EDITORIAL – Full slate of incumbents sets up fascinating choice for voters

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

NOW THAT Katie Neustaeter has announced her candidacy for a second term on Kamloops City council, voters will have a full slate of incumbents to think about, along with newcomers, in the October civic election.

It had been widely speculated that she’d seek the mayoralty. Only she knows the reason or reasons she didn’t — maybe she decided her chances weren’t good enough, maybe she didn’t want to have to leave her job, maybe being mayor is simply something she doesn’t want to do. Whatever, there will be seven incumbents running for councillor seats, two for mayor.

Neustaeter, Kelly Hall, Bill Sarai, Nancy Bepple, Dale Bass, Stephen Karpuk and Margot Middleton are all running again for a council seat, while Mike O’Reilly and Reid Hamer-Jackson will contest the mayoralty. That means there’s a guarantee of only one incumbent being defeated; the rest is up to voters.

Apparently, participating in a council that has been dysfunctional, disrespectful and disruptive is a rewarding enough experience to make them all want to do it again. They certainly don’t appear to have enjoyed it all that much.

The most baffling choice to run again is Bill Sarai. This is the man who had to issue a public apology after admitting he lied about surreptitiously taping an argument with the mayor. And, he once proposed refusing funding to community organizations that are critical of council.

He should have resigned long ago, but he carries on, and now believes he deserves to be re-elected.

There will, of course, be a large roster of challengers to take on the incumbents. Electors will have to decide who can return sanity to the council table, bring the public back into the conversation, and make progress on key issues rather than writing letters.

Whether some or all of the incumbents fit that bill will be a fascinating judgment to be made on Oct. 17. Sadly, it may be more about who to blame than about who has the ability to perform well on behalf of taxpayers.

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.