A heritage plaque installed by the City of Toronto. A similar program is in the works for Penticton.

A heritage plaque installed by the City of Toronto. A similar program is in the works for Penticton.

A city councillor has offered to help personally install heritage plaques on 40 buildings to save taxpayers the estimated $6,000 cost of having municipal workers do the job.

“This isn’t rocket science. It’s a five-minute job. If it was a brick building it might be a 10-minute job if you had to pre-drill the holes,” said Katie Robinson during Tuesday’s council meeting.

“I have a Makita cordless (drill) and I know how to use it, and I would gladly volunteer my time to come and help them. I’m being serious here. We’re being asked to spend $6,000 to screw plaques onto a wall.”

Robinson and the rest of council eventually voted unanimously in favour of going ahead with the project after receiving assurances from city manager Donny van Dyk that staff will take another look at the installation costs to make sure they’re not “beyond what is reasonable.”

The program approved by council will see individualized aluminum plaques installed on 40 private and publicly owned buildings around Penticton that are on the city’s heritage registry. The plaques – at an estimated total cost of $2,100 or $52.50 each – will display information about each property and its historical significance

“We will work directly with heritage property owners to secure their participation and answer any questions they might have,” explained Dennis Oomen, project manager and curator of the Penticton Museum, in his report to council.

Oomen said the museum has a $2,000 grant in hand to cover part of the costs and has already budgeted for the rest.

“We don’t think this project will necessary end with the plaques and specific heritage properties,” added Oomen.

“What we’d like to do is incorporate Indigenous sites, working with the (Penticton Indian Band) and the En’owkin Centre, and we’ll also be expanding the types of properties and their particular historical value and architectural value and incorporate those properties into the heritage registry as well.”

The museum is also planning a series of articles in The Herald to coincide with the arrival of the plaques that will explain the intent of the project and profile some of the properties involved.

The plaques represent the second phase of the Heritage Awareness Project, which kicked off last year with a museum exhibit showcasing Penticton’s built history.

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