EDITORIAL – We need another KamTalk, not just another ‘town hall’

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

WHETHER MAYOR RHJ decides to hold a town hall meeting of his own, or a council committee puts one together, something very important needs to be kept in mind — it’s got to lead to something.

If it’s just about complaining, it will be a waste of time. But the wheel need not be re-invented.

In 2001, a big community ideas exchange was held on a Friday evening and Saturday.

I was mayor back then and wanted a community forum to help give direction to council. I got staff and council buy-in and called it KamTalk.

As the concept developed, more than 50 citizens from many walks of life became involved in the organization to make it happen.

I’m going to tell you about it not to brag but because it’s high time for another one.

We gathered — the citizens of Kamloops — in what was then known as Sport Mart Place and spent hours listening and talking and breaking into facilitated focus groups to discuss four key themes: strengthening our social and cultural fabric, shaping our future, preparing our workforce and economic development.

As I said in my opening remarks, the purpose was to “spill our community guts and see what we come up with.”

It was one of the most exciting experiences I had during my time as mayor. We talked about arts and culture, land use, neighbourhoods, lifestyle, tourism, marketing, governance, and so much more.

And the ideas. Yes, there were some wacky ones. Some were beyond our resources. But that was expected. As I said at the time, there were no bad ideas. And many very good ones.

At the end of the eight hours, we came together again and talked about what we’d accomplished. We felt good about it, and felt good about our city.

And here’s the big take-away. The conclusions from KamTalk were incorporated into the City’s strategic plan. Things happened.

Let’s do it again.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

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.