Former Oliver mayor Hart Buckendahl enters Osoyoos mayoral race

Buckendahl says water, taxes, health care and public accountability would be at the centre of his administration

OSOYOOS, B.C. — Hart Buckendahl, a longtime South Okanagan builder and former mayor of Oliver, has announced his intention to run for mayor of Osoyoos in the 2026 municipal election.

Buckendahl made the announcement in a video released Aug. 27 at about 5:10pm under the campaign slogan, “Home Is Where the Hart Is.”

He enters the race with something most first-time candidates cannot claim: experience running a neighbouring municipality.

The Town of Oliver’s official history lists Harmut “Hart” Buckendahl as mayor from 1987 to 1993. He was also recognized as a member of the Order of British Columbia for his contributions to the community.

In announcing his campaign, Buckendahl described himself as a builder who has constructed more than 2,000 homes across the Okanagan and Boundary regions. That figure is his own account and has not been independently verified by Osoyoos News.

His pitch to Osoyoos voters is straightforward. He believes the Town needs to question major spending assumptions, open council to more public participation and concentrate first on the services residents rely upon every day.

Water comes first

Buckendahl identified Osoyoos’ water-quality problems as an emergency and said the Town should determine exactly where discoloured water is entering the system before committing residents to an extremely expensive treatment project.

“We have an emergency problem with the quality of the water that’s being put into many homes,” he said.

Buckendahl suggested that some wells may be producing better water than others. He wants the Town to trace the source of the affected water and investigate whether changing how particular wells are used—or replacing a problem well—could offer a less expensive solution.

“There’s maybe only a well or two that have a problem,” he said. “We have to determine where that water is actually coming from.”

That is a theory, not an established technical finding.

Osoyoos’ water system is complex, and changes involving wells, distribution, treatment or source blending would require proper testing and professional engineering review. Buckendahl nevertheless argues that the Town should complete that work before assuming a project costing tens of millions of dollars is the only answer.

“Surely, of all the wells that we have in Osoyoos, they’re not all pumping out brown water,” he said.

His position is not that nothing should be built. It is that council should be able to show residents precisely what is wrong, where it is happening and why the proposed solution is necessary before committing the money.

Sewer costs should also be re-examined

Buckendahl takes a similar position on sewer infrastructure.

He said he suspects maintenance may account for part of the problem and wants a thorough examination of the existing system before council proceeds with major new spending.

“Before a whole lot of money is spent on sewer, we’ve got to find out where the real problem is,” he said. “Maybe this is not going to be as expensive as was predicted.”

Again, Buckendahl’s maintenance theory has not been established by an engineering assessment made public during his announcement. It is a question he wants investigated.

That distinction matters. An independent technical review could support his suspicion, reject it or find that maintenance is only one part of a much larger infrastructure problem.

Renewing an expansion proposal

Buckendahl also wants to revisit a previous proposal involving an area outside the municipality whose residents reportedly sought to join Osoyoos.

He said 96 of 110 people signed a petition supporting the move and that he still possesses the earlier application.

According to Buckendahl, extending municipal water and sewer service to the area could benefit both the property owners and the Town. He pointed to the area’s slope and its proximity to an existing sewer line as reasons the proposal may be practical.

“It’s going to be a win-win for the Town, and it’s going to be a win-win for the people,” he said.

The boundaries, infrastructure costs, tax implications and status of the earlier application would all need to be confirmed before such a proposal could proceed.

Evening council meetings

One of Buckendahl’s simplest proposals may also be one of the most noticeable to working residents: move regular council meetings to the evening.

He wants meetings held at approximately 7 p.m., when people are more likely to attend without missing work.

“That’s when ours were—at seven,” he said of his time in Oliver.

Osoyoos currently holds regular open council meetings during the day. Although residents can watch recordings later, attending in person can be difficult for anyone working conventional daytime hours.

Buckendahl says local government should be organized around the public it serves.

Reflecting on his time in Oliver, he said council and staff were expected to remember that they were “servants of the public.” He also said significant financial decisions were taken to residents for a vote.

“We were transparent. We had no secrets,” he said. “They knew exactly what was going to happen.”

Taxes and Town-owned land

Buckendahl believes Osoyoos residents have been overtaxed and wants council to conduct a detailed review of where municipal money is being spent.

He singled out Town land purchases that, in his view, did not provide a clear enough public benefit. In particular, he criticized the purchase of highway property now being used for boat and trailer storage.

“If you’re going to buy a lot, you better have a use for it,” he said.

Buckendahl suggested that trailers could be stored on less valuable property, leaving prime highway land available for a more productive purpose.

