Like I reviewed in 2009 after the 2008 civic local elections - it was a year today (Nov 19th, 2011) that the civic voters in Wells, Quesnel, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House, School District #27/28 and voters' in Electoral Areas E, H, J and L of the Cariboo Regional District voted in the 2011-14 local governments
And in that year, you have in-fighting continuing on Quesnel Council, a dog park in Williams Lake that was not asked for by the 'general public' in Williams Lake and School District #27 threatening to shut down 3 schools in Williams Lake (Glendale, Kwaleen and Wildwood) and 1 elementary school (Forest Grove) and 1 secondary school (100 Mile Jr Secondary) in 100 Mile House and parents fighting back...
Let's review by individual local government their performance so far:
Wells - One phrase: "Steady as she goes"
Quesnel - As I personally feared, Quesnel Mayor Mary Sjostrom is still fighting off baseless charges from Quesnel Councillor Sushil Thapar and local resident Pat Morton and since then, Councillor Thapar has earned himself a 3rd Censure motion and was prohibited from attending this year's 2012 Union of BC Muncipalities Conference in Victoria which saw Thapar's supporters protest that move. What's the next year hold -- tough to say but one thing's for sure, I don't see Thapar backing down... Meanwhile, new Councillors Coleman, Brisco and Elliot have been doing good work so far. Councillor Scott Elliot seems to be enjoying his role very much to date and I believe Quesnel residents are impressed with his performance to date. Elliot also used Facebook in the first year to keep his residents' up to date including at UBCM
Williams Lake - 5 of the 7 positions were re-taken by incumbents Kerry Cook, Surinderpal Rathor, Laurie Walters, Geoff Bourdon and Sue Zacharias with Ivan Bonnell being returned to Council after his defeat as Mayor in 2002 and his time as Councillor in the 80's and Danica Hughes going into WL Council Chambers as a first term Councillor. The first term has seen things like a dog park being implemented (and local residents' being annoyed at this move), the resignation of Brian Carruthers as Chief Administrator of the City, in-fighting on Council over the future of rural fire protection to rural fringe residents' of Cariboo RD Areas D, E, and F with the final result known this Saturday at 8pm and Councillors Rathor/Bonnell insisting Council keep tax hikes to 0 or as close to 0 as you can come and local business like Fields, Sportmart amd Shoe Warehouse shutting down for good and others (Dollarama, Jean Warehouse, Bell Store and Windsor Plywood) moving to the Walmart site and WL Council seemingly being unable to do anything about it and residents' that I've interacted with are beginning to become concerned. In the next year, we'll see Zellers shut down, federal consideration of the 'New Prosperity' mine and a provincial election in May of 2013. Finally - I expect WL Council to continue to be split on the budget between Rathor/Bonnell who want to keep costs low while the rest say tax hikes are here to stay to maintain the status quo or improve City of WL services/infrastructure
100 Mile House - Like Wells, 'Steady as she goes'
School District #28 - Steady as she goes...
School District #27 - As I predicted would have to happen, Will Van Osch (Zone 1) became School District #27 Chair, Patti Baker stepped down as Zone 3 Trustee, a new Superintendent in Mark Thiessen after the retirement of Diane Wright and the Board proposing this past September, the "Initial Options" report and the massive public opposition to it and whether the majority of this 'green' School Board will ignore public opposition in January 2013 and proceed to shut down the recommended 3 schools in Williams Lake and 2 in 100 Mile House. My regrettable suspicion is 'yes', given the $900,000 structural deficit that exists. I also agree with some parents that 'bean-counters' came up with this Plan and stating that this is necessary for the financial stability of SD #27 and the Board will say - if our Staff say that this is what we must do then I guess we better take their advice as they are our experts
Cariboo Regional District - Byron Kemp has hit his stride since left the Board table in 2005 as the Area 'E' Director. Roger William/Margo Wagner (Area 'J'/Area 'H') have gently learned their role since their election a year ago which included Director William attempting to get the Board to express 'no confidence' in New Prosperity which didn't occur and you had Al Richmond (Area 'G') returned as Board Chair for a 4th consecutive term and Richmond is still 'young' enough to break Area 'A' Ted Armstrong's record of (I believe) 8 consecutive terms as Cariboo Regional District Chairman. Meanwhile - Area 'D' Director Deb Bischoff has continued to raise concerns about the tax load that many taxpayers' bear in her Electoral Area and I expect her to continue to raise their concerns in 2013. As well, the Regional Hospital Board (same composition as the Cariboo RD Board with TNRD Area 'E' Director Sally Watson) is looking at the possibility of moving health-care operations of Williams Lake/100 Mile House from Interior Health to Northern Health and those discussions are on-going as a result of 15 beds not opening up at Fisher Place when Interior Health previously said that they would. Expect this fight to continue with political lobbying over the Cariboo Memorial Hospital 2nd Floor upgrades to continue as well
Otherwise, I fully expect a "steady as she goes" around the Board table
Conclusion - other than a few personal "tiffs" in local communities, it seems everyone is finding their stride and 2013 will be busy with local matters and provincial matters that affect our local communities. Please stay tuned to your local government and don't be afraid to tell your local elected officials (Regional District Director, Councillor, Mayor or School Board Trustee) when they are doing something wrong or even when they are doing something right. I'll sure they will appreciate all the input -- good or bad!
