Kamloops mayor responds to rebuke by city councillors

KAMLOOPS — Just a day removed from Kamloops councillors offered a rebuke in response to committee changes made by Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson, he responded on Saturday (Mar. 18) with a statement.

This comes after the mayor made a number of changes to the city’s standing committees on Thursday (Mar. 16). In an email to CFJC News, Hamer-Jackson said the following:

“Shortly afternoon on March 16, 2023, I directed City Council’s Executive Assistant to forward a proposed list of Standing Committee appointees for 2023 to our eight (8) City Councillors, to CAO David Trawin, and to Legislative Services Manager Maria Mazzotta. My purpose in doing so was to invite their input and discussion on the changes that I felt were necessary to improve the effectiveness of these committees. The e-mail attaching the proposed list was sent to each of them at 12:19 p.m. that day,”

“Under s.141 of the Community Charter, mayors of municipalities in British Columbia have the sole authority to establish or change the memberships of standing committees. However, I chose to involve all of Council and senior staff in this process, in this manner, well in advance of the next regular Council meeting where the changes would be presented and debated publicly. The proposed changes were, and remain, a work in progress with one or more further appointees to be added.
Unfortunately, one of the recipients of my confidential e-mail chose to release the list of proposed committee appointees to the media within minutes of receiving it, without my knowledge or consent.”