COLLINS: Under less-than-ideal conditions, Kamloops council is getting things done
IF YOU PAY ATTENTION only to the controversial stories, you might not know that Kamloops is doing very well on many fronts.
With the infighting between the mayor and just about everyone else, you could — and should — deduce that it’s hard to be in the city’s employ right now, whether as a councillor or someone who is an employee on the payroll. With all the accusations, red tape and employees worrying about their future, with people suggesting they feel intimidated by the mayor, so many new rules about engagement with others, and codes of conduct, you might ask yourself how anything gets done. And yet, much of the work continues as normal.
We’ve made great progress working with the province on new housing initiatives — mainly low- and middle-income units, but more free-market units as well. The Build Kamloops project is set to go if residents approve, roads are getting repaired and rebuilt to allow new growth, and you would hardly know there was so much infighting behind the scenes.
Whether this holds for another two years is hard to say, but unless council does not become divisive within itself, we should be good for a while yet.