Ruffled feathers are part of the job description, but two city aldermen think council needs to put its collective differences aside in the new year in order to be “more effective.”
Heated debates over the city’s three-year budget process and $25-million pedestrian bridges over the Bow River have left aldermen “much more adversarial and as a result, less effective” than at any time in recent memory, said Ald. Ray Jones.
“In the last four months, people have really been at each others’ throats and I think some of that comes with the economic situation, especially surrounding the budget,” said Jones.
“We’ve got to start working as a group, as we’re elected to do,”
A strategic planning meeting slated for Jan. 20 should provide an opportunity for some healing, and Ald. John Mar likened council to “one big, not always happy family.”
“We may not see eye to eye about every single issue, but at the end of the day, we’re stuck with each other,” Mar said. “We have 15 individuals with differing backgrounds and different ideas on how this city should move forward, so no matter what, there’s going to be conflict.”
