EDITORIAL – More talk than action at annual regional municipal conflab

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

MAYORS AND COUNCILLORS, some 250 of them, from the Southern Interior get together in Kamloops starting today for some drinks, a round of golf, sight-seeing, tours and — literally — a walk in the park.

It’s the annual conference of the Southern Interior Local Government Association. Now, to be fair, in addition to “networking” opportunities like the ones I’ve just mentioned, delegates will also hear some speeches, attend some workshops, visit a trade show and debate 46 resolutions.

The SILGA conference is one I’ve never had much use for. I attended a couple of them and was a presenter at another before I gave up on them. The resolutions and some of the workshops are worthwhile but they’re supplemented by a lot of extra time. The whole thing could be wrapped up in a day and a half or two at the most instead of the four days allotted.

Attendees always rave about the importance of networking and how much they learn from it. There’s some truth to that but much of the so-called networking opportunities are little more than some fun time for the delegates: a trip to the wildlife park, a walk in Kenna Cartright park, golfing at Mount Paul, a pub night.

Municipal conventions — which include regional district directors — have devolved more and more into less business and more recreation. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention used to be valuable but now does very few resolutions and debates. The Union of B.C. Municipalities is still an important one to attend but even that one wastes a couple of days on tours and such.

Some of the SILGA workshops look interesting — I’m sure there will be full attendance from Kamloops council at one called Playing by the Rules — Keeping Order in Council and Board Meetings, featuring Kamloops City corporate officer Maria Mazzotta and Sun Peaks CAO Deanna Campbell.

Another is called The Pendulum: Tools for Successful Dialogue in Local Government. There’s also one on housing, of course, and another on wildfires.

The resolutions are important, though they carry no force and are basically recommendations for debate at the fall convention of the UBCM. Kamloops has a couple of them, one on toxic drugs and another on cold weather shelters.

So, yeah, there’s some good stuff up for discussion, but this conflab would be much better bang for the buck if it skipped today and Wednesday and got down to business Thursday and Friday.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.