New Kamloops council sworn in Monday; Mayor O’Reilly stresses communication over next 4 years

Nov 3, 2026 | 1:37 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops council’s inaugural meeting got underway Monday night (Nov. 2) at Thompson Rivers University with Mike O’Reilly taking his oath of office, officially kicking off his tenure as Kamloops mayor for the next four years.

“I think we have to listen to what we heard in the campaign”, said O’Reilly, who served on council for two terms prior to his mayoral election. “There are a lot of good opportunities and good things happening in Kamloops that we need to continue on. There are areas in Kamloops that we need to work on and focus more, and it’s not a bad thing to talk about those things. It’s how we’re going to address them as a city and as council.”

Alongside O’Reilly, taking their oaths last night were the eight elected councillors, including three incumbents in Kelly Hall, Margot Middleton and Katie Neustaeter, and five new faces – Rob Bertrand, Steve Bucher, Randy Sunderman, Jesse Ritcey and Christopher Mitra.

“I think when you get to a position like this, you definitely want to make sure you’re doing the community proud,” said Mitra, who finished fifth in voting among councillors. “It’s just about really strong communication with the other eight people on council. They’re all fabulous. We’ve all been spending a lot of time together. I’m really happy and excited that we’re already a really good, solid team.”

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The new council wasted no time getting to work, passing its first motion Monday night. Unanimously, council approved a revised deputy mayor schedule for 2026-27, giving the three returning councillors Hall, Middleton and Neustaeter the opportunity to share deputy mayor duties during the first year of the term.

“For me, it was allowing the new councillors to get their feet wet,” said O’Reilly. “It is very intensive your first year – you’re just trying to figure it out, and you need to go through the seasons and through the cycles to understand what’s what. After the first year, it will be open to anybody who so chooses and wants to be on the deputy mayor schedule.”

O’Reilly also stressed communication in his speech addressing the public, saying respectful debate and differing opinions are essential to good governance. Council will get its first chance to see how that will look when it returns to City Hall next Tuesday (Nov. 10) for its first meeting around the horseshoe.

by Anthony Corea

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New Kamloops council sworn in Monday; Mayor O’Reilly stresses communication over next 4 years

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