FILE PHOTO - Kamloops mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson at a March 28, 2023 council meeting.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

An investigator warned Kamloops city council to expect the mayor will breach privacy rules again after violating not only council's code of conduct, but also provincial legislation.

Whether Reid Hamer-Jackson has or will face any consequences isn't yet known, but the damning conclusion found he had "no willingness" to take responsibility and that he will likely do it again. It's the second time the mayor was found to have breached the code of conduct, but the first time an investigator found he breached the community charter, a document that sets out the powers and responsibilities of local governments in BC.

"They hire lawyers to get the results they want," Hamer-Jackson said, suggesting the investigation process was rigged against him.

The recently released investigation appears to confirm the conclusion made earlier this year by a fellow councillor, who said Hamer-Jackson's choice to release those documents was unlawful. It comes after he released a confidential report to several media outlets and a closed council decision to iNFOnews.ca in April.

That month, councillor Dale Bass filed the conduct complaint alleging Hamer-Jackson "repeatedly" breached confidentiality and privacy, prompting an investigation that cost the city $46,413.26. It's the second most expensive single code of conduct investigation so far and one of 21 since last July.

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An investigator with the Vancouver law firm Young Anderson, Reece Harding, concluded on Sept. 5 that Hamer-Jackson's behaviour was "a substantial departure from the standard expected of a mayor."

"Mayor Hamer-Jackson has shown no willingness to take any responsibility for his actions, and council must proceed on the assumption that he is likely to disclose confidential documents either through lack of care or simply when it suits him," the investigator said.

It was prompted first by Hamer-Jackson's release of the Integrity Group report to media in April, which examined his bullying and harassment of staff early in his term. The second document, a closed council resolution he sent to iNFOnews.ca in April, set out a vote that left him barred from suspending certain employees after a spat with City manager Byron McCorkell.

Hamer-Jackson didn't hide the fact he had released the information. According to the report, he took the first copy, supposedly mailed from a Tofino surf shop, to a local Staples and had an employee print several more. He then hand delivering those copies to several local reporters. It previously had only been leaked to Kamloops This Week last summer, but Hamer-Jackson had been unable to get a copy through official channels.

The investigator had a scathing conclusion for Hamer-Jackson after releasing the documents and disregarded the mayor's defence. Hamer-Jackson, through his lawyer, did not deny releasing the documents, instead denied wrongdoing  due to the Integrity Group report, in part, already being in the public domain through Kamloops This Week reporting. He also claimed to not have known the document he released to iNFOnews.ca was confidential.

Harding said Hamer-Jackson should have known the release to iNFOnews.ca was a private document and that the previous leak of the Integrity Group report was "inconsequential" to the mayor's subsequent release. Harding also said the mayor could be expected to release confidential documents again either out of carelessness or his own personal gain.

Asked about the most recent investigation that found he breached privacy, Hamer-Jackson put little weight in the report's conclusion and continued with the same defence he gave Harding. Because it was already leaked, he didn't breach rules over confidentiality. He also said he feels the City didn't pursue the source of the initial release of the report.

"All of a sudden because I have this document that I never got in (a closed meeting), that's a big deal, but they didn't treat it near as big back... when it was originally leaked," he said.

It's contrary Harding's investigation which finds the City "took concrete steps" to find the source of the first leak.

Reacting to that leak and the Kamloops This Week reporting last year, Hamer-Jackson's previous lawyer David McMillan sparked an earlier code of conduct investigation in an effort to uncover who leaked both the report and a collection of emails between his former lawyer and the Integrity Group investigator. That investigation cost taxpayers $63,008, but it didn't find the culprit.

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The probe into the first leak appeared to point to the likely conclusion that it must have been a member of council who leaked both the emails and the report. All but one gave the investigator clear denials at the outset that they had leaked it. The investigator would later absolve Coun. Bill Sarai after initial concerns. Hamer-Jackson said he doesn't believe that and told iNFOnews.ca he thinks Sarai was behind the initial leaks. Sarai didn't respond when asked about the report in August.

The mayor has already faced numerous actions against him, including cuts to his salary, removal from boards and an order that he move offices. This investigation ended with recommendations to do more.

Harding suggested a 10 per cent reduction of Hamer-Jackson's salary over 12 months, limits on his access to confidential documents, a public censure and, with some redactions, a public release of the investigation itself.

Whether council has voted to take any of those measures isn't yet known. Coun. Mike O'Reilly, deputy mayor for October, was not immediately able to comment on whether any new actions against the mayor were taken. Hamer-Jackson did not say.

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