PETERS – What qualities do you want to see in our next mayor?

Posted on March 5, 2022 in Local Voices, Page One, Peters // 2 Comments

Coun. Arjun Singh announced his bid for mayor Friday. Ray Dhaiiwal is the other candidate so far. (Image: CFJC Today)

WE HAVE A COUPLE OF OPTIONS out there, so let’s talk about it: who do we want to be the next mayor of Kamloops?

By October when this term ends, Ken Christian will have served a term-and-a-quarter in the mayor’s chair, finishing up nearly three decades in municipal office.

Unfortunately, his tenure will be remembered for wildfire disaster response in 2018, for building crises in housing, mental health and substance use taking its toll on the streets of the city, and for two-plus years dealing with the impacts of a global pandemic.

Handling the impacts of large scale, negative events is a big part of leadership, so no one should say the past five years have been unfair to Christian.

Even so, they haven’t allowed voters to remember those ribbon-cutting positives that dotted the past term, either.

Read More >>

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, 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.

Robert // March 6, 2022 at 5:44 PM // Reply

I once tried to talk to Mr. Singh on the street. He was not interested in me or what I had to say.

John Noakes // March 5, 2022 at 9:56 PM // Reply

In all honesty, I couldn’t vote for an incumbent of the present council.
Someone new; a “dark horse” who has integrity and the will to be a public servant…..and doesn’t care too much about having a chain of office to wear.