The chaos at Kamloops council continues as mayor's pursuit of forensic financial audit fails

CBC

4 hours ago

The divide at Kamloops city council appears to be wider than ever following the recent defeat of a controversial motion put forward by Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to conduct a forensic audit of all city departments and management practices.
Several tense exchanges erupted as the mayor tried to convince at least four of the eight other members of council to support his wish to hire a third-party investigator.
Hamer-Jackson has sparred with the rest of council since the fall of 2022, when they were all elected, repeatedly complaining about property taxes being too high and the need to find savings.
Early in the debate last week, the mayor accused Coun. Mike O'Reilly of violating conflict of interest rules involving the purchase of land from the city by Comet Industries in 2020, when O'Reilly was two years into his first term on council.
He's the president and CEO of that real estate holding and development company.
O'Reilly fired back, saying he always recuses himself from any discussions involving his private interests.
"Mr. Mayor, you can't speak about me in my professional role with Comet Industries," said O'Reilly. "I completely removed myself from any conversations with the City of Kamloops. We pay people a significant amount of money to act on behalf of Comet. It almost seems like you're trying to get me in a conflict."
Replied the mayor: "I had citizens asking me how Comet Industries buys a piece of property for $35,820, appraised for $90,000? I still can't explain it to those citizens. This is not a witch hunt. This is a forensic audit to do the same type of thing the TNRD did."
Hamer-Jackson was referring to a 2021 investigation which found several examples of waste at the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.
City administrators have confirmed the land sale mentioned by the mayor involving Comet Industries was fair value. The transaction involved the purchase of less than half an acre rather than the full acre assessed price quoted by Hamer-Jackson.
Hamer-Jackson also sparred with Coun. Katie Neustaeter, who asked him to focus on the motion instead of raising topics not allowed to be discussed in open meetings.
"Are you just gonna continue attacking, or can we debate your motion?" she asked.
Hamer-Jackson accused her of violating discussion guidelines.
"You're out of order. I'm gonna ask the CAO to ask you to leave."
"Then let's go together happily. You step out. I'll step out," Neustaeter replied.
The argument escalated to the point where Hamer-Jackson was asked to call the question on the audit before everyone on council had a chance to weigh in. The motion was defeated 8-1.
"You guys remind me of a pack of coyotes," said Hamer-Jackson, prompting Coun. Bill Sarai to say: "You sank your own notice of motion."
Nearly every past motion from the mayor has failed, but this one got to the point where it was at least considered by the rest of council.
After the motion was defeated, O'Reilly told CBC Kamloops the scope of the proposed forensic audit was too wide.
"Mayor Hamer-Jackson threw everything off the rails, which again is very much consistent with what he's done since he took office. The way the motion was written, it was in attack mode," said O'Reilly.
"I find it rich when we're looking at trying to find cost savings, he doesn't have to look any further than in the mirror. He's cost the city ... it's getting close to over a million and a half dollars."
The mayor left the meeting immediately after it was adjourned and didn't take reporter's questions.
Neustaeter accused the mayor of being his own worst enemy.
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"We came in there in good faith. We did our homework. He made it absolutely impossible," said Neustaeter.
Neustaeter also pointed out the purpose of a forensic audit is to find evidence of fraud, and Hamer-Jackson has shared no evidence of that.
Neustaeter has been sparring with Hamer-Jackson — in public and in court — since the spring of 2023.
On July 7, they will both go before a B.C. Supreme Court judge at the Kamloops courthouse.
That's where Neustaeter will seek the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit filed against her by the mayor in June 2023 after she made a public statement on behalf of council accusing him of crossing personal and professional boundaries.
Hamer-Jackson claims that led some people to wrongly believe he may have sexually harassed her.
Neustaeter wants the matter tossed out under provincial legislation, which rids the courts of actions considered a drain on time and money.
If lawyers for Neustaeter convince the judge that the mayor's case against her is frivolous, it could be dismissed, and he could be forced to cover her legal costs.
That impacts taxpayers in Kamloops because they're currently covering Neustaeter's legal fees.
The mayor's legal costs must be paid by him.
He says it's partially why he's trying to sell his home, his boat and the commercial property he owns on West Victoria Street.
For the last year, the rest of council has been asking the mayor to resign.
He responded by holding a news conference last summer, declaring he plans to seek re-election.
The province has been asked to help resolve the discord at city hall, but Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon says there's no way to force the mayor to leave.
Kahlon recently confirmed he's trying to update the Municipal Affairs Act, so what's happening in Kamloops — which has been seen in some other B.C.communities — won't be tolerated.
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The B.C. government says it's looking at how to rein in dysfunctional city councils. A number of communities — most notably Kamloops — have been paralyzed by councillors and mayors investigating and sometimes suing each other, instead of focusing on city business. Justin McElroy has more on what prompted the government's action, and how it could deal with the issue.
Kahlon also told CBC Kamloops taxpayers should be concerned that more than a million dollars has been spent on legal issues involving the mayor.
"If I were a citizen of Kamloops, I would be pissed, quite frankly, because we elect our officials to treat each other with respect … those are dollars that could have gone to infrastructure. Those are dollars that could have gone to important community services," said Kahlon.
"We've seen the situation here in Kamloops, but also in a few other communities, which leads me to believe something more comprehensive is needed."