Former Kamloops councillors feel Hamer-Jackson needs to work better with council; O’Fee suggests mediation

There was a second closed-door on Thursday, a continuation of the first. Deputy Mayor Bill Sarai and two other councillors sat down with Hamer-Jackson on Friday to lay out the details of the meetings — a sit-down the mayor said went “terrible” — saying details of a 10-page report are inaccurate.

Dudy feels Hamer-Jackson should get the benefit of the doubt as a new mayor, but he also feels he has the wrong idea of what a mayor in B.C. can and can’t do.

“By and large, he’s a member of a team and he has to be a part of that. He’s there to chair, he’s there to bring consensus to things. That’s his main job. High-level governance is what it comes down to,” said Dudy. “To think you’ve got this control that mayors down in the States or the president of the United States have, it just isn’t going to happen. That’s TV; that’s not reality.”

Sarai then told CFJC Today over the weekend he doesn’t feel the new mayor is being a team player, saying “It’s a sports team where only one player is playing. He knows the playbook and only he knows what’s going to happen.” He went on to say, “I know you can’t do it yourself. It just feels like we’re not being involved, we’re not being asked to be part of the team.”

Former city councillor and current school board member John O’Fee, a lawyer by trade, suggests mediation might be an option to air any grievances.

“There are a few squabbles I think that would certainly benefit from them maybe having a mediated session, trying to work out some ground rules together. It will be a long four years if they don’t,” he said.

He also says the issues are not too far gone to resolve.

“I don’t think it’s time to push the panic button yet. Maybe the mayor has given guidance to the security firm — things I’m seeing in the media — but I don’t know if those are giant things, quite frankly,” noted O’Fee. “I think these are things that can be overcome.”

People might be wondering about Hamer-Jackson being ousted from office if this sideshow continues, but Dudy says it’s easier said than done.

“The law is such that the bar is so high that removing a person from office is next to impossible, and I wouldn’t want to see that type of outcome,” he said. “The province, or even the country, views Kamloops as a bit of a joke right now. That would make that that much worse.”

by Chad Klassen

Former Kamloops councillors feel Hamer-Jackson needs to work better with council; O’Fee suggests mediation

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