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Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference 2012 -Arrival Day

Kamloops Councillors, TNRD directors, and the CAOs of the two arrived in Saskatoon this morning for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM)75th annual convention today. As many already know, Councillor Nancy Bepple is running for a seat on the FCM board. I spent a working lunch with her, discussing her election speech. I really enjoy thinking through campaigns.

This is my first time at an FCM convention and it is amazing to meet local government elected folks from across the country. These are people who could form part of a collaborative network of information sharing. Got my hands wide open for business cards!

Checking in for the conference went very smoothly. Of note in the delegate package: a travel size package of Saskatoon berry jams and syrup from the City of Saskatoon, a Kraft hockeyville hockey puck, and an wireless electronic voting pad on a lanyard.

Nancy and I attended a conference related "tweetup" this evening and a Council of Canadians reception (moatly focusing on a new trade agreement between Canada and Europe that the Council of Canadians is concerned about.) The "tweetup" was a great way to meet others in a fun way and to learn more about using twitter as an effective tool in public service. Ended the evening crafting an email with Nancy reporting to BC local governments about plans for the FCM BC caucus meeting tomorrow morning.

Third Annual Cities Fit For Children Program Guide...

A post which I mistakely posted to my personal blog:

Ran out of time this weekend to post more than a link to the conference page with a link to the Program Guide (Agenda). Really good conference, totally proud of the organizers. I attended sessions on empowering youth, communication strategies, local food security, a new policy agenda for youth and families, accessibility, and youth and nature. More really soon, I promise.

Sitting in The Big Chair: Being Mayor for the Day....

Today, I had the honour of chairing a council meeting. Mayor Milobar had to travel to the coast for the first meeting of the new provincial / municipal RCMP contract committee and it is my month to be deputy Mayor. Every councillor takes a month and we all just cycle through the year as the Mayor's backup.

Chairing a council meeting as deputy Mayor is really different than participating when not chairing. Your concerns shift from asking questions and providing meaningful input to making sure all are given a chance to speak and that the meeting moves along in as timely manner as possible. It is a real balance to allow colleagues time to ask questions and speak to motions AND to make sure the meeting is conducted within a three to three and half hour time frame (that's usually the maximum before we all start to get really squirelly). It is pretty intense being in a council meeting, lots of meaty issues, cameras always rolling, media watching.

The actual Mayor does a much better job of chairing the meeting while also asking questions and providing meaningful input. Mayor Milobar has even more respect from me after today. Since being elected again in 2011, I've found Pete chairs a great meeting -  but I really had no idea of all the stuff you need to juggle.

Looking forward to getting back to my regular seat next week and also really thankful for the experience and practice.

Definitive Pictorial Evidence that Kamloops Rocks!

You would probably expect me, born and raised in this town, elected to represent its awesome people, to say that Kamloops rocks. But, wait, I have pictures! As a councillor, one is offered an amazing opportunity to get a great overview of local community events and initiatives. I am proud to report that the community spirit and strength in Kamloops is so incredibly healthy.

Here is a quick pictoral tour of just some of what I have experienced over the past month:

 

March 24th: Art Gallery Opening of two amazing shows. One with Internationally renowned French artist Esther Shalev-Gerz. The other with arts luminaries Doug Buis and Astrid Menze.

 

March 25th: Boogie the Bridge Training starting at Runners Sole in Aberdeen. I have so appreciated the opportunity to train for the boogie this year and to write a weekly column in the Kamloops News. Truly getting back on a path to health. Thousands of people are coming out on April 29th to prove that "movement is change"

 

March 29th: The Kamloops Chamber of Commerce installs its 2012/13 board. Our chamber is a vibrant, powerful organization that offers a diverse range of  tangible benefits to its members.

 

April 5th: Kamloops hosts another Kamloops International Bantam Ice Hockey Tourney (KIBIHT). This has been a longstanding tradition, renewed under new leadership. I had a chance to welcome many of the players over breakfast one morning.

 

April 14th: Our community celebrates Vasaikhi festival. The Ord Road Sikh Temple raises a new flag. The flag at a Sikh temple, the "Nishan Sahib", serves as a beacon to welcome all to this place of worship, of community, and of refuge.

 

April 14th: Kamloops RCMP Regimental ball raises $32000 for United Way. An elegant and traditional event on a local RCMP detachment's calendar. Great community support for and from our police force!

 

April 18th: Harvey Fraser, Lynda MacKenzie, Acacia Schmietenknop, and Ruth Williams honoured with Community Distinguished Service Awards. This an amazing annual opportunity for city council to honour amazing people who do so much for Kamloops.

