Singh’s in, Walsh is pondering
Former city councillor Arjun Singh is after his old job — and says he’s learned lots from his first council term.
In making his announcement, Singh acknowledged he was sometimes on the outs with then-mayor Terry Lake, but said he had a “bit of a go-it-alone kind of sense.”
Singh said he has learned the “collective mind can be better than the mind of one or two people.”
To develop his campaign, Singh said he plans on holding conversations through the
summer with a variety of people, some one-on-one and perhaps through townhall-type meetings.
That same public engagement was used by Denis Walsh before his successful bid for council in the last municipal election.
However, Walsh said he’s not sure he’ll be running again, giving himself to the end of June to make a decision.
Walsh said he’s considering some new business opportunities and needs to firm up his plans before he can determine if he can commit the time required to be a councillor.
It’s why he didn’t ask to attend the Federation of Canadian Municipalities meeting in Halifax.
Walsh noted one of the councillors attending is Jim Harker, who announced months ago he would not be seeking re-election.
While Walsh considers his options, Singh said he wants to ask people questions about how the city is run.
One of the main ones, he said would be: How do you feel about city hall?
He wants to know from the average Kamloopsian if they feel the local government “is working for you” and if they believe they receive enough information from city hall on issues.
The larger issues would include a discussion on community collaboration and better public engagement.
“You need to have good stuff coming in so you can have good stuff going out,” Singh said.
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