ROTHENBURGER: Dr. Armchair has a surefire cure for chronic councillitis

If you’re a councillor, give the mayor’s ideas a chance. If he brings forward a notice of motion he hasn’t talked to you about ahead of time, or that you feel hasn’t been backed up with as much research as you’d like, don’t get all indignant and resistant. Maybe it’s worth further consideration. Instead of shooting it down with a 1-8 vote, why not refer it to a committee or recommend it for discussion at the next committee of the whole meeting, or ask for a staff report?

REMEDY TWO: If you’re the mayor, try to avoid putting yourself on the receiving end of rude comments from your councillors. Make certain that you have thoroughly studied every item on the agenda and every option for how it should/ could be handled. Memorize Roberts Rules of Order.

If you’re a councillor, try resisting the urge to be rude to the mayor. Don’t lecture him on ethics and the history of his business. Don’t berate him with comments about how things work and that he should be doing his job. Don’t tell him that maybe he’ll learn something someday. Smile. Be happy.

REMEDY THREE: Study some history about what has worked for past councils and what hasn’t, and take it as guidance. For example, this issue of what the public is allowed to talk to you about at your regular meetings. For 128 years, people could ask councils about anything. It worked great.

“Public inquiries on matters relating to the agenda” didn’t show up until the meeting of Nov. 2, 2021. What changed? Almost never, in the previous 128 years, did an open-ended “Public Inquiries” cause any problems or major delays, with the rare exception being when there was an issue of special concern to the public.

As a compromise, you might consider making the first Public Inquiries section of the agenda “on matters relating to the agenda” and leaving the second Public Inquiries towards the end of the meeting open to general comments and questions.

Town hall meetings? For sure, but ask yourself whether they should be a replacement for a free-flowing Public Inquiries section at regular meetings, or just one in a menu of opportunities.

Other councils have used all kinds of means to communicate with the public. You could even consider opening up comments to the City’s Facebook posts again.

REMEDY FOUR: If you’re the mayor, let the councillors know when you’re going to be out of town and for how long. That is, do it in person. Don’t leave it to a secretary. And attend strategic planning sessions with your council even if it’s not you who calls them.

If you’re the council, don’t take pictures of yourselves at a meeting without the mayor present, then post it on social media. Don’t make comments to the media about how you have no idea where he was.

REMEDY FIVE: Mr. Mayor, it’s a good idea to listen to staff more often. You don’t always have to agree with them but you need them for information. Get in the habit of frequent informal chats with the CEO and department heads in your office at the end of the day.

Attend the group meetings held by department heads. That’s where a lot of stuff gets done. You’re the first person the public looks to for information on what’s going on — you need to be part of the process.

If, on the other hand, you are a councillor, learn that you don’t have to do everything staff asks you to do. They provide the advice and they carry out policies, but you set the policies. If staff brings you a bunch of supplementary budget proposals, you don’t have to approve every single one.

If staff asks for $888,000 for more community service officers, feel free to weigh this against the mayor’s proposal to get outside funding — no cost to taxpayers — for more outreach workers.

All of this is best taken with a dose of humility. There are, of course, side effects, as there are for all good medicines. You might suffer a greater sense of well-being and a general loss of stress along with an increased sense of purpose.

However, don’t cut the dosage or stop taking the medicine prematurely.

And relax — as I’ve said, there’s no charge for this consultation.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, alternate TNRD director and a retired newspaper editor. He 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 can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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

by Mel Rothenburger

ROTHENBURGER: Dr. Armchair has a surefire cure for chronic councillitis

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