GUEST COLUMN – Rules for Thee, but not for the City of Kamloops

By COLEY ECKER
Kamloops Citizens United

PEOPLE ARE EXHAUSTED. They don’t know who or what to believe, and they’re done watching local officials and City administration play by a different set of rules.

Over the last three years, trust in City Hall, in leadership, and even in each other has eroded in Kamloops. Why? Because a culture long ago took root at City Hall:

“Rules for thee, not for me.”

The result is a city with no real accountability — and it’s costing us. Not just in dollars, but in faith, in civic spirit, and in our future.

A system that shields insiders isn’t showing integrity; it’s showing institutional rot — and people are seeing it now.

The Pattern

• One standard for insiders, another for residents. Process stretches for the well-connected; it snaps for everyone else.

• Bylaws as armor. New rules appear that manage dissent, not problems — protecting power instead of serving the public.

• Investigations with built-in conflicts. If the “independent” investigator depends on the same institution for contracts or referrals, or has a prior financial relationship — and is also allowed to investigate themselves over allegations of bias — public trust in the outcome is unlikely.

• Opacity over sunlight. Key decisions move into closed meetings, legal wrappings, or reports that summarize without fixing.

If accountability is the backbone of democracy, ours is out of joint — and the pain shows up in your tax bill, your services, and your sense that City Hall answers to itself, not to you.

Meanwhile, some local media — reliant on public advertising and civic access — often look away when scrutiny is most needed. That’s not “bias” as a slur; it’s an ecosystem problem.

When a newsroom relies on City Hall for access and advertising dollars, watchdog reporting tends to go quiet. When was the last time you saw an in-depth piece questioning City Hall’s decisions?

“Trust the system,” we’re told. Which system?

While City Hall and online surrogates paint KCU as troublemakers rather than taxpayers asking for proof; the bigger question goes unanswered:

Why has the system been calibrated to protect City Hall — instead of the people who elected them?

You can’t build trust with processes that push accountability out of reach. You build trust with proof in public.

In other words, show the record.

• Real independence in investigations. Pre-qualified panels chosen by random draw; mandatory disclosure of prior financial links and full public summaries with findings and rationale.

• No more black-box bylaws. Sunset clauses on new “conduct” rules; automatic public review after 6 months, with data on use and impact.

• Contracts and consultants in daylight. Publish scopes, vendors, total costs, and deliverables on a live dashboard. No sole-source renewals without a public-interest test.

• Council’s accountability ledger. Quarterly public scorecard: motions promised vs. delivered, closed-meeting metrics, recusals (with reasons), travel/hosting, and legal spend.

• FOI that works. Proactive disclosures for high-interest topics; fee waivers where public interest is clear; timelines that beat — not just meet — the law.

Deliver those five, and the labels fall away; trust starts to return. People don’t need spin. They need receipts: transparency.

Call to residents:

Kamloops doesn’t need perfect people in office; we need verifiable accountability.

Email citycouncil@kamloops.ca. Ask for it. Share it.

When the rules are the same for everyone, trust returns. No more “rules for thee and not for me.”

Coley Ecker is a member of the Kamloops Citizens United group.