ROTHENBURGER: Say goodbye to any hope of peace between mayor and council

They didn’t hold back on what they think of the mayor. The statement was peppered with words such as “chaotic and unpredictable behaviour” and “constantly disruptive.”

They rebuked him for changes he wants to make to committee appointments, saying “our great unease is primarily with a lack of an equitable application process, indifference for due diligence and best practise, a disregard for the impact to sensitive community partner requests, an absence of reassurance around confidentiality, and the neglect of unbiased vetting.”

While the committee issue was the final straw, the councillors alluded to other perceived problems with the mayor’s style and actions.

They said they’ve “been subjected to repeated disrespect, violations of personal and professional boundaries, belittling, and constantly disruptive behaviour by the Mayor….”

What any of that means wasn’t explained because, as I said, the councillors didn’t take questions.

While they were careful to say they weren’t criticizing the citizens Hamer-Jackson appointed to the committees, they complained about not being consulted.

Later in the afternoon, I asked the mayor about that. He says he had an email sent out to members of council Thursday with the intention of formally presenting the changes to the next council meeting, which isn’t until week after next. In the meantime, he said, he expected councillors to give him feedback if they had any concerns.

Instead, he heard his list of committee changes being repeated on the radio as he was driving across Overlanders Bridge a short time after the email was sent.

“Somebody leaked it out,” he said, pointing out only members of council and a couple of staffers got the memo. “How can you work with that?”

He added, “I send it to them; it goes right to the media…. I want to know who did it.”

Hamer-Jackson is surprised at the level of the reaction from council about the committee appointments. “You would think they would want this to happen,” he said. “Why wouldn’t they want help?”

He also denied he’s done anything to belittle council, as claimed in the councillors’ statement. “Who’s belittling who? I say something and they’re turning their heads, they’re laughing.

“I’m a new mayor but I’m not completely stupid. I just want to get some success here.”
He continued: “I’ve reached out to them; why don’t they reach out to me?”

Council, however, says none of them has been invited to provide him with “any meaningful, consultative team-building or respectful conversation in many months.”

The next step in the process is that councillors have called for a special meeting this coming Tuesday “to discuss a resolution to this unfortunate disruption of our work” and “to remedy yesterday’s troubling changes to the committee structure.”

While councillors said in their statement they were awaiting legal advice before deciding whether to ask for an open or an in camera meeting, CAO David Trawin told me last night it will be set for 11 a.m. and will be open.

The process is that councillors wanting a special meeting (there’s no regular meeting scheduled for next week) ask the mayor to call one. He then has 24 hours to do so; if he doesn’t, the meeting goes ahead anyway.

Mayor RHJ told me he has previous appointments on behalf of the City and isn’t available for the meeting, so I guess any sanctions against him will be decided in his absence.

One possibility is a motion of censure, which could include any number of things, including removal from committees and even a demand for his resignation.

There’s certainly precedent. Last year, the mayor of Langley was censured for alleged bullying and kicked off committees.

A year before that, the mayor of Pouce Coupe was censured for social media comments about the pandemic. The council tried to remove her from all portfolios and also asked her to resign. She began legal proceedings and both of the council’s attempted sanctions failed.

Censures against mayors have happened in other cities, as well, including Nanaimo and Fort St. John.

I don’t see a motion of censure or demand for resignation happening here, especially with the Kamloops council’s code of conduct still under development. At the moment, the mayor has council in a corner because he’s doing it by the book. They can’t object to his appointments of non-elected citizens because it would look like they’re against public involvement, so all they can do on that score is question the process.

They do, however, have the authority to change the terms of reference for committees so that they, and not the mayor, control who’s appointed to chair them.

But then what?

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, alternate TNRD director and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

by Mel Rothenburger

ROTHENBURGER: Say goodbye to any hope of peace between mayor and council

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