Fines for excessive noise in Kelowna are going up.

City Council gave the first three readings yesterday to a by-law that would increase the fine to a maximum of one thousand dollars.

Mayor Sharon Shepherd says the idea is to discourage people from hosting loud parties.

The by-law will come into effect once it receives final reading.

The move would bring Kelowna's by-law in-line with the noise by-law currently in place in West Kelowna.

Former fire chief Rene Blanleil’s surprise departure from the City of Kelowna’s employ has lips at city hall sealed.

Neither the mayor nor the city manager returned phone calls for comment Thursday, choosing to defer public statements to human resources staff.

A news advisory that Blanleil would be leaving after just four years as fire chief was released to the public at the close of business Wednesday and the decision was initially referred to as mutual.

“It’s not performance related,” Charlene Covington, director of human resources, said in the immediate aftermath of the press release.

But by Thursday morning, Mayor Sharon Shepherd confirmed for a local morning radio show that Blanleil had received a severance package as a result of the decision, and messages on local blogs and other news sites indicated the chief had been ousted due to extreme malcontent within the department.

The city will not release how much money the chief, who earned $140,000 annually, will receive, although local lawyer Keri Grenier, who works in employment law with Doak Shirreff, said Kelowna taxpayers can expect to see a substantial dollar figure, should the information come to light.

“One month per year of service does not apply. That’s sort of a myth, if you will. To know what he’s entitled to you would have to look at the case law,” she said.

With an 18-year service record, including the four as chief, Grenier would expect the settlement would exceed a year’s worth of pay and possibly even two.

She cautioned, however, that the presence of a severance itself does not automatically indicate someone has been fired.

For some, a severance may simply be written into an employment contract as an automatic payout should employment end, she said.

Covington confirmed this is not the case with the City of Kelowna as the municipality does not enter into contracts with severance terms laid out.

The other options typically include either a decision where there’s a mutual benefit to the parties, such as an agreement that an organization needs someone new timed with a decision from the individual to move on or retire.

Or, in cases where an organization has decided to fire someone without cause, the severance can be used to stave off a wrongful dismal lawsuit.

The former chief himself has yet to comment on exactly what brought on this parting of ways beyond a couple of sentences in the city’s statements. He did not return messages from the Capital News.

Meanwhile, Covington confirmed an independent contractor has been hired to assess the state of the department’s administrative affairs.

The contractor, she said, was hired after Blanleil began talking with the city about his departure. The work is said to include a routine look at how the department’s business operation is being handled with an eye to how it should be handled moving forward.

Rumours have also surfaced stating Blanleil’s management has caused some firefighters to jump ship, including assistant chiefs.

Covington put a portion of the rumour mill to rest stating there is only one assistant chief position vacant at the moment.

Assistant fire chief Bryan Collier left the department this spring to take a position on the Westside, although to the best of Covington’s knowledge it was due to “personal reasons.”

Assistant chief Lou Wilde has been with the department since 1987 and in his current position since June 2003, she said.

Jason Brolund became an assistant chief in October 2008 after a four year stint with the department while Tom Doherty joined the department in 2006, accepting a position as assistant fire chief in May 2009.

Covington says the full severance details will not be released unless a Freedom of Information Request is filed, forcing the city into a legal review of the file.

Steve Kinsey has been appointed acting chief effective June 10. Kinsey retired from the Kelowna Fire Department in 2004 after 30 years of service, the last 14 as assistant chief.

The search for a new chief will be national and is expected to take four to six months.

jsmith "at" kelownacapnews.com

Utility rates are on the rise for Kelowna electricity customers.

Kelowna city council approved a rate increase of 4.6 per cent for all residential, municipal, school and commercial customers under the city’s electrical utility on Monday.

“The city’s cost for purchasing bulk power has increased,” says Cindy McNeely, City of Kelowna infrastructure operations.

“The city supplier, FortisBC is seeing an increased demand for electricity and is investing in capital upgrades to ensure long-term reliable power for all customers,” she said.

With the increase, an average residential customer using approximately 730 kilowatt hours of electricity per month will see an increase of about $2.89 monthly.

Charges for new connections, upgrades and relocations will increase to $725 for overhead service, $750 for underground connections from the service box and $1675 for underground service from the pole. All residential service greater than 200 amps will be considered commercial and will pay 100 per cent of the actual cost.

The rate increase follows a similar increase by FortisBC approved by British Columbia Utilities Commission in December 2008.

The city’s electrical utility boundary extends from Okanagan Lake north to Poplar Point Drive and Glenmeadows Road, east to Golfview Road and south along Highway 97 to Gordon Drive and K.L.O. Road.

The new rates take effect with the first billing cycle in March 2009.