 What's going on between the City of Kamloops and its new mayor? | | |  | | | A political outsider criticizes the government for not fixing problems around crime and safety and the homeless population and runs for mayor on a platform of talking to regular voters and getting results.
Facing a split establishment that puts forward multiple candidates, he wins with just over 30 per cent of the vote.
In his first month on the job, he’s reprimanded for trying to continue advocacy efforts he did as a private citizen that are seen as inappropriate coming from a mayor.
In his second month on the job, he did not attend several council meetings for mysterious legal reasons, with his whereabouts unknown for several hours.
It’s an archetypal story of power and conflict, of outsiders and institutions, that could play out in any town. But it’s the very real situation Kamloops, B.C.’s 12th largest city, has quickly found itself in.
“There's a lot of people in there didn't want me to be in there, and there’s a lot of senior managers that don’t want me in there,” said Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson, somewhat cryptically, to CBC News in response to the city issuing a lengthy statement explaining why Hamer-Jackson was not allowed to attend two closed council meetings.
The exact reason is still not known, but the city said it’s due to receiving legal advice that may be in conflict with the personal interests of Hamer-Jackson.
It may be connected to his alleged asking of a city-contracted security company to guard his private business or to a dispute he’s had with a local housing advocacy organization, both of which are things that take on a different legal dynamic when one becomes mayor. Or it may be something else.
What’s clear is that the mayor and city aren’t exactly on the same page at the moment.
“I don't accept [their statement] because there's too much mistrust in there,” said Hamer-Jackson. “I'm just telling the way it is.”
So what comes next?
It may well be that Hamer-Jackson adapts to the rules around being mayor and the limits to his power and backs away from some of his original ideas for the job.
It may become a situation where, once the mayor gets a firmer grip on the rules and regulations of local politics, he proves adept at subtly bending city hall to his demands.
But there’s another option, and it’s one we’ve seen play out in cities big and small in much the same way over the years: a mayor that wants to do one thing, a council and city staff that want to do another and a constant state of tension and dysfunction.
If that’s the case, Kamloops could be in for a long 46 months.
With files from Marcella Bernardo | | |  | | | 1. West Vancouver | | | Hamer-Jackson wasn’t the only mayor in hot water this week, as West Vancouver’s Mark Sager was given a citation by the Law Society of B.C. for alleged professional misconduct into the handling of a will and estate. Sager is professing his innocence and says he has nothing to hide — but as the North Shore News reports, he also tried to hide his name from being on the public citation.
Read more | | |  | | | 3. TransLink | Puil was also instrumental in the creation of TransLink in 1998 when it was separated from B.C. Transit, and helped get the province to agree to a $75/year vehicle levy to fund the operation, before it was scrapped in 2001 due to public backlash. Twenty-one years later, a new Translink Mayors’ Council is once again looking for a new funding model to pay for infrastructure upgrades it wants — a reminder of the cyclical nature of regional government. Read more in Global News | | | | | |  | | | 4. Kelowna | Heading back to mayors in headlines for the wrong reasons, former Kelowna leader Colin Basran was charged with sexual assault in connection with an incident alleged to have occurred while he was still mayor. A special prosecutor was appointed by the province in relation to the investigation, and Basran’s first court appearance is scheduled for next month.
Read more | | | |  | | | 5. Policing | | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | That's it for this week! In the meantime, check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |
