Image: Wikipedia

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Eby owes explanation for cutting Fassbender out of City review

Dec 28, 2023 | 4:22 AM

THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT has some ‘splainin’ to do to the people of Kamloops.

Without saying why, other than the old “going in a different direction” excuse, the Province has kicked Peter Fassbender out of the advisory role of helping Kamloops City council mend what’s broken about the way it operates — which is just about everything.

The timing is strange. Only last week, Fassbender was talking about having met on Zoom with some senior staff, the mayor and the councillors as a first step in his review, and would be coming to Kamloops in just a couple of weeks to meet personally with all the parties and do further research.

City staff have been given no explanation for why that isn’t going to happen. Neither has Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson. Not even Fassbender has been given reasons.

“Going in a different direction” usually means, “We’re doing what we’re doing because we’re doing it.” It’s also sometimes a clue that what was being done before just wasn’t working to satisfaction.

Two and Out

PETERS: Whether building up or tearing down, Kamloops is what you make it

12h ago

Sound Off

SOUND OFF: How to reduce food waste in Kamloops during the festive season

19h ago

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: December 12, 2024

Dec 12, 2024

So what wasn’t working? Was it some sort of philosophical difference of opinion between Fassbender and the government about how to approach the Kamloops shambles?

Does the Eby government just not want to foot the bill for the investigation?

Was it political? Fassbender, after all, was a surprise appointment. He’s a former provincial Liberal MLA and cabinet minister, as well as a former city councillor and mayor of Langley. He was defeated by an NDP opponent in the 2017 provincial election and then lost a bid to return as mayor in 2018. Maybe the premier and his cohorts have simply decided to find somebody more closely attuned to their own brand of politics.

Maybe they’re planning to do something dramatic, such as legislate a takeover of Kamloops civic government by an appointed trusteeship board. Given Eby’s dictatorial style of dealing with municipalities, nothing should be ruled out.

Or, maybe, they’ve decided the whole exercise just isn’t worth it.

That would certainly be a huge mistake, and a betrayal of Kamloops residents who badly want the problems at City Hall to be fixed. Fassbender was to come up with a game plan for re-configuring the relationship between mayor and council by April.

With Fassbender out of the picture, the timeline is obviously going to be extended. By the time anything is put in place, things will only get worse at City Hall.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger 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 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.

—

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.