EDITORIAL – City council has a lot of explaining to do about Turtle Valley
(Image: CFJC Today)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
THE TURTLE VALLEY protest is heating up and it’s time for Kamloops City council to wake up and — as concerned residents suggest — smell the biosolids.
Unfortunately, it won’t have another meeting until next week due to the Easter break and a Southern Interior Local Government Association convention in Penticton that got underway yesterday.
Councillors couldn’t have picked a worse time to be away, as the protest rally last weekend was quickly followed by a blockade preventing trucks carrying biosolids to reach the site in Turtle Valley.
Before opponents of the biosolids project come down on council too hard, though, indications are that the turn of events has taken council by surprise. While it was obviously aware of the original plan for the biosolids to be used at the Talking Rock golf course, it apparently was caught off guard by the switch to the Turtle Valley Bison Ranch.
Aside from whatever lack of internal communication was at play, the City’s vaunted communications strategy clearly dropped the ball on this one. Given the sensitivity and high profile of the biosolids issue, one would have thought the City would go out of its way to be extra careful to consult with nearby residents, even though the site is far away from City boundaries.
And where was the City’s biosolids stakeholders group when the change in location came into play?
One would like to be a fly on the wall in the offices at City Hall right now but one thing is certain: the buck stops with City council, and City council as a whole has the responsibility of fully engaging with Turtle Valley residents to deal with their concerns.
Councillors will have a lot of explaining to do when they get back in town.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Sir
The biosolids issue is everyone’s issue. We all defecate. Lets get with problem of what do we do with the product. It has been is and will always be a soil enhancer. To much can cause an encrease heavy metals more than is healthy . To much infiltrate the aquifers and watercourses. It seems incineration of the product and encapsulation of the dangerous parts are the answer but it is a shame to insinerate the nutrients. A balance is the answer by all participants in this program. Lets work on the program and stop the nimby bs because we all are the perpetrators.
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We humans create problems faster than solutions. The big problem with biosolids is that every conceivable chemical known to mankind plus stuff forming in within it unknown to mankind is in it. We cite freedom of markets and freedom of consumption as the axioms of our existence but clearly they shouldn’t because of the far-reaching consequences.
Did all nine dudes and dudettes travel to Penticton? Why? I think that is utterly wasteful. More explaining…
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Where exactly does the Communications Manager on City staff fit into this picture?
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