Council called for Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to resign immediately upon hearing a provincial advisor's suggestions to mend their working relationships.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

The problems at Kamloops city hall aren't entirely the mayor's fault, but it's pretty close.

That's according to provincially-appointed advisor Henry Braun, tasked with guiding city council through their dysfunctional relationship.

His public report touched on some of the root issues around the horseshoe and offered 23 recommendations that might help close the rift between the mayor and councillors. Most were directed at Hamer-Jackson specifically.

"What you provided today is the help I think I was looking for, recommendations and a roadmap for how we collectively as a council can move forward, but as well as certain individuals," Coun. Mike O'Reilly said at the May 7 meeting.

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson's behaviour is "largely" the problem, but councillors' reactions to him represent a "minor contribution," according to the report.

But it's not clear what Braun is referring to when placing partial blame on the rest of council. Most of the report dwelled on Hamer-Jackson, who's described as stubborn and does not take constructive criticism well.

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There are a few examples over the past year-and-a-half where tensions were enflamed by councillors, not the mayor.

Hamer-Jackson has spurred strong rebukes from councillors many times over his tenure, starting perhaps most clearly during a press conference in March 2023 where councillors jointly was criticized him for bullying and harassing people at city hall. It was a moment that would eventually spur the ongoing defamation case he launched against Coun. Katie Neustaeter.

While the press conference was the most public rebuke of Hamer-Jackson, especially early in his term, it wasn't the first sign of a rift between him and the rest of council.

It came immediately on the heels of Hamer-Jackson's decision to overhaul the council committee structure, installing people he knew from outside city hall. His proposed rosters for those committees weren't released through official channels but quickly leaked to reporters at various media outlets, catching the mayor off guard.

In the months that followed it became clear the mayor and the eight councillors are not going to work smoothly together.

Hamer-Jackson was targeted by a misplaced accusation in June when Karpuk blamed the mayor for making a fart joke at a dinner for the construction industry. At an open council meeting, Karpuk launched the accusation at the mayor and said he was "embarrassed" about the incident.

Karpuk later apologized when he realized it wasn't actually the mayor who 'dealt it'.

Hamer-Jackson had his burnt SUV towed off his own property after a councillor, prompted by city staff, encouraged others to complain to the bylaw department.

He had an entire photo presentation tossed because of some questionable photos that were included. The mayor continues to say he never would have used photos that incriminate or identify anyone.

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Although the mayor himself would later release an investigation report that details allegations of his bullying and harassment of four top level city staffers, it was first leaked to reporters through other unnamed sources.

The mayor hadn't seen the report in detail until it was later leaked to him but it paints an unflattering picture of the mayor's behaviour, just as Braun's report does.

Who leaked it to reporters and who leaked it to the mayor isn't known. The city doesn't acknowledge the investigation exists, but Braun's report said it was council that authorized the investigation in February 2023.

He later suspended acting city manager Byron McCorkell, attempting to address it at the next scheduled council meeting. In a move not expected by the mayor, councillors called an earlier meeting and reinstated McCorkell, while Hamer-Jackson said he couldn't attend. The move undermined the mayor, while it reinstated the city's top employee, whom councillors supported fully and said should not have been suspended in the first place.

Over the term, Hamer-Jackson has often had his motions voted down by the rest of council. His call for a review of BC Housing and supportive housing sites was central to his campaign to get elected, but councillors announced the city had no interest in the matter. More recently, his suggestion to send flyers to residents advertising a city tax exemption scheme was harshly shut down.

While the report put little focus on council's role in the ever-worsening relationship between the Hamer-Jackson and virtually everyone else at city hall, the responsibility Braun does attribute to councillors is their "reaction" to the mayor. He also points out that councillors have "respectful and cordial dialogue" with each other, even when they disagree.

When asked about whether he looked into any intentional acts on council's part to undermine the mayor, Braun told reporters he is "not an investigator."

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"There's lots of things I came across, but most are with they mayor because I've spent 20 times more with the mayor than I have with individual councillors," he said. "I've just made notes and listened, but a key to a lot of this is in that confidential investigative report."

He said he hadn't seen the report and he also attempted not to read news stories covering it because of its confidential nature.

Councillors, however, honed in on the mayor's unwillingness to change and work with council and administration.

"So I would just ask that the media in the room adjust some of the language in light of this report. This is not a dysfunctional council. This is not a dysfunctional council. There is a dysfunctional person as you have outlined in this report," Coun. Katie Neustaeter said during the May 7 meeting. "This a cohesive council moving in the same direction, willing to work on different things."  

The mayor has shown a "reluctance to change behaviour or admit errors," according to the report. It went on to say councillors told Braun they would be willing to support the mayor but it was "contingent on behavioural change towards administrative staff."

None of Braun's 23 recommendations were acted on immediately after Braun gave his report. Council will steadily go through them to bring on some of the changes, while Hamer-Jackson said he needed time to consider those that were directed to him.

"You have clearly said the mayor is impervious to coaching," Neustaeter said. "I will have a hard time reconciling some of the recommendations made to the reality of what we are dealing with."

She went on to refer to the province's process of removing elected officials, specifically regarding conflicts of interest, then asked Braun if he had himself seen the mayor in conflict. He avoided answering the question directly.

"Conflict of interest is clearly an issue here in Kamloops, and I don't think I should say anymore," Braun said.

What council did act on quickly, however, was to call on Hamer-Jackson to resign.

Braun was still standing at the council podium, where he suggested nearly two dozen ways to find resolution between the mayor and everyone else. Although he admitted he was "not optimistic" they could mend fences, Coun. Margot Middleton's proposal may have whisked away any chance.

“Unfortunately, after hearing a review of the report and the recommendations, the path forward is perhaps a mountain higher than we will be able to climb,” Middleton said before proposing council formally call for Hamer-Jackson's resignation.

The motion, predictably, passed 8-1, with the sole opposing vote coming from Hamer-Jackson. He later said he would not be resigning.

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