He said he would hold one or more public meetings focused specifically on spending, taxes and possible savings.

“I’m going to make sure that we have a meeting—or many meetings—on how we can reduce the taxes,” he said. “Where is the money being spent, and where can we cut back?”

He also raised the possibility of selling municipal land that is not serving a clear public purpose.

That would require careful consideration. Selling land can produce immediate revenue and return property to the tax roll, but it also permanently gives up an asset that may become valuable for future public needs.

No new town hall

Buckendahl does not support constructing a new town hall while Osoyoos faces expensive water and sewer needs.

Instead, he wants the Town to investigate restoring its existing building using heritage-related funding from the provincial and federal governments.

“We have the old building,” he said. “It’s just an office.”

Whether sufficient heritage grants are available—and how much the municipality would still have to contribute—would need to be established. His broader point is that a new municipal building should not outrank water, sewer and health care.

A walk-in clinic at the Sagebrush Lodge

Buckendahl also wants Osoyoos to have a walk-in medical clinic.

“We should be ashamed in this town that we don’t even have a walk-in centre,” he said.

He suggested the former Sagebrush Lodge property as a possible location, describing it as accessible and suitable for health-care use.

The Town cannot independently hire doctors or dictate how Interior Health delivers medical services. Establishing a clinic would require health-care providers, sustainable funding and cooperation among several organizations.

Buckendahl nevertheless believes municipal leadership should actively pursue it rather than accept the current situation.

He noted that Osoyoos serves both its permanent population and thousands of visitors, yet people seeking non-emergency medical attention are frequently required to travel elsewhere.

Open for business

Buckendahl said Osoyoos must become more welcoming to business and job creation.

He floated one specific idea: waiving municipal building-permit fees when older motels undertake improvements, while continuing to require proper applications, inspections and compliance with the building code.

The aim, he said, would be to encourage owners to reinvest in aging properties without removing the safety oversight that comes with the permit process.

“We have to allow people to do business in Osoyoos,” he said. “Creating jobs for families is going to be important.”

Waiving fees would reduce municipal revenue and would have to be applied under a clear and legally defensible policy. Council would also need to decide which projects qualified and whether similar treatment should be available to other businesses.

Still, the proposal gives voters a concrete example of how Buckendahl believes council can encourage private investment.

Concern about staff turnover

Employee retention is another issue Buckendahl wants examined.

He acknowledged that he does not yet know why Osoyoos has experienced staff turnover, but said council needs to determine the cause rather than speculate.

“There definitely is a cause,” he said. “We have to find the cause and then deal with it as soon as possible.”

That measured wording is worth noting. Buckendahl did not blame individual employees, senior management or the current council. He said the reasons need to be established first.

Experience as his central argument

Buckendahl’s campaign is built around experience—both in construction and in local government.

Looking back on his time in Oliver, he pointed to municipal boundary expansion, government-funded street improvements, the transfer of the water system, a working relationship with the Osoyoos Indian Band and the sale and development of industrial land.

Those historical claims will require further examination as the campaign progresses, particularly where Buckendahl attributes a specific result to decisions made by the council he led.

What is already confirmed is that he served as Oliver’s mayor from 1987 to 1993. He is not approaching municipal government for the first time.

Buckendahl said he now considers Osoyoos home and intends to remain here.

“I feel myself more homebound now than I did before,” he said. “I plan on staying here, and I’m looking forward to serving the people of Osoyoos.”

He also said he wants to share his knowledge with future councillors rather than keep experience concentrated in the mayor’s office.

“I look forward to being part of the solution and helping solve the problems that we’re having,” Buckendahl said. “I won’t give up until we’ve solved every single last problem that we’re facing.”

What voters will need to decide

Buckendahl is offering voters a different governing instinct: investigate first, challenge expensive assumptions and spend only after council can explain the need.

That approach will appeal to residents worried about taxes and the rising cost of major infrastructure.

The test will be whether the less expensive alternatives he is proposing remain viable once they are measured against current engineering reports, water-quality data, provincial requirements and the actual condition of Osoyoos’ infrastructure.

His experience gives him credibility in making the argument. It does not remove the need for evidence.

That is where the campaign now goes: from an announcement and a set of ideas to detailed plans that voters can compare against the documented problems facing the Town.

Editors Note: Statements concerning the number of homes Buckendahl has built, the earlier boundary-expansion petition, the condition of individual Osoyoos wells, possible sewer-maintenance problems and actions taken during his former administration are attributed to Buckendahl. They should not be read as independently verified findings by Osoyoos News.