Pictured from left to right: Councillors Sadie Hunter, Mike O'Reilly, Dale Bass, and Bill Sarai

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Two years in, how are City council newbies performing?

Nov 14, 2020 | 6:59 AM

TWO NOVEMBERS AGO, a new Kamloops City council was sworn in. They took an oath to “truly, faithfully and impartially” carry out their duties.

Four of the nine members of council were brand new to the job, never having served in political office. Halfway through their four-year term, how are they doing?

Good question. So, a brief review of the newbies is in order. I emphasize that these are observations by one council watcher, me. They can’t possibly do justice to the scope of the job or the totality of their work but I’ll touch on some of the key things the new councillors have been involved in.

SADIE HUNTER began as the least-known name on the new council. With the recent B.C. election, however, she just might have the highest current name recognition of any of the nine members.

She isn’t a Kamloops resident but that didn’t bother Kamloops voters, who put her in office with a seventh-place finish among the 21 council candidates.

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Hunter is a breath of fresh air, soft-spoken, articulate, no bluster.

A key plank in her platform was accessibility, influenced by her own experience with hip dysplasia, and she has advocated consistently on that issue during the past two years. Perhaps most notably, her motion last year to include options for accessibility projects — “kneeling” transit buses, curb ramps and so on — in the City’s five-year financial plan was unanimously supported by her fellow councillors.

Hunter also convinced council to support encouraging the use of e-bikes and other electric-based transportation, though there are cost concerns. And, her motion to include more HandyDart buses in the City’s transportation plan met with little opposition.

Recently, Hunter secured a seat on the Union of B.C. Municipalities board that will expand her knowledge of municipal issues and processes, and give Kamloops a place at the provincial table.

She surprised a lot of folks by accepting the NDP nomination in Kamloops-North Thompson, where she came within a whisker of beating incumbent MLA and former mayor Peter Milobar. That will almost certainly give her a confidence boost during the last half of her first term.

MIKE O’REILLY sailed into office with a strong third-place finish. He’s associated with business causes through his earlier role in the Kamloops Central BIA and past ownership of the Motivo coffee shop on Victoria Street. He ran on “a fair chance” for business but he’s anything but one-dimensional.

For example, he’s pushed hard for expansion of the Car 40 program (that’s the one in which a street nurse accompanies RCMP on mental health-related calls) and hasn’t been shy about criticizing Interior Health for dragging its feet. He’s also suggested local police might need their own anti-gang squad, supports expanding the peace-keeping duties of bylaws officers and likes the idea of putting body cameras on police.

He’s shown a knack for PR, too, as when he recently put hand-written notes on vehicles with out-of-town licence plates thanking their owners for coming to Kamloops.

If I have one bone to pick, it would be with his handling of the controversy involving the Kamloops Heritage Society and St. Andrew’s on the Square but, in fairness, he was thrust into it during one of Mayor Ken Christian’ absences from town.

Meanwhile, he’s continued his advocacy for downtown businesses, enthusiastically supporting big developments such as The Hive and City Gardens, and taking a hold-the-line position on parking fees. Don’t be surprised if his name is on the ballot in a future mayoral election.

DALE BASS has acknowledged, after a career as a community newspaper reporter, that the slowness with which local government moves has been a big change.

Her term got off to a shaky start when she publicly mused (in jest, surely) about not being paid over-time for putting in extra hours as a councillor, and followed that up with the use of expletives on social media.

Her defence of the latter was that she used the obscenities as a private citizen rather than as a councillor, an explanation that didn’t get much traction.

Bass, however, has demonstrated an ability to put her finger on important hot-button issues, including a ban on plastic bags. She succeeded in getting a resolution passed setting a deadline for a ban. The plastics issue has been over-taken by discussions at the provincial and federal levels but her efforts certainly raised the profile of the issue locally.

She also tried getting the weekly council meetings moved to evenings to increase public accessibility, which was eventually shot down due to doubts about whether it would work and concerns about staffing costs, but it was a worthwhile discussion.

More recently, she has raised the problem created by coal trains rumbling through Valleyview and is advocating for residents who are impacted by it, which is consistent with her support of neighbourhoods.

Such things might reflect her journalistic background, which should continue to be valuable during the next two years.

BILL SARAI ran on a “let me be your voice” platform and slid into the last available council slot. Perhaps influenced by his past career as a mailman, Sarai listens carefully to what people are telling him, and doesn’t hesitate to bring it forward to the council table. Thus, he brings up ideas such as the need for an RV park, charging for overnight street parking downtown or specific neighbourhood concerns, especially law and order. He supports the concept of a Kamloops Community Justice Court.

Crime on Victoria Street West very much got his attention, and property crime in general is a big concern to him.

Sarai might be described as a growth-oriented fiscal conservative, taking a cautious approach to spending and not being a fan of digging into reserves. He sometimes favours punting an issue to the provincial and federal governments when he thinks they should be the ones paying for it.

He believes in public engagement but doesn’t expect council to always do what the public tells it to do. A “double-edged sword,” he calls it.

He’s into a second term on the executive of the Southern Interior Local Government Association, which provides him a window into how other councils operate.

As a whole, the four newcomers have been enthusiastic about communicating with the public, whether it be posting on social media, holding informal coffee sessions with voters or strolling down a block talking to people.

Such enthusiasm, coupled with the knowledge gained from two years in office, should put them on an even keel with council veterans as their term enters its second half.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.