rutland is quick to point out the service is not 24/7, but a day-time call-out.

Four team members and a supervisor have been hired to work out of the converted sea can container located in the parking lot of the MCC Thrift Store on Rutland Road.

Uptown Rutland's on-call team is expected to deal with many of the things the Downtown Kelowna team does -- enforcing the law through education and consultation, not aggression, wellness checks on individuals in distress or sleeping on the street or in doorways and helping them move on and picking up needles and other drug paraphernalia.

For the initial six-month pilot project of Uptown Rutland On-Call Team, $130,000 in funding has come from the City of Kelowna and $50,000 from Uptown Rutland.

Uptown Rutland is also working on securing $125,000 in additional funding through government grants and community sponsorships to keep the program going beyond the pilot and hopefully permanently.

While On-Call is incredibly important to Uptown Rutland, it is by no means the only service the group offers.

It represents the 230 businesses in Rutland's core along and off Highway 33 and Rutland Road by promoting the region to customers, businesses, investors and entrepreneurs.

It puts on monthly After Hours networking and social receptions at different businesses, has an annual golf tournament, a mural and beautification project and resources for businesses to succeed.

Khun Khun was on the Uptown Rutland board for three years, most recently as treasurer, before becoming president last month as a new board was elected for 2024.

Khun Khun is Rutland born and raised and graduated from Rutland Secondary School in 2011 before undergraduate studies at UBC Okanagan and then travelling and going to Bond University in Australia to earn her law degree.

She returned to Rutland and most recently worked at Benson Law before making the switch to be in-house counsel for Canco.

The full board is:

- president: Navjit Khun Khun, Canco Petroleum

- past-president: Nancy Wells, Kelowna General Hospital Foundation Rutland Thrift Store

- first vice-president: Courtney Fedevich, Venture Commercial

- second vice-president: Justin Bullock, OK Tire+Top Grade Tire

- treasurer: Domenic Rampone, Mara Lumber Home Building Centre

- Harjit Toora, Manohar Vegetarian Bakery

- Jassie Kakoschke, Valley First Credit Union

- Brad McNaughton, Lux Quality Homes

- Mayor Tom Dyas, representing the City of Kelowna

- Carmen Rempel, representing the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce

- Birte Decloux, Urban Planning Corp.

- Indy Dhial, The Gathering Place