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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.

 

 

Any Feedback on the 2012 Supplemental Budget Requests in Kamloops?

Every year, city staff presents 2 lists of additional items for consideration in the city budget. It's a bit fluid, but generally these items have for various reasons not made the "cut" to get into city hall's core budget. A lot of the budget dialogue and deliberation among council is on these items. There are almost always cuts to these lists. Any guidance on what you would like to see kept or cut would be most welcome. Here are the first versions of the 2 lists:

2012 City of Kamloops Additional Operating Budget Requests

2012 City of Kamloops Additional Capital Budget Requests 1st

Overview of Kamloops' Community Budget 2012...

These slides provide a really good starting place to understand the City of Kamloops budget and what your tax dollars fund. These were accompanying the presentation last tuesday at the first budget meeting of 2012. Council is hosting some really interesting (in my humble opinion!) budget public education and engagement round table sessions as well.  My paper copy scanned a little bit fuzzy on some of the pages. I am sorry about this. I will try to get a cleaner copy up really soon.

 

2012 Kamloops Budget Overview- presented on Feb 14t 2012

Kamloops Daily News Column: Thinking about Diversity...

This is my first council column of this term. Thanks to the Daily News for the opportunity to write on a regular basis. Roughly once a month, I will be writing a piece for the paper:

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“Some of what we must learn from if democracy is to flourish comes from ‘crossing over’ into lives unlike our own, not fleeing from them in fear but entering into them in trust that an experience of ‘otherness’ can help our closed hearts break open”
- Parker Palmer

One thing about this town that is such an opportunity, while also perhaps being such a challenge, is its diversity. In November, Kamloops voters elected a council that mirrors well that community diversity.

I’m very excited to serve with people with such a wide range of ages, life experiences, and points of view. There is real potential that we will make better decisions because more people are represented around the table.

I'm also honoured to participate in a historic milestone - the first Kamloops council that has more women than men. This is plain awesome.

The challenging thing about diversity, in my view, is that many of our usual ways make it hard to accommodate real and legitimate differences, let alone leverage them. Here are a couple of short stories and observations.

In my personal life, I like to think I have a pretty diverse group of friends and colleagues. Being around the council table again has reminded me that, as diverse as my personal network might be, I still pick and choose who I associate with.

I didn’t choose my council colleagues or hire on my own any city staffer (a good thing) and I need to continually remind myself that my usual programming and perceptions will often not serve me or the community well. I sometimes need to fight an immediate urge to counter someone else’s point of view.

In the past two months, we have already had many votes. I am struck by how much happens at a single council meeting. When you are on the losing end of a vote, it is sometimes hard to let go on an issue that stirs a strong belief or passion within. It feels worse when you feel like you let people in the community down who share the same beliefs or passions.

Democracy, in my understanding, however, is not about winning votes. It is about representing the community - in our case, a diverse and vibrant community that so many love. Since our installation early last December as a new council, I’ve often reflected on two words from one of the distinguished speakers. I hope Reverend Comrie and Justice Hyslop will forgive me that I don’t remember which one of you spoke of courtesy and respect.

I’ve thought a lot about what courtesy and respect mean to me in relation to serving on city council. The quote I used at the beginning of this column, from the amazing book Healing the Heart of Democracy by Parker Palmer, sums it up well. I think it is critical for me to open my mind and my heart to people and points of view that are very new to me, that I may even totally disagree with.

I also think its important to not ‘preach’ my own opinions or life experience, but to offer them in the spirit of service, humility, and trust in this incredible and diverse team the people have elected.  I am not always going to be on the “winning side” and I hope that is okay with me.

 

I want to thank the Daily News for the opportunity to write regularly. What I have written today are not really finished thoughts, but more of an invitation to dialogue on working with diversity. Look forward to hearing from you.

The YMCA thinks I am helping them...

When really it is the other way around. I got a call a month or so ago from the ever awesome Darcy Harris at the Kamloops Y. Darcy coordinates communication and fundraising. She asked me to be one of the "celebrity" (I use that word so advisedly) fundraisers for the Y Strong Kids campaign. I said I would be happy to help. I have to go to the Y and exercise and I ask people to pledge me for that exercise. I understand my face is on a couple of posters posted in the gym, etc.

Truth be told, I needed this more than Y needed me. Don't get me wrong, I am so supportive of the Strong Kids campaign. It's just that the New Year came this year with a strong personal feeling that I am really out of shape. I need to take better care of my health. And sitting on that recumbent bike, walking on that treadmill, last week, felt so good. Ever notice that a gym often feels like one of the happiest places on earth. I'm looking forward to this week.

There are a lot of people in Kamloops who make a exercise a regular and routine part of their life.  More seem to be joining in every day.