Kamloops mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson recused of the entire Tuesday council meeting over a 'conflict of interest' related to the agenda (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Kamloops mayor watched Tuesday council meeting from home over ASK Wellness defamation concerns

Dec 6, 2022 | 10:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — Reid Hamer-Jackson felt he had no choice but to step away from Tuesday’s city council meeting and watch it from home instead.

“If I didn’t, there are a lot of things in the agenda — if I had the choice, I wouldn’t have approved the agenda — and there’s a lot of items in there, important items that if I would’ve asked questions about, I would’ve been in conflict of interest,” the Kamloops mayor told CFJC Today Tuesday evening (Dec. 6).

Hamer-Jackson said he sat in his office at City Hall on Tuesday morning as city staff and councillors spoke about the afternoon’s agenda. It’s ultimately why he decided, before council even started, that he would be recusing himself from the entire meeting.

“I sat in my office for two hours while I was excluded from the meeting in the morning, so if I got into the council meeting and had to recuse myself of the meeting, who’s to say I wouldn’t have had to sit in my office for another two hours?” noted Hamer-Jackson.

Asked why he wasn’t allowed to the in-camera meeting, Hamer-Jackson said, “You’d have to ask the CAO of the city (David Trawin). I don’t know.”

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Part of Tuesday’s agenda was to update council members on what staff has done to address motions brought forward over the last two years around health, housing, safety and security.

Hamer-Jackson has recently found himself in the middle of a legal exchange with ASK Wellness and its CEO Bob Hughes, with accusations of defamation made by Hughes and ASK against Hamer-Jackson.

“I’m waiting for retractions from certain agencies that I can’t mention their names because I could be defaming them,” said Hamer-Jackson. “There are a couple questions on there that I could’ve asked a lot of questions on.”

He feels issues around streets and safety could be “postponed” until some of the legal issues are resolved.

“I don’t know why I’m not like other mayors where you go over the agenda, prior to even councillors looking at it, to see if it’s something you want to approve or not. That definitely hasn’t been happening. That would’ve been my third council meeting, and the first one [when Hughes and ASK Wellness presented] I couldn’t say a name or their company or non-profit’s name because I could be defaming them.”

When asked why he didn’t simply sit in on the council meeting and guide the conversation, Hamer-Jackson said, “Any discussion, I would be in conflict.”

ASK Wellness recently told Kamloops This Week it would not be sending anymore letters to the mayor, hoping to work together on issues.

However, Hamer-Jackson indicated the battle may not be over.

“That certain agency forgot to tell a certain reporter that they have another letter from us. We’re just looking for somebody to retract what they’ve claimed or give us evidence. Show me where that’s happened. That’s all. Let’s bring it out there.”

Hamer-Jackson isn’t worried about too many future council meetings being affected by the ongoing battle between him and ASK Wellness.

“I don’t think that those agencies run the city,” he said. “It’s quite funny that their name has come up in the last two of three council meetings. There are other issues in the city to deal with than those certain individuals. Unless the name’s going to come up on every council meeting, I have no idea.”

Either way, Hamer-Jackson says he is eager to get back to being mayor and achieving what he was elected to do.

“I wasn’t elected to sit on my hands. I was elected for change. I was elected for accountability,” he said. “I don’t think I’m going to sit every two to three council meetings where the names of certain agencies are brought up and I can’t [say anything]. I’m waiting for a letter back from people retracting their threats to me, then we can move on.”