ROTHENBURGER – ‘Boy, asking questions around here is a tough gig’
(Image: StationOne Architects)
ASKING QUESTIONS about the proposed performing arts centre better get a lot easier than it was in City council this week if the project is to succeed.
Councillors approved borrowing $7 million towards work on “validation” and design, and weren’t interested in entertaining any questions about it. Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson tried, and was berated for his trouble.
His question about parking was brushed off by Coun. Mike O’Reilly — who chairs the Build Kamloops committee — with an assurance that staff has been asked to look at it.
Hamer-Jackson had a few other questions about the project, the biggest one being why the $7 million was so high.
His questions “astonished” Coun. Kelly Hall, who followed up with a lecture about how the mayor should be more involved in committee work. He suggested the mayor was “weak-kneed.”
A few other remarks from councillors — while not nearly as inflammatory as Hall’s — also seemed to reflect annoyance at the mayor.
It was an odd, unfortunate diversion, as if Hamer-Jackson was rocking the boat, despite him saying a half dozen times during the discussion that he supports the project. Which is consistent with what he has said in the past about a new PAC being one of his top priorities.
The unpleasant exchange was another example of councillors injecting their feud with the mayor into a place it didn’t belong. They just can’t leave it alone. But is everyone else who asks questions about the project in for the same treatment?
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 
I’m really disappointed to read the remarks from Denis Walsh and others. I had no idea things were this bad until a coworker showed me this blog.
What can we do to address this? If council doesn’t want to listen to feedback, if the city employees are basically running the show behind the curtain, are we stuck until we can roll the dice again next election? And then what? Unless there’s a unified push by whatever councillors are voted in, we are going to be stuck with these people for a long time.
I voted for Reid because he said he was going to get in there and clean things up. It’s going to take more than just one vote to accomplish that. We need to do something big for the next election.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have the councillors become so comfortable being habitually rude to the mayor that it’s now second nature no matter who they’re dealing with?
LikeLike
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the revelation, Denis.
Could this be one of the reasons the St. Paddy’s Day fiasco was allowed? Was it even encouraged? Were its roots established in the very bowels of a secret place; the holy or holies, as it were? A Team Whipping was needed.
It wasn’t until some of the general public realized how WRONG this was and what boundaries had been breached that the clumsy backpedaling took place.
As it turns out, the scripted variety should have been thought out and practised a couple more times. What happened on St. Paddy’s Day 2023 would never have made it on the Carol Burnett show.
A stumbling, fumbling bunch of people made fools of themselves that day. Didn’t they realize it at the time or did they give a lot of thought to them having a quorum and it was an official council meeting? Since then, the posturing has become worse instead of better.
Where does the public go from here, Denis?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Denis: I think it is fair to say two things are at play here. The first one is the inherent petulant arrogance of administration. The second one is in regards to who really does pulls the strings at City Hall and its got to do with real estate interests IMO.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is something else. How can these people hide so much from us taxpayers when they are supposed to be working for us? We pay for their entire existence. Why can’t they understand that their first responsibility is to the taxpayer, not themselves, not the cushy administration with their ridiculous salaries…
LikeLiked by 1 person
This often-cited proverb notes that arrogance puts a person at risk for disaster. As with many such statements, it is true in both physical and spiritual ways. Overestimating one’s athletic skills might result in severe injury. “Cocky” fighters—those who become too self-confident—might suffer a stunning upset. History is full of losses and tragedies set up by someone’s smug self-assurance.
LikeLike
Proverbs 16 verse 18
LikeLiked by 1 person
it is sad to hear this is still happening. Grow up and get over yourselves councillors.
LikeLike
Our mayor had every right to question that spending in the public view – and he was the ONLY one brave enough to put the question forward and the bullies around that council table shot daggers at him.
I thought this was already a shovel ready project prior to spending $7 million for additional design?
Is it also true that the $12 million grant for using wood that mentioned by Mr. Fawcett may not even exist? Worth investigating.
This council is walking a very fine line of having this project denied by its citizens, primarily because of their ignorant behavior and comments regarding it.
I very much support this project – but people like Hall, Neutstater, O’Reilly will sink it strictly with their high-and-mighty “know-it-all” attitude toward the people they serve if they are not careful.
LikeLike
The attitude manifested by Kelly Hall, shared by most on council, also extends to how they treat citizens with concerns, questions, or those who disagree with them.
This is unfixable, because it stems from what is likely petulant child personalities and other behavioural and personality defects. They need therapy, not a BC appointed soothsayer.
What they do to the mayor, is what they will also do to you if they happen not to like you for whatever arbitrary reason they may conjure up. TRU was the latest target. If they treat a major partner like that, do you think a lowly citizen has a chance? What I think is happening is council is feeling the heat, and lashing out at others whom they feel are impeding their desire to show they can get something, anything, done and built.
Kamloops had a chance to build the PAC at a reasonable cost. The communtiy passed on that, and it’s time to accept that this is a small-minded town, that made small-minded decisions. The expense is now far too great, and the infrastructure to support this far too inadequate at this time. The mayor asked the right questions. But council doesn’t like questions. Bill Sarai is most qualified to explain that in more detail, that is if you can even get a response from him.
LikeLiked by 1 person
But really they have almost already chosen a contractor even without going to public tender? Did I read that one correctly?
LikeLike