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(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

A seven-month-long investigation into the mayor of Kamloops, scrutinizing whether he violated conflict of interest rules last year, so far has a price tag of nearly $30,000 and his job could be at risk.

It's far from the most expensive of the numerous investigations into his conduct this term, but its results could have implications beyond the expense for taxpayers.

It could cost mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson his job.

Three past investigations have found Hamer-Jackson violated council's own code of conduct. One cost nearly $61,000 and two included violations of BC privacy laws, but they didn't rise to anything that could see him ousted from office.

In November, he voted on a zoning application for a property owned by Arpa Investments — a company co-owned by a someone Hamer-Jackson is suing. Hamer-Jackson recused himself from an Arpa Investments-related matter just months earlier, but he later changed his mind.

City staff explained in a heated exchange that he needed legal advice to clear him of a conflict of interest since he had already stated there was one. Before relenting and leaving the room, he said he was representing himself.

Weeks later, he stayed in chambers and was the only council member to oppose the zoning application approving a temporary shelter in North Kamloops on property owned by Arpa.

Provincial legislation governing municipal councils sets out a few ways a local politician can be disqualified from office. One of those is through conflicts of interest and it requires ten local residents or two-thirds of city council to take it to BC Supreme Court.

Though it isn't frequently seen in BC, this unusual Kamloops council term has already seen one failed effort to have someone ousted.

Ten residents went to court last year complaining councillor Mike O'Reilly was in a conflict of interest with a large civic project, arguing the location for a new arena was close enough to his own commercial real estate project he would gain financially.

They couldn't convince a judge and the petition was tossed in May.

The latest code of conduct investigation into Hamer-Jackson, once completed, will go before city council in a closed-door meeting. If he violated the rules, council will vote on whether to sanction the mayor, who is already under numerous other sanctions from the past few years.

It's one of two code of conduct investigations still ongoing, according to the city website.

The conflict of interest investigation into the mayor has cost $29,231 as of last month. The other, filed in April by Hamer-Jackson, claims another councillor made false or misleading public statements and has cost $12,358.

In total, the 25 investigations have cost taxpayers more than $300,000 since the first was filed in July 2023.

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