SBF
5 comments:
Big things in Quesnel you missed--charges by Thapar are not baseless---inappropriate cellphone use and expense account use by Mayor are substantiated. mayor is now paying for personal cell phone use. You forgot departure of CAO and HR Manager amidst all the dysfuntion on council. Multi-plex project fundraising is short of the mark. Others use facebook too.
Typical Pat Morton garbage by Anonymous. The evidence the Mayor used her cell phone inappropriately (to the amount of something like $40, by the way) was that she didn't have a cell phone bill last month.
The online political community in Quesnel has recently discovered (now by Pat Morton's own admission) that her partner and former mayoral candidate Ron Paull received a massive severance in the late 90s and then sued the CRD for an ambulance ride and a bad ankle. I don't know the specific, and perhaps both were justified, but it really gives Pat no leg to stand on.
Thapar, meanwhile, has accused his opposition of slashing his tires and threatening him with personal harm. He actually went on local TV to make these claims, he provided no evidence and there has been no police involvement. eQuesnel forum contributors recently identified connections between Thapar, Morton and Paull with Arthur Topham, a local loon currently being tried for anti-Semitic hate speech.
There is nothing wrong with opposing the political establishment, but when you do, you should: (1) be respectful and honest, and (2) have a modicum of credibility. Pat and Sushil may even be correct with some of their accusations, but nobody listens to the boy who cries wolf.
Lest we forget. Balance is everything. The last post is a bit over the top...and that seems to be what Quesnel City Hall politics is all about, namely, extremes. No matter which side is involved, extremism seems the order of the day. One side flushes good people out the door for big bucks while the other side makes life for all as miserable as possible, distracting costly time and energy from the real issues, and thus also costing big bucks.
They are both losers, and will hopefully both be voted out.
The biggest losers today seem to be the taxpayers of course, since they have no choice but to live with both sets of losers for the next two years....can't say "two years less a day" because that is too dramatic, but it seems like it at times.
It also seems like both sides drank the same 'hate you' koolaid, because nobody wants to cooperate....they'd rather cut off their noses to spite their faces.
There's a serious lack of leadership afoot, and that is what its all about. There's a vacuum at the political top in Quesnel, that manifests in the floundering, machinations, plots, jealousies, petty intrigues, personal agendas, egos and manipulations of a failed effort by the top to lead, and its those very things that both sides have in common, and that makes both sides unworthy in the next poll....whenever that be.
Steve, you are most helpful to Quesnel if you dig and report....don't just report.
I agree with the last comment. It's all very very ugly on both sides, and it's hard not to be. Steve, I agree with you about Elliot - he's a nice guy and is trying really hard - but let's not forget he was one of the three that voted to kick Thapar out of UBCM, along with Roodenburg and Cave. This, in my opinion, was the worst political move of the past year in Quesnel, as it actually further empowered Thapar to present himself as a beleaguered whisteblower (as opposed to a blowhard).
I can't see any of this improving unless EVERYONE goes next election cycle. Everyone is at fault here, not the least of which is the Mayor, who has allowed the discourse in our nice little town to become so nasty, simply from the actions of basically two rabble-rousers.
Right on last commenter! Leadership at the top in quesnel seems to be the problem as personal agendas cause conflict cause turmoil cause huge rifts cause more turmoil leading to incredible waste and disruption. It all starts with leadership and quesnel seems to need that more than anything else. Sadly two more years of this are ahead, and it appears unlikely things will change with the current leadership situation being what it is.
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