WALSH – Gang of Eight sets up town hall meetings that are no such thing

WHAT ARE OUR City councillors and administrators so afraid of?

It seems they’re only willing to have direct public engagement once every four years. Otherwise, why not hold a real town-hall forum instead of a series of managed exhibits in which people are siloed and the agenda is already set?

Denying the mayor’s May 30 motion for an actual town-hall meeting, Coun. Neustaeter said such a forum would be impossible to hold because “We have 100,000 people living in the city . . . there’s nowhere we can accommodate that many people.” It would be a miracle if every man, woman and child in the city was that politically engaged.

Judging from the main election forum which didn’t even fill TRU’s Grand Hall, plus our low voter turnout, Neustaeter doesn’t need to worry. The Sagebrush Theatre would probably be ample, and has a nice aesthetic, too.

Coun. Sarai feared people yelling at “an open mic where people can just come in and vent.” Seems disrespectful. Does he believe his constituents are hooligans with nothing meaningful to say?

Sarai also complained public forums are complicated to organize and manage because every City department head staffer plus the police and fire chiefs have to be there.

No. Eight councillors and the mayor are sufficient. Add a good moderator and let the dialogue begin.

A town-hall meeting is about direct communication in a spirit of community cohesion and accountability. If Council finds it needs answers from senior managers, they can be asked later. The main focus is our elected representatives engaging with those who elected them.

Admin tried to explain why a town-hall meeting (or series of directed workshops, as the case may be) needs at least three months of planning. Not true. It took three members of the public a few weeks to present this past June’s well-attended and instructive town hall forum on street drug issues.

Except for one person, quickly and easily calmed down, people at our forum did not yell and vent. Everyone could hear and comment on what everyone else was saying. All views were welcome and everyone who wanted got their say. We discussed an issue of community concern together. That’s a town hall meeting. It was uplifting.

City staff admit a traditional town hall consists of a presentation or panel discussion followed by open questions from the floor but advised against this. Apparently, “this format does not create an environment where all guests feel empowered or relaxed and emotions can escalate quickly.”

Since when? I haven’t seen any community-wide forums that degenerated into a verbal melee. On the whole, we Kamloopsians are a pretty polite bunch. Sure, some people are shy and don’t want to speak at the mic but they still want to hear what everyone else is saying. Sometimes this even emboldens them to speak up themselves. Or maybe they could have the opportunity to submit written questions.

And if taxpayers are dissatisfied with City Hall business then why shouldn’t they be allowed to respectfully say so? Shouldn’t the public have input more than once every four years?

The City doesn’t allow public comment on its Facebook page and doesn’t seem to respond on its “Let’s Talk Kamloops” web site. Council’s “Public Engagement Committees” are a joke: City administrators pick the public members, set the agenda, chair the meetings, summarize the discussion, write the minutes and make the recommendations to Council.

Council curtailed Public Inquiry at council meetings this term, banning taxpayers from asking questions not already on Council’s public meeting agenda.

Just last month, Council also axed the public’s right to raise complaints under Council’s Code of Conduct, which admin wrote and Council approved four months ago.

According to Mr. Trawin, none of the six formal public complaints received since then (four of which are mine) had been found to be “vexatious.” Still, he felt it necessary to proactively bar the public just in case. All eight councillors agreed.

It’s amply clear the City Hall gang isn’t interested in direct public engagement and accountability.

It’s ridiculous that the final, supposedly community-wide, ‘town hall’ open-mic session will be held via Zoom.

A real town hall forum is where Council listens, considers and responds to residents’ concerns. Face to face, in person. Not on Zoom. Surely we Kamloopsians aren’t that scary. And aren’t there CSOs for that?

Instead, our councillors propose to silo attendees by format and venue. Starting this October and winding up next May, people will be segregated into community sub-sectors (Sahali, Downtown, etc) which are then divided further into even smaller “stations” controlled by city hall staffers to discuss set topics.

That’s a focus-group workshop. Don’t call it a town-hall meeting. Especially when it’s not clear if the 30-minute “open mic” opportunity at the end of each workshop will be a true open-mic or just reports from each sub-group station.

There’s also the question of how City manager David Trawin will police his plan for “only verified residents” to speak. Does Mr. Trawin believe out-of-towners will be an issue? It’s likely even our own local voters won’t be much interested in this watered-down, manipulative and alienating PR exercise.

Why should taxpayers get involved in City issues when Council doesn’t seem to care about their concerns? Why should people bother to vote when it appears that term after term, City administrators are in command with Council’s dutiful rubber stamp? Is low voter turnout a symptom of low public engagement and confidence?

But maybe admin and Council got one thing right. Public input according to sub-area of town raises the idea of the benefits of a ward system. Ward representatives might be more accountable to their constituents. People may gain more confidence in local politics and more might make an effort to vote. Maybe such a system would prevent the “Gang of Eight” situation that’s plaguing City Hall this term. It could be something to think about.

Maybe it could even be a topic at an upcoming sub-local focus-group workshop. That is, if City Hall allows it. And no vexatious venting.

Denis Walsh is a former three-term Kamloops City councillor. He chose not to run again in 2022, convinced that City councillors should step aside after a maximum of three terms to allow others to serve and to experience being on the “outside looking in.”