Wayne Moore - Castanet Nov 21, 2011 / 11:30 am
Veteran Kelowna City Councillor Robert Hobson expected he would see one or two new faces around the council table. What he got was five new councillors and a new mayor. Hobson says he has never seen a housecleaning like this in his 23 years at City Council. "Usually just one or two councillors change and often that only happens when people retire," says Hobson. "I can only think of a couple of councillors who have not been elected in 23 years." In 2008, Kelowna elected four new councillors (Charlie Hodge, Luke Stack Graham James and Angela Reid-Nagy), however, they were elected after Colin Day, Barrie Clark and Carol Gran retired and Norm Letnick left to test the provincial political waters. A fifth new councillor, Kevin Craig, won a by-election a year later after veteran councillor Brian Given passed away. Four of those new councillors, Hodge, James, Reid-Nagy and Craig went down to defeat Saturday as did two-term councillor Michele Rule. They'll be replaced by Gerry Zimmermann, Gail Given, Colin Basran, Maxine DeHart and Mohini Singh. "The make up is very interesting. I know some of the people quite well and I think there's quite a diversity on council and that's good," says Hobson. "I lobbied for a diverse council during the election and I got a diverse council. I think having different perspectives is good. I've always been happy with councils because the public sends us the councils and we have to make them work." While he may not be familiar with all of his new councillors he is familiar with mayor-elect Walter Gray who he served under from 1996 until 2005. "I've always said I got along fine with Walter and Sharon. I've worked over the years with lots of councils where people didn't always agree about things and we got along just fine. Over time I think you learn to understand each others perspectives." After a brief training session this new council will have to hit the ground running. One of the first orders of business will be the 2012 municipal budget which will be tackled during an all day session January 13. For the first time in Hobson's 23 years, council has directed staff to see what a zero per cent increase would look like. "It probably means a reduction in services if that's what the public want so we have to decide whether we want to go ahead with that or whether we want to consult with the public in any way about the consequences of it.." "There are a number of things to be decided I'd suggest." Meantime, City Clerk Stephen Fleming will conduct a series of orientation sessions with all eight councillors and mayor-elect Gray over the next three weeks. "It will emphasize what their role is in the policy setting and decision making process," says Fleming. "There will be very practical things such as where you sit in Council Chambers, where you sit in room 4A, this is where your offices are, this is where you park." Fleming says once the new council meets for the first time December 12 they'll all know where they are going, what their role is and how council operates."
Veteran Kelowna City Councillor Robert Hobson expected he would see one or two new faces around the council table. What he got was five new councillors and a new mayor. Hobson says he has never seen a housecleaning like this in his 23 years at City Council. "Usually just one or two councillors change and often that only happens when people retire," says Hobson. "I can only think of a couple of councillors who have not been elected in 23 years." In 2008, Kelowna elected four new councillors (Charlie Hodge, Luke Stack Graham James and Angela Reid-Nagy), however, they were elected after Colin Day, Barrie Clark and Carol Gran retired and Norm Letnick left to test the provincial political waters. A fifth new councillor, Kevin Craig, won a by-election a year later after veteran councillor Brian Given passed away. Four of those new councillors, Hodge, James, Reid-Nagy and Craig went down to defeat Saturday as did two-term councillor Michele Rule. They'll be replaced by Gerry Zimmermann, Gail Given, Colin Basran, Maxine DeHart and Mohini Singh. "The make up is very interesting. I know some of the people quite well and I think there's quite a diversity on council and that's good," says Hobson. "I lobbied for a diverse council during the election and I got a diverse council. I think having different perspectives is good. I've always been happy with councils because the public sends us the councils and we have to make them work." While he may not be familiar with all of his new councillors he is familiar with mayor-elect Walter Gray who he served under from 1996 until 2005. "I've always said I got along fine with Walter and Sharon. I've worked over the years with lots of councils where people didn't always agree about things and we got along just fine. Over time I think you learn to understand each others perspectives." After a brief training session this new council will have to hit the ground running. One of the first orders of business will be the 2012 municipal budget which will be tackled during an all day session January 13. For the first time in Hobson's 23 years, council has directed staff to see what a zero per cent increase would look like. "It probably means a reduction in services if that's what the public want so we have to decide whether we want to go ahead with that or whether we want to consult with the public in any way about the consequences of it.." "There are a number of things to be decided I'd suggest." Meantime, City Clerk Stephen Fleming will conduct a series of orientation sessions with all eight councillors and mayor-elect Gray over the next three weeks. "It will emphasize what their role is in the policy setting and decision making process," says Fleming. "There will be very practical things such as where you sit in Council Chambers, where you sit in room 4A, this is where your offices are, this is where you park." Fleming says once the new council meets for the first time December 12 they'll all know where they are going, what their role is and how council operates."
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