It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … That’s not just a quote from Charles Dickens, but a good summary of life in politics.
Perhaps one of the hardest things for me to do was to say goodbye the other day at our last council meeting. Each member of council had a unique character trait that I valued and enjoyed watching grow. It is not easy to get seven unique perspectives working as a collective, instead of separate personalities or individual crusades.
I always had comfort in the fact that each member of council would come prepared, debate on what they believed was the right thing for our community and had the courage to stand behind their views — even if it was difficult or unpopular.
It’s not easy having to make challenging decisions and then dealing with fallout that is a result from someone not agreeing with the outcome. It can be trying watching someone walk toward you with a scowl and wondering if they were mad at you, the person behind you, or just didn’t have their bran muffin and prune juice that morning.
We have over 34,000 different opinions in our community, and while some keep their opinions to themselves, others feel obligated to share their views with passionate vigour and enthusiasm. The problem is, we are sometimes very quick to drop the gloves and get into battle-mode whenever someone opposes our point of view. We even personally attack or vilify to the point where someone with a differing opinion dis-engages or fears continuing the conversation. We need to be more open minded and accepting that others may have differing ideas and they deserve respect for contributing their views.
One of the greatest achievements that this council implemented was our engagement strategy and protocols. We have dramatically shifted the way we involve the public on the decisions that will shape our community. Regardless of who is in office, these new measures provide an opportunity for the public to participate on items of importance to them. The special interest groups that want something or don’t want something get balanced out with the comments, concerns or supports from a broad cross-section of the community. I encourage everyone to take advantage of the opportunities to participate at Shape Your City Penticton events or online.
In politics you are only as good as your last vote, meaning people can be fickle and slow to let go or see the bigger picture. We live in an age where it is easy to be swayed by outlandish commentary in the media, be that alternative, social or traditional. The world has gotten a lot more complicated than years gone by. With local government being very accessible, people place high expectations for national or provincial issues to be solved locally.
We accomplished and witnessed a lot of positive things happening over the past 10 years. While council sets the direction, it was staff that implemented whatever the initiative was. We often take for granted how hard our staff work and how well-maintained our public buildings, parks, roadways and utilities are. Leaving office while corporate culture is, in my opinion, at its highest is something to be proud of and it demonstrates we have the right people in place.
It is the relationships amongst staff, council and the community that have been cultivated during my time on council that I will miss the most, but they are not going away, merely just transitioning. It will be nice to step back from the spotlight and scrutiny to regain part of the identity you lose when you become the mayor, yet I will miss it.
It has been an honour to serve this community.
Andrew Jakubeit is the former mayor of Penticton and has provided the Western News with a column twice a month throughout his term. He was not re-elected at the Oct. 20 municipal elections and John Vassilaki will be sworn in as the mayor on Nov. 6.