EDITORIAL – Well that was a Tuesday afternoon we’ll never get back
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
I COULD WRITE A BOOK about Tuesday’s Kamloops City council meeting. A title comes to mind: Gong Show 2.
Unfortunately, I have only 325 words, so let’s hit some highlights.
At 2:27 p.m., after an hour of preliminaries, public inquiries begin. Mayor Reid-Hamer Jackson tries gamely to invoke the five-minute rule even before it’s a rule.
He soon calls a recess when one resident doesn’t behave himself. That doesn’t stop Coun. Bill Sarai — demanding that speakers stick to items on the agenda — from berating the mayor for not interceding quickly enough.
Inquiries continue. The mayor carefully times them to the exact minute and second. Most are within the limit, a couple go over. One goes way over.
Shortly before 4 p.m. the first meaty item of the day comes up: plans for the Campbell Creek Avenue property behind the Duchess.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, alternate TNRD director and a retired newspaper editor. He 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 can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
You were there from 2:30 to 6 pm?? OMG. Don’t wait for gong show #3.
Actually, 1:30 to 6 but not in person — I watched the livestream.
Well it is disappointing to read all of this. And even more that we, the caring ones, have little recourse. I have reached out to all of them on real issues, overlooked issues, facing the city but it is too easy for them to hide and let the status quo continue. And I don’t blame the mayor at all.
Is it fair to think that the election night honeymoon is over?