File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Hamer-Jackson expresses desire to get back to work after closed meeting, recusal Tuesday

Dec 7, 2022 | 3:59 PM

KAMLOOPS — “(I) recuse myself from this meeting due to potential conflicts of interest,” said Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson on Tuesday afternoon (Dec. 6).

That was the end of Hamer-Jackson’s day at city hall on Tuesday, as Councillor Bill Sarai would run the meeting the rest of the way. Hamer-Jackson said his decision was based around a potential conflict with ASK Wellness.

“I think there were a few reasons. I think there were a few things on the agenda that was 26 pages long that I had a lot questions about. I already had to recuse myself due to a certain individual that had accused me of things,” said the Mayor on Wednesday.

Stepping away from a report highlighting ASK Wellness may have been the correct decision due to an ongoing legal dispute, however, questions arise around why he didn’t participate in the rest of the agenda.

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“[Members of council] generally are required to come in to the meeting and say they have a conflict of interest with a particular topic on the agenda,” said City of Kamloops CAO David Trawin. “They leave the meeting on that topic and come back after the topic because they are not allowed to influence the decision in any way. It is very rare to have a councillor or mayor leave for an entire meeting.”

“I just sat for two hours. It could have taken two hours — it was a 26-page report. I didn’t want to sit here for another two hours while they were asking questions about this report. And again there was only, I think, six other items on the agenda. So, I could have sat there all day,” added Hamer-Jackson.

Hamer-Jackson was referring to a previous conflict Tuesday morning at a closed meeting of council. That meeting was closed under Section 90 of the Community Charter, relating to council receiving information from their attorney. The mayor stated the meeting was about him and his letters back and forth with ASK.

“The city lawyer said they had nothing to do with it, so I was quite shocked to find that they had drawn up a 10-page document and that they were going into a closed council meeting. I just learned of it that morning, at about 8:00, 8:30. I was quite surprised to think they are having a meeting about me for two hours,” said Hamer-Jackson.

Trawin was asked to confirm that the mayor had been excluded from a closed meeting Tuesday morning.

“I can tell you there was a closed meeting of council and that is all I can tell you,” he said.

In addition to that part of the closed meeting discussed by Hamer-Jackson, Trawin confirmed that multiple other topics were discussed. It’s unclear why the mayor did not attend for those issues.

Hamer-Jackson who ran primarily on a social issues platform in Kamloops, is looking for one of two things from ASK Wellness to begin tackling his main campaign plank.

“Once this gets cleared up, I am either looking for action or retraction, one of the two,” said Hamer-Jackson. “If that person wants to come in and really wants to work together, come in and shake my hand and hand me the retractions and let’s get going. Let’s get things going better in Kamloops.”

The mayor does not expect the recusal to be a common event for himself at city hall and will be back in the mayor’s chair for the December 13 meeting.