Meet Penticton’s long-time city hall watchdog

Lynn Kelsey is pictured outside Penticton city hall in this undated photo. She’s usually inside in council chambers.

Image Credit: Dan Walton, Local Journalism Initiative

January 11, 2024 - 2:30 PM

Nobody can say they have more experience in Penticton city hall's council chambers than Lynn Kelsey.

Kelsey’s a watchdog who has attended nearly every regular meeting since 2008. That year was the start of future MP Dan Albas’ political career, and also when future MLA Dan Albas went from councillor to mayor.

“Albas on council, I think he did a good job. He could be swayed though,” Kelsey said.

Kelsey watches controversies unfold from start to finish. She says most consequential decisions under her watch were made and paid for by the council elected in 2011.

“They really set up future councils for trouble and fiscal issues.”

But they weren’t the only big spenders – Kelsey feels like most councillors are too quick to spend other people’s money. So she appreciated how careful former Coun. Frank Regehr was with the public purse. He was elected to one term in 2018.

“Frank knew his numbers... he could present them. He didn’t just look at today, he looked at how did we get here, and how do we get out.”

She also gave an honourable mention to former Coun. Judy Sentes.

“I have to say Judy has been diligent in being prepared.”

However, Kelsey feels like the single-most unnecessarily expensive project during her time as a watchdog was embarked upon under the council Regehr and Sentes served on together – the Lake-to-Lake Cycling route. The final phase of the project was approved by the current council.

More recently, she was frustrated to see council budget $350,000 for outdoor lighting at Riverside Skate Park.

“Think about what we could have done with those tax dollars towards homelessness.”

Kelsey would prefer if councils were less wasteful spenders, but she can appreciate how they’ve become more careful with investors.

“For a while there was a developer mentality – anything the developers wanted they got and I think some of those decisions were not right.”

But while members of council (especially the mayor) shoulder the brunt of the criticisms for decisions made on behalf of the city, Kelsey says the quality of a CAO -- who earns significantly more than the elected officials -- can determine whether a council functions well or not.

The salary for Penticton’s CAO is a quarter-million dollars, according to last year’s sunshine list, while the councillors who vote on every decision are paid $25,963. Remuneration for the mayor of Penticton is $78,332.

The budgets passed by the 2011-2014 council were the spending period Kelsey is most critical of. Kelsey found it irresponsible to keep taxes low, while spending was as high as it was.

“That council had such an impact on future councils and the city. They allowed senior staff to drive the bus. A lot of it was senior staff and a lot of it was council allowing them to drive the bus.”

Council’s decisions are usually guided by City staff through recommendations. Kelsey considers those recommendations to be thoughtful and well researched, but she’s not a fan of councillors who rarely challenge the administration.

She believes councillors need to keep City staffers in check because sometimes bureaucrats tend to get tunnel vision and forget what’s truly best for the public.

However, councillors also have a tendency to lose touch with the public, which becomes apparent after hasty decisions are made.

Had the public been given better opportunities to digest information and respond, Kelsey doubts the divided bike lanes would be happening, the plan to sell park space for a pay-to-play waterpark in 2015 would have never gotten off the ground, and the City wouldn’t have wasted tens of thousands of dollars trying to shut down a panhandler in 2018.

She wonders how it seemed like a good idea in 2014 for the City to take legal action against Elvena Slump, then 75, because of the words used in emails to staff councillors. But Slump wasn’t intimidated – she refused to apologize, hired a lawyer, went public and caused caused a commotion. The City backed down.

“Why are we wanting to sue our citizens?,” Kelsey asked.

It’s difficult for mayors to get re-elected in Penticton because voters hold grudges over “knee-jerk reactions” made by councils. Ashton, in 2011, was the only incumbent mayor to be re-elected since Jake Kimberley in 1993 (Kimberley was subsequently voted out in 1996, then re-elected in 2005 before losing re-election again in 2008).

“We dump the old council, then vote in a whole bunch of young blood with no experience and it shows,” Kelsey said.

One way councillors can come across as green, is by taking field trips – on the public dime – and then offering no meaningful details at the next roundtable discussion.

“Why don’t you tell us what you learned?”

Kelsey — who’s a grandmother now -— developed her passion for calling out bull crap in politics when her children were school-aged.

“What I am to the city council here is what I was to the school board in Surrey. I did a lot of advocacy there, and that’s why I’m wired this way.”

With as much experience in the council chambers as Kelsey, it’s easy for her to follow along.

But to the average person, “council gobbledygook” can sound like a riddle. So many of the inquisitions she makes during question period aren’t because she’s unsure – she’s asking so that staff and council will communicate in layman’s terms.

To watch Kelsey hold council’s feet to the fire, check out question period at the end of each regular council meeting. Archived meetings can be viewed through the ‘City Hall’ tab at pentiton.ca.

Other insights offered by Kelsey were too personal, and possibly libellous, to put into print.

— This story was originally published by the Penticton Herald.