File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Kamloops Council

Kamloops mayor, council share greatly differing evaluations of UBCM convention

Oct 18, 2023 | 5:11 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops’ mayor and councillors came away from last month’s Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) convention in Vancouver with vastly different views of how effective their meetings with provincial ministers will turn out to be.

At its regular meeting Tuesday, council went over the outcomes from the event. Provincial ministers variously expressed support for council’s Build Kamloops capital facility plan, the city’s Community Services Officer model, a community court and a long-awaited cancer clinic. Mayor and council will also receive the services of a municipal adviser to help them work together.

Second-term councillor Dale Bass said this was the most constructive convention she has attended.

“I was the skeptic and I was completely stunned because they asked good questions. They said, ‘Yeah, we’ll come up. Yeah, we’ll be there. Yeah, we’ll try to take the new flight from Victoria. We want to be there to help you with all of these things that you’re talking about,'” said Bass. “That’s the first time in four years I’ve seen that happen.”

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson, on the other hand, said he felt embarrassed when Attorney General Niki Sharma told Kamloops representatives the province hadn’t heard back after sending information on the potential for a community court nine months earlier. Hamer-Jackson said he felt council could have performed better in the meetings.

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“If we’re going to go down and we’re looking for money, I think we need to target things. I just think we have to be more focused on what we’re looking for,” said Hamer-Jackson. “It was a little embarrassing when the minister said, ‘Well, we sent you dialogue in December 2022 and we haven’t heard anything back from you.'”

Deputy CAO Byron McCorkell pointed out the communications gap was based on a misunderstanding that has since been rectified. McCorkell said the province had sent the information to a third-party community partner instead of directly to the city. He noted he felt the Kamloops delegation was well prepared and the meetings “were excellent.”

“Mr. Mayor, I would remind you I did try to get the group together — it’s not really my job to bring the group together — to decide who would present to each of the ministries,” said McCorkell. “We met… to prepare for that and the councillors volunteered to do the roles that they served. So that’s a conversation between yourself and council.”

“I couldn’t disagree more wholeheartedly with the comments you just made,” Councillor Kelly Hall said to Hamer-Jackson. “We had our ministerial meetings in advance. Good leadership would have chosen to bring the council together, much like I’ve seen from many, many cities down at UBCM. We had great leadership from Mr. McCorkell and great contribution from all council. The fact that you decided not to bring council together lies on your inability to lead this group.”

“It’s very clear, Councillor Hall, that leading you is a challenge,” retorted Hamer-Jackson. “That’s very, very clear. I don’t think we need to get into that. I’m just talking about these meetings and the way I felt.”

“I’m just trying to move forward,” he continued. “Again, I’m just trying to correct the problem. If they’re sending us dialogue and wanting to engage and they don’t hear back from us for a long time… that’s all.”