FILE PHOTO - Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson (right) and Kamloops councillor Katie Neustaeter (left) at a March 28, 2023, council meeting.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

The mayor of Kamloops is taking a city councillor to court for claims of defamation.

Yes, it's against Coun. Katie Neustaeter. Yes, it's happening again.

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson filed his second case against her on July 31. He claims his reputation was tarnished when she made comments in an internal email chain about him monitoring her use of city hall washrooms.

"I expect Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson will continue his public persecution of me as long as I keep speaking truth about his behaviour — I accept that as a consequence of standing up to his relentless bullying and harassment," Neustaeter said in a written statement to iNFOnews.ca.

A judge is expected to hear Neustaeter's lawyer argue his other lawsuit was filed in an effort to silence her and it should be tossed. The long-delayed hearing is set for next month after Hamer-Jackson arrived at the last minute with a new lawyer.

Neustaeter's legal fees in that case, filed more than two years ago, are currently covered by taxpayer funds. Council would have hold a vote on whether to indemnify her again if she is to be covered in this second case.

The bathroom monitoring comments occurred last spring and Hamer-Jackson has already filed part of the email exchange with the other defamation case.

At the time, elected officials were not allowed in staff-only areas of city hall in a security measure prompted by concerns surrounding Hamer-Jackson's treatment of employees.

His July 31 notice of claim doesn't mention how that policy came to be, but it does say Hamer-Jackson asked why staff he saw Neustaeter emerge unescorted from the locked restricted area on May 27, 2024.

The next day, civic operations director Jen Fretz said Neustaeter was using the washroom which didn't require an escort, according to his notice of claim. The exchanged continued as Hamer-Jackson claimed Fretz including council and CAO Byron McCorkell had constituted a "serious allegation."

Neustaeter then on May 29 she said she would "prefer if he would stop tracking" when people use the washroom.

"I don't know where you were 'observing' me from while I was using the bathroom or why, but I do know it's creepy to monitor women in this way. Also, because you did it again yesterday with another female councillor, I also know you can't maintain your denial of knowledge of process or acceptability," she said in an email filed in court.

Hamer-Jackson said he suffered humiliation and damage to his reputation, according to the notice of claim.

Neustaeter hasn't responded in court, but she said Hamer-Jackson has damaged his own reputation simply by filing the lawsuit.

"In my opinion, the claim itself is exaggerated, inaccurate and only makes him look worse again. I wish I could say I'm surprised, but at this point I'm not," she said in a statement to iNFOnews.ca.

Hamer-Jackson now has three ongoing defamation lawsuits, with the other against a local developer. Through his lawsuit, Hamer-Jackson publicly aired allegations that he had groped the man's wife at a local bar.

"I don't understand why he continually wants to draw attention to his poor conduct, but I guess that's his choice to make," Neustaeter said.

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