Bill Sarai chairs the council meeting on Tuesday December 6 (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

City Hall

‘We are ready to move on and run the city’; Kamloops council unites after tumultuous week

Dec 9, 2022 | 4:25 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops City Hall has been in the spotlight this week for all the wrong reasons. Twice in the past three days, Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson has been excluded from a closed council meeting under Chapter 90 of the Community Charter, which speaks to receiving information from the city’s lawyer. The mayor was not allowed to attend because according to the lawyer, his interests would be adverse to those of the city.

“We’ve talked to the mayor and, as far as we are concerned, we are ready to move on and run the city as we are supposed to be doing,” said Deputy Mayor Bill Sarai.

Moving forward as a single unit of eight councillors and one mayor was the overarching theme from Sarai. He noted that council did it’s job protecting the interest of the city.

“In five days, four days, this information was brought to our attention. We dealt with it and we are ready to move on. I hear that it’s not us that created the circus, it’s the public that thinks that’s what’s going on. We are just trying to be transparent, as much as we legally can. And some of these matters have to be behind closed doors to protect the integrity of the city, the council and our mayor,” stated Sarai.

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In a press release issued by city council on Friday (Dec. 9) afternoon, a paragraph spoke to the notion that no one councillor or mayor may speak on behalf of the entire council.

“We need to do it as a collective group, at least five of us. There has been some speculation, out in the public, that that is not happening and we want to emphasize that one person — whether that is a mayor or member of council — does not speak on behalf of all of council. It has to be a unified voice,” said Sarai.

There is another closed council meeting under the same charter section as the previous two scheduled for Tuesday (Dec. 13) , but Sarai commented that that doesn’t mean it’s connected to this week’s chaos at city hall.

“That clause can cover a lot of things. solicitor-client privilege. We are a big corporation, a $300-million business. That could mean a lot of things. What I can say on behalf on council and the mayor, the matter has been discussed, we got the legal opinion, we shared our concern with the mayor and we are ready to move on,” said Sarai.

Sarai expects a full city council to be present for the next regular meeting Tuesday afternoon.

“Let’s all be united to move the city forward. Issues were brought forward, we looked at them, we debated with them and we came to the conclusion that we are going to work with our mayor. He is elected to be our mayor. Let’s all work together. Everybody has a voice at this table, but it has to be a unified voice that represents all of council,” said Sarai.