Heated Township of Langley Council Race coming

In this term of local government  - relations between Township Mayor Rick Green and his Councillors has been very acrimonious and he and Township Councillor Kim Richter have been isolated, when it comes to Budget Votes - both in 2009 + 2010 and as a result - Mayor Green announcing in 2010 that he wants a 2nd term and laying out his wish list.  See that blog post here

In the meantime - both of Langley's newspapers (Times/Advance) are full of stories and letters to the editor concerning Rick Green and whether or not he should step down relating to an investigation concerning himself and what Township of Langley Councillors should be doing as it relates to their relationship with Mayor Green

Which gets us to yesterday - Township Councillor Jordan Bateman, filling in for Alise Mills, on the World Today (Weekend) on CKNW with guest host Marcella Bernardo during a segment called "Life on the Right" got a call from clearly a Rick Green supporter challenging Councillor Bateman to his views on local taxation.  It is my view that Councillor Bateman recieved a small taste of what his constituents may deliver come this fall as he and his colleagues and Mayoralty/Councillor candidates for the Township Council go door knocking.  Already there is talk on the Internet about civic slates for the Township election race (slates or civic political parties are common place in places like Burnaby, Surrey, and Vancouver for starters)

Here in Williams Lake - the race for Mayor is starting to hear up with 2 letters to the editor in the Williams Lake Tribune - one in support of current Williams Lake Mayor Kerry Cook and one in support of Mayoralty Candidate and former WL Mayor Scott Nelson

In fact - the Township election may very well turn out to be one of the nasty civic races in all of British Columbia.  I imagine that people like Jordan Bateman and some of his colleagues plus others (who've announced or thinking about a run at Township Council) could very well be discussing this possibility and how that plays into their strategy for either a re-election bid or first timers - an election bid for Township Council

The AC/DC song "Highway to Hell" seems appropriate for the civic election in the Township of Langley, but I do hope that the civic election can settle some personality issues clearly on Township Council and that the next Township Council can move on to issues that need solving and not focus on petty personality issues between members of the Township of Langley Council

SBF

Season of Censure Motions

In a unprecedent move - not one, not two, not three but four local governments have now either passed or will consider passing "motions of censure"against a member of a municipal council, as follows:

September 13th, 2010 - Township of Langley Council passes a "Motion of Censure" against Township Mayor Rick Green - see here

February 28th, 2011 - Fort St John Council passes a "Motion of Censure" against Fort St John Mayor Bruce Lantz - see here

April 18th, 2011 - City of Quesnel Council passes a "Motion of Censure" against Quesnel Councillor Sushil Thapar - see here

July 25th, 2011 - City of Prince George Council is set to consider a report from PG Mayor Dan Rogers recommending that a "Motion of Censure" be considered against PG City Councillor Brian Skakun at the August 15th meeting of Prince George City Council.  See the Mayor's report here

Also - Opinion250.com reports on a possible "Motion of Censure" against PG City Councillor Brian Skakun here