EDITORIAL – Making decisions now vs. kicking the can to the next council

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

THIS TIME OF YEAR, an election year that is, City councils often wrestle with whether to make decisions now or take the lame duck approach and kick them down the road until after the transition.

A couple of such instances came up Tuesday (Aug. 12, 2026) in Kamloops council chambers. One was the contentious issue of whether to put borrowing for a new RCMP building to referendum along with the Oct. 17 civic election, or put it off until next year and use an Alternative Approval Process poll.

It was a double-edged question. One was whether to use a referendum, and save costs by pairing it with the election and getting the decision made, versus delaying said decision until next year.

The other was using an AAP instead of a referendum.

Council was divided on both aspects. Some wanted a referendum, which meant a quicker resolution to the matter, while others wanted an AAP, which would result in delay. And some of the arguments were convoluted.

Coun. Dale Bass, for example, insisted that council must decide now rather than tarry, because the City risks the feds stepping in and doing the build, then billing City taxpayers. Yet she supported putting it off in order to employ the AAP.

Stephen Karpuk liked the referendum idea but his thinking was aligned with Bass.

Coun. Katie Neustaeter argued that the public clearly doesn’t like the use of the AAP method and that it should go to referendum.

And others seemed befuddled about the possibility of changing locations or chances of cutting the currently estimated $160-million bill.

Then, of course, there was the matter of whether leaving it for the next council to decide would simply be best. Indeed, it was clarified that the next council could make an entirely different decision, including switching from an AAP to a referendum in 2027.

All, however, agreed that a new building is needed. In the end, the vote was 5-3 in favour of waiting for an AAP, a slight realignment from the committee of the whole meeting in which the vote was 5-4. This time, Coun. Bepple was absent and Karpuk voted in favour; in committee, Bepple was in favour and Karpuk against.

The other issue that brought up the matter of timing was a staff recommendation to switch from a remuneration policy to a remuneration bylaw. Included would be a raise in councillors’ expense allowance and a provision giving the City authority to dock the pay of any council member who owes money to the City.

Media have speculated that the latter provision is aimed at Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson, who continues to be in legal conflict with Neustaeter, and who owes the City property taxes. Neustaeter recused herself from the debate but Hamer-Jackson didn’t, reasoning that if he has to pay legal costs, they will be owed to Neustaeter, not the City.

He tried to get the matter postponed to the next council, saying it’s only a couple of months until election day and it would make sense to let the new council decide. He failed in the attempt, and the bylaw received first readings.

There can be both logical and political reasons for putting off decisions this close to an election. Common sense dictates that a council is elected to serve until its term expires and should carry on as if no election is looming. But it’s often convenient for councils to delay decisions on controversial issues so incumbents don’t have to face any fallout during the election campaign.

In other cases, when a decision directly impacts the operation of the next council, or when there’s no particular reason to rush, it makes sense to postpone.

And, sometimes, one reason is used as an excuse for the other.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. 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.