EDITORIAL – No opportunity to kick some sand gets past City council
(Image: CFJC Today, file photo)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
THERE’S NO SANDBOX big enough for the Kamloops mayor and councillors to play in at the same time. They can’t even get through a routine meeting without kicking sand in each other’s faces.
Tuesday’s meeting seemed to be going OK until Coun. Dale Bass presented a notice of motion on the creation of a so-called urban councillors caucus to replace the old urban mayors caucus. The mayors of B.C.’s major cities, she said, didn’t want to carry on the regular meetings they used to have.
At that point, Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson mentioned almost off-handedly that he’d learned that morning that the mayors would be renewing their own caucus after all.
That was a surprise to Bass, who commented she wished he’d mentioned it before she brought up her motion, and then said she might as well withdraw it.
She had a point, though.
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.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
The group of 9 should have gotten things together a bit better by now.
Your sand box analogy might be pretty close to the truth, Mel.
The carpentry shop can build a strong enough sand box, the streets department can supply the sand but I don’t feel the taxpayers should be on the hook for toys, soothers, pablum or training supplies for potty time.
The same goes for individual blankets for nap time.
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Ha ha ha John. Right on point. Our city council has become a laughing stock. Our mayor needs to be coached on policies and procedures. 3 1/2 more years of this is just too painful to think about. They all need a time out to reflect on what is best for Kamloops and that the voters elected the mayor by a huge majority. Put on your big boy/girl underwear and work it out.
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