Clarification
Following is my presentation to the Committee Of The Whole (COW) - 20 Oct, 2014. With some clarifications added here: seeing that an individual member of The Whole is only allowed 5 whole minutes - once a month - to state a case to Council. Altogether 15 whole minutes tops for 3 - and if there are only 2 or just 1: it's still only 5 whole minutes per. After a presentation any Councillor may respond with whatever he/she wants - while not necessarily allowing the presenter a reply to it. Particularly when the original topic is inconvenient.
And this is pretty much how far our elected Council will interact with individuals from among those they no longer are a part of - once given the job. By same. The greater part of The Whole!
Democracy in action.
As will be the upcoming local election - and here's how some of it is shaping-up-or-not at City Hall.
The City of Kelowna traditionally has prepared those even just considering to run for City Council to be somewhat familiar with what they may be getting into.
This has never been done in Nelson - and orientation-meetings for the new group - nobody-knows-when next year - will be of dubious merit. Because the faster they then will have to go - the behinder they then will have to get!
Clarification
Can't you just see them: breathless and bewildered from the start! No wonder the 2 "new" Councillors say: it takes about a year to get used and into it. It probably wouldn't have to with mindfully measured preparation. Even though the "old" ones talk about hoping for fresh blood, new energy and ideas in a new Council: fresh blood, new energy and ideas present a threat to City Hall's ("old" ones, any "old" ones there) status quo. So wearing the "new" ones down - making them feel dependent - is the way to go. Whatever fresh blood, new energy and ideas brought along largely used-up rather soonish - just to survive. And then fit in.
COW Presentation
Proactively connecting with the electorate ought to be of high priority to Councillors - but never here! True: they have been bogged-down in paper-trails and meetings. Also true: this has left them with no appetite for direct contact with the great unwashed. Although all of it is THE job: the old-timers just stick to their routines - while the 2 now "newish" ones are leaving after one term. They clearly didn't know what they were in for when they tried to walk their idealism on the 2nd Floor.
In fact - with them - now the 3 most recent additions to Council quit after a single term.
So if the incoming babes in the woods are not adequately prepared: this may turn into a bigger problem than ever - seeing there are more of them this time. This probable problem should have been anticipated and - once and for all - addressed. Experience and integrity ought to have dictated the need! The bigger picture! Nelson! But - no! So there may be drudgery - and 1 additional year of that - for at least some of the new "new" ones!
A meeting of individual would-be-candidates with a Councillor of his/her choice - while helpful, what with City Hall not rallying at all - is bound to be subjective.
Of particular concern - for us on the outside anyway - is the very real possibility of a complete change of elected administration. None of the would-be-Councillors really know their way through today's City Hall culture - and current ones will hardly talk about that - with total strangers, anyway.
Clarification
Their basic introduction to it all - before formal orientation whenever, once elected - would benefit the would-be-mayor-from-outside as well. Many of the same issues and getting to know each other: some of them eventually colleagues.
COW Presentation
What has increasingly colored my view of the current administration's performance - thus my concern now for timely and comprehensive orientation for the new Council - are cases of blatant conflicts of interest within this administration - and Council looking-on.
Personal interests along the 2nd Floor being rather different from professional interest in the electorate as a whole. Will the next Council eventually be instructed from well-entrenched routine or personal responsibility? Who would instruct the possibly new mayor? The CAO?
3 examples of conflict:
1.
The Japanese-earthquake help benefiting only the egos of a very small unfocused group in Nelson and their decisive 2nd-Floor guidance - with Council looking-on.
2.
The parking-variance put in place for Nelson Commons before even applied for - with Council looking-on and promptly granting it.
3.
The drawn-out free P.R. effort on the City's website by quote/unquote staff for Nelson Landing - with Council looking-on.
From another angle: with his work for the NDCC as either/or; also on the Board of Nelson and District Economic Development; all this on top of running a business full-time to support a family: how could he possibly give focused attention to the endless minutiae of a Councillor's work?
Wheels within wheels?
On one hand the idea of a whole new elected administration is very appealing for obvious reasons - on the other hand scary: this may turn into
City Hall - A Reality Show!
Only 3 out of 6 Councillors are present at this COW. 2 of those absent are the ones leaving (anyway) - the 3rd is running for mayor against the current one who is present and will seek re-election. Awkward!
Although this is an important meeting insofar as the Police Board is present full-force to make its pitch for the Provisional Police Budget For 2015.
This minimal-interest Councillor-attendance is the old glass half-full or half-empty thing. Councillor/Chair Macdonald says small but strong - giving it an unconvincing half-full spin. There will be 3 more meetings of this here Council - and one must wonder about possibly ever-diminishing Councillor-attendance in them.
And then there were none!
Glass empty!
Sorreee...!
To some degree it matters who's in office, but it matters more how much pressure they're under from the public.
Noam Chomsky
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