Long-time councillor not seeking re-election

McKellar Ward Coun. Robert Tuchenhagen will not seek re-election, saying he has become frustrated and tired of banging his ahead against the wall.

First elected to council in 1991, Tuchenhagen told tbnewswatch.com Wednesday he would not run in the October municipal election. The councillor said he has become frustrated at how long council meetings are running, but admits the current members are doing a better than councillors in previous terms.

"I’m just tired of banging my head against the wall. It is not the most dysfunctional council that we’ve seen; we all remember the council from hell in the early 2000s" Tuchenhagen said.

"There are members of council who just talk and talk and talk to hear themselves speak. Council meetings should be more serious in nature and more business like in nature. It is not an opportunity for members to get out of the house and shoot the breeze for two hours."

He added that it’s good to ask questions, just not at 2 a.m. He said it didn’t serve the publics interest to make million-dollar decisions at that late hour and planned to bring forward resolutions to make the meetings more business like.

Council members could speed up meetings if they called administration to ask questions during the week instead of during the meetings, he said.

"At council, it is not the right time to go through the report and correct someone’s spelling and grammar," he said. "I’ve never seen it this bad so it is obviously some of the personalities that are involved. By amending some of the procedural bylaws, it will curb the excessive discussion."

Taking a look back, Tuchenhagen said the taxpayers were ripped off during the construction of the Thunder Bay Tournament Centre. He said taxpayers paid millions of dollars for a private operator to run the hockey centre rent-free.

However, he added that he felt proud about initiatives such as the waterfront development, which would make Thunder Bay stand out more as a city.

The councillor said he isn’t sure what he will do next, but believes he needs a change.