FILE PHOTO - Kamloops city hall

(BRENDAN KERGIN / iNFOnews.ca)

The room was overflowing in Kamloops council chambers Tuesday as an outspoken public gallery pleaded to keep their opportunity to quiz city officials in person.

One by one, citizens approached the podium during the public inquiries section of the meeting, one that was on the chopping block with a vote in the queue.

City council was criticized for stifling an avenue for criticism, comments and questions from their constituents by some who stepped up to the microphone or spoke through Zoom. Former mayor Mel Rothenburger and former city councillor Denis Walsh even pleaded with them to seek other options.

"When I was on council, that was probably one of my most favourite items on the agenda," Walsh said.

Walsh said he appreciated hearing from the public and facing questions about issues that are up for debate, while urging council to allow constituents to ask questions directly at the microphone. Rothenburger said it was during his tenure more than 20 years ago that council opened up their meetings to inquisitive constituents, then he offered suggestions to regulate the segment rather than removing it.

Council also faced criticism from others who called the move undemocratic and suggested the public was being silenced.

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Arthur Loring, local business owner and friend of Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson, said the removal would be draconian.

Some people approached the microphone to blame council for the change in decorum in the room, voicing support for the mayor, while others complained the electronic alternatives, like using email, are unreliable ways to get answers from city officials.

Ultimately, council decided to postpone a decision, but not without criticism levied at Hamer-Jackson, who is viewed by some as the reason for the devolving decorum in the room over the past two years.

The first criticism against him didn't come from another city councillor, it came from a resident who was the only one to welcome restrictions on who gets to speak at council meetings.

"I completely stand by the case that this is not civil," Jasmine Devick said, calling into the meeting with Zoom.

She said she watches council meetings regularly and finds the mayor to be "unwilling" to bring order or take action when a speaker is disrespectful to city officials.

"We are a kindergarten class that wouldn't listen and now we don't get recess," she said.

The mayor chimed in to say he understood her comment to suggest he made disparaging remarks. She said his defensive response was an example what she was pointing to.

"You don't run meetings well and now meetings have to change," Devick said.

It's not the first time Hamer-Jackson was admonished for his inability to keep speakers in check.

Councillor Dale Bass recently offered advice to the mayor during a meeting, suggesting he consider taking a similar approach to past mayor Ken Christian.

Hamer-Jackson took the suggestion as an insult to his intelligence.

Councillors have also taken action when the mayor seemed unwilling to do so.

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In August, council temporarily removed the mayor as chair of a meeting when a member of the public accused staff of lying to the public, and city officials faced heckling from the audience.

It was the second time council took away Hamer-Jackson's responsibility to run a meeting, following one in May that saw a man from the audience, Patrick Snell, removed from city hall when he tried to interfere.

Snell said he wanted to get rid of council and keep the mayor as a bylaw officer urged him to leave.

The city has stepped up security measures during council meetings in response to the increasing tension, which resulted in some councillors getting escorted to their cars in August due to perceived safety threats online.

The turning point that prompted one councillor to propose getting rid of public inquiries entirely came a month ago when it was interrupted by a so-called "Zoom-bombing" incident. The caller was introduced and streamed pornography onto the screen, shocking attendees and leading to an early end of the meeting.

During council meetings, the public are given two opportunities to ask questions of city council and staff.

During Rothenburger's term, public inquiries were open to any topic, but that would change to only matters on the meeting's agenda that day.

Since Hamer-Jackson's election, a five-minute limit was placed on the speaking time as council saw some use the opportunity to deliver long speeches on various grievances.

When it came time for council to debate the proposal, Oct 22, most were reluctant to shut out the public from in-person questions. Staff gave several options aside from a complete removal of the public inquiries including a further time limit, pre-registration and reduction to just one segment during the meeting from two.

Public question periods vary by city in BC and Kamloops staff compiled procedures from a handful of to compare, finding Kamloops to have one of the more open approaches.

Prince George, Delta and Kelowna have some of the more restricted methods, where the microphone is generally not an option for constituents aside from public hearings on zoning matters. New Westminster requires people to pre-register six days ahead and disclose the topic, but it doesn't have to be related to that day's meeting. Nanaimo has a similar approach to Kamloops, except that it only has one public question period.

At the end of the debate, council decided to send the matter off to one of its committees for another discussion before deciding on any changes.

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