Manager and former residents of Enderby property take issue with evacuation

ENDERBY – Many former residents and the manager of an Enderby property evacuated by local authorities last week over safety concerns are not happy with how the situation was handled.

“It by no means justifies the way that we were treated and the amount of notice we were given, which was this much,” says former resident Andrew Harvey forming a zero with his fingers. “We are completely low income people that had no chance to set up preparations.”

Read More: North Okanagan residents evacuated after building deemed unsafe

The City of Enderby paints a different picture.

“Our inspectors had to do the analysis and once we brought the analysis and figured out how dangerous the situation was, we acted as quickly as we could to get in there with social services behind us and ensure everyone was removed safely from the premises,” says the city’s chief administrative officer Tate Bengtson.

The property’s manager contends the alternate accommodation residents were offered was not adequate and was a step down from their current residence.

“They were offered to stay at a homeless shelter. Many of them would choose to stay on the floor of their friends living room rather than stay at a homeless shelter,” says Ben Fulton.

The city says various forms of assistance were provided, including a hotel stay for a family with children, and that alternate accommodations were found for anyone who would accept them.

Fulton contends he would have worked towards meeting building codes but wasn’t give the chance. But the city says he was notified multiple times in the past the property was likely was not in compliance.

Read More: North Okanagan boarding home manager ‘reeling’ after evacuation order

Last week’s evacuation also tipped off a police investigation at the property. RCMP say they’ve seized substances and equipment and expect Health Canada to do further testing. However, getting results could take months.

“Information that we have is that indications are it was a drug operation of some sort,” says RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk.

Fulton says there was not a drug lab on site and he was not aware of any illegal drugs in the building.

“There was Kombucha that’s not illegal,” says Fulton. “The picture of the guys in hazmat suits showed them looking at substances that are medicinal though totally legal and I’ll just have to wait until their investigation wraps up to comment further.”

“It’s not the first time that we’ve heard from individuals in a residence to say police have made a mistake–‘It isn’t what they thought they were going after.'” says Molendyk. “There is a possibility perhaps they are right, but indications point otherwise at the present time.”