April 21st: Local Rotary Clubs organize their largest food drive yet. 60 000 pounds of food for the Kamloops Food Bank. I am proud of my Rotary Club's role in the effort to make sure no one goes hungry in Kamloops.

 

 

April 21st: The BC Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) honours Kamloops WWII Vets. Very happy and honoured that leaders of the BC Regiment and the BC Regiment Veterans associated traveled from out of town to honour three local WWII Vets from the Regiment. Up the Dukes!

Perils and Opportunities of the Ajax Mine Review Process...

I wrote a column in this past tuesday's Kamloops Daily News with some thoughts on the perils and opportunities of the Ajax Mine review process. The online comments on the article have been very interesting, and I've enjoyed the opportunity to engage with most of the commenters. The Daily News comment boards are a bit like the wild west. Not the most civil place on the planet. Not awful but also not for those with thin skin. Here is the column, comments follow below.

2012 City Budget Process Robust and Messy...

Broadcast Centre reporter James Peters tweeted the above very understandable sentiment from the council budget meeting this morning. Indeed, the meeting was messy, but it was also robust. Almost every budget item on today's agenda was discussed and every councillor had a lot to say. I think in the final city budget meeting of any given year, of any meeting, the tone and tenor was entirely appropriate. We are living under the paradigm of fiscal restraint and greater involvement. In the end, largely through the work of city hall's assistant finance director Doug Stewart and other city staffers, we were able to get the city tax increase from a 5.7% number a couple of weeks ago to 1.92% today. This exercise in decreasing the tax rate happens every year but I can't help but feel we have a new vigour about it right now.

 

A Busy Busy Time on City Council....

March 2012 has been an amazing, crazy busy month:

• City Council hired Mr. David Trawin as the new CAO for the City of Kamloops. Very exciting and tough decision. Heartfelt congratulations David!
• Council also piloted a new format for public meetings on the community budget. The number of attendees skyrocketed and I think much better discussions were had.
• Council also met with the Kamloops Indian Band Council to discuss community issues and opportunities.
• I attended two days of the Building Sustainable Communities conference in Kelowna. Very well done session there on community engagement there, led by Vince Verlaan. In 90 minutes, we got a chance to learn and work together in a great number of different ways.
• I have joined the awesome Run Club, training for Boogie the Bridge, and writing a weekly column about my experiences in the Kamloops Daily News.

 

In the next weeks, Council will work to finish the 2012 budget. Among, I am sure, many other things.

The Information Absorption Issues: Local Government Leadership Academy Training Last Week...

 

City Councillors from Victoria, Maple Ridge, Coquitlam, White Rock, and other BC Communities act in a mock public hearing. Lawyers periodically stop the performance to illustrate how to run effective and legal public hearings.

Any general tips on how to effectively incorporate conference learnings into day-to-day practice?

This past Wednesday to Friday, I travelled to Richmond to join Councillors Ken Christian, Donovan Cavers, and Nelly Dever at a Local Government Leadership Academy learning opportunity. We were among councillors and mayors from 24 BC communities on a crash course seminar for local government elected officials.

I now have in my possession a pretty thick binder and a large handful of notes. I am going over all this information and trying to figure out what I want to incorporate in my work as a Kamloops councillor. I would like to think about this "out loud" as much as possible in the hopes that the community might guide my thinking and my implementation of the ideas from the training. This hopefully will mean more blog posts. I detail 10 initial takeways at the end of this post.

Just to set the stage:

The seminar was held in two ballrooms at the Delta Vancouver Airport hotel. We also stayed at the hotel. I am counting a maximum of 15 sessions one could attend. Presenters included George Cuff, Gordon McIntosh, Laura Ballance, Tom Barnes, Jerry Berry, Ted Townsend, and Sandra Carter. Here is the detailed agenda:

 

BC Local Government Leadership Academy 2012 Elected Officials Seminar: Agenda

 

Here are 10 inital takeaways from the seminar:

1. Fiscal discipline is becoming a more top of mind issue for BC councils.
2. If council votes are always unanimous, the council is not really reflecting the diversity of opinion within the community.
3. Councils might want to consider proactively inviting a diversity of community groups to present to council as a delegation.
4. Council members and city staff might want to discuss the "grey areas" where their roles sometime overlap.
5. It might be good to have more "shirt sleeve" blue sky sessions as a council. A big question is whether to have these sessions in open or closed session.
6. Evaluating personality types and working styles of city councillors might be useful in learning to work together effectively.
7. Good public engagement is a product of good process based on a rich resource base of good practices.
8. Local governments are in dealing a much more complex financial picture than ever before.
9. Local governments may need to diversify their revenue streams away from a great reliance on property taxes.
10. Good council policies can mitigate insurance risk.