Image Credit: CFJC Today / Adam Donnelly

By James Peters

Two & Out

PETERS: With every document and report released, we learn more about the chaos at Kamloops City Hall

Aug 4, 2023 | 11:05 AM

ON MARCH 17 OF THIS YEAR, Kamloops council, with Katie Neustaeter acting as mouthpiece, made a bold statement in front of assembled media.

A day after Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson made unilateral changes to the city’s standing committee membership, council struck back in public with a series of withering but somewhat vague accusations against the mayor.

Regrettably, Neustaeter and council did not take questions about their statement on the day they made it.

However, as the saying goes, time reveals all.

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That includes why they didn’t take questions — because a lot of the items the councillors alluded to are either subject to solicitor-client privilege or the privacy afforded to personnel matters.

Kamloops This Week revealed a few more details this week when it described findings of a workplace investigation conducted by a third party into potential council code of conduct breaches by the mayor.

Sure enough, the investigation found Hamer-Jackson did violate the code of conduct with disrespectful and demeaning treatment of certain City of Kamloops staffers.

As a result, he’s been prohibited from meeting with the staffers, including CAO David Trawin, without a third party present to ensure everyone’s safety.

The consequence of the workplace strife is that Hamer-Jackson is no longer allowed to have one-on-one meetings with council at city hall, nor with Trawin or the other complainants.

Many of these developments took place in January. It’s astonishing that this level of discord set in so quickly after the election last October.

So when council’s March 17 statement referred to bullying and crossing of boundaries, we now know a little of the context.

We also know more of the background through revelations in Hamer-Jackson’s statement of claim filed against Neustaeter, and in Neustaeter’s detailed legal response.

Those documents are available online through local media, including at CFJCToday.com.

In the midst of all this chaos, it is a minor miracle that council has managed to get any actual work done.

If Kamloops residents wish to pass judgments on Hamer-Jackson, on Neustaeter, on the rest of council or on city staff, they should do so based on as much information as possible.

They are all our employees, after all.

With every document and report that is released, we get another piece of the puzzle.

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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.