City's image takes a hit
Aren’t these the people who are supposed to be combating Prince George’s negative image?
One would think that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities is a great place for our local councillors to do that.
Instead, Coun. Cameron Stolz votes against fellow Coun. Garth Frizzell’s bid to become third vice-president of the group.
Talk about raising eyebrows on the national stage as the rubes from the Interior forget to leave local squabbles behind. Granted, Stolz says he feels Vancouver city councillor Raymound Louie is better suited to sit across the table from Prime Minister Stephen Harper when arguing for municipalities at the federal level.
However, the snub of Frizzell by his council-mate goes much deeper than that … or at least the last few months indicate such.
For some reason Frizzell has fallen out of favour with the power base at city hall.
I suspect it has something to do with some of the rapid changes instituted by Mayor Shari Green and staunchly supported by Stolz since this administration was elected last fall.
It was Frizzell who threw up a cautionary hand over the costs of the core review and was steamrolled for it. A motion by Frizzell to make the city’s financial reporting more transparent was also quashed.
His stance has landed him in the doghouse with some of his fellow councillors. It happens. And they can hash it out around the council table, or behind the scenes.
But to vote against Frizzell at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities just seems like petty penalization.
Yes, Stolz is certainly within his right to vote for anyone he desires. But the reality is that it just makes the city look bad. It’s embarrassing.
Given that he didn’t vote for Frizzell, it’s a given that he also didn’t lobby for him at the convention, which is what happens prior to the actual vote. Did he actively lobby for Louie, or against Frizzell? If so, that makes the city look even more ridiculous.
It also brings into question whether Green and Coun. Frank Everitt, who also attended, lobbied for Frizzell.
Stolz, along with the rest of council, voted to support Frizzell’s run for the FCM board. On his Facebook page, Stolz posted that Frizzell didn’t seek an additional motion asking support for his run for third vice-president.
Oh, already mentioned petty.
If Stolz wanted to make a point, or to simply dis Frizzell, he should have voted against sending him to FCM at the council table. After all, it was known then that Frizzell was going to seek the third-vice president position.
The kicker in all this is that Frizzell is the kind of city councillor who won’t let this hamper how he acts, or votes, at the council table.
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