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(KIM ANDERSON / iNFOnews.ca)

Kamloops taxpayers are funding 17 different code of conduct investigations at Kamloops city hall made in the past nine months, with an expected bill in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The new rule book for council behaviour was only adopted in May 2023. The code mandates that complaints be investigated by an approved third party, in this case, Vancouver law firm, Young Anderson.

Two complaints were filed by July and since then have been rolling in at two or three per month. Five investigations so far are based on public complaints and one is from staff, leaving 11 — 65 per cent — filed by council members themselves amid the now-famous rift between Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson and councillors. 

Most of the investigations dissect complaints of bullying, discrimination and conflicts of interest among elected officials.

So far, five have been completed and four of those were dismissed by the law firm investigators.

The single founded complaint so far was considered "trivial", but all 17 investigations are being funded by city taxpayers.

It's not yet clear how much the investigations have cost so far, but multiple sources at city hall estimate the legal bill is already at six figures and could be up to $200,000. That amount could include other legal costs in the past year like the ongoing defamation lawsuit between councillors.

As a possible comparison, a forensic audit at the Thompson-Nicola Regional District in 2021 by an accounting firm cost $496,000.

Upon request, City staff provided iNFOnews.ca a summary of all 17 investigations, along with the completed reports for two.

They range from complaints of bullying, lying, discrimination and speaking on issues in which they have a conflict of interest.

Despite the seemingly endless attention to Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson's behaviour since his election, and later his suggestion that he's the subject of "several" investigations, he is not the focus of the two completed reports provided to iNFOnews.ca.

The two investigations date back to the summer, one involving Coun. Katie Neustaeter and the other Coun. Bill Sarai.

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In July, Sarai was the subject of a complaint that he had a "perceived emotional conflict of interest," which the investigator said was an "awkward" way to describe a conflict.

According to the investigator's report, in a June council meeting, Sarai praised the Community Service Officer program. The complainant, former councillor Denis Walsh, said Sarai had a personal familial interest in the program because his son works in that department.

The investigator found Sarai in fact breached council's code of conduct, but it was deemed "trivial in nature," and urged council to let it slide. He stopped short of determining whether the councillor actually had a conflict of interest, only determining that the council bylaw directs elected officials to "rigorously avoid" conflicts of interest and scenarios that could be perceived as one.

The other complaint, also filed by Walsh, claimed Neustaeter gave a "misleading answer" to a member of the public at a council meeting. After a lengthy exploration of municipal law, the investigator found it didn't count as a public council meeting and found she didn't mislead the public. Neustaeter was absolved.

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Walsh filed four complaints before council later decided to bar the public from making complaints.

Concerned about the potentially extreme legal costs, they decided it was best if complaints were screened by a council member who can file on behalf of a member of the public, Coun. Stephen Karpuk told iNFOnews.ca.

Five complaints from the public were filed before the August policy change, but many more were tossed before an investigation even started, deemed by investigators not worth the time, Karpuk said.

"We are aware there are a number of outstanding investigations that were found to be worthy of investigation," he said. He said councillors don't know the details or how many.

He wouldn't say whether council made any decisions on Sarai's "trivial" conflict of interest, but council is required to announce any decisions public within a week of making a decision. The report was finished in November and there have been no announcements, so Sarai is likely clear of any sanctions.

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While the five complaints from the public were investigated and dealt with, including four that were dismissed, 11 of the remaining complaints came from other councillors.

The first two were filed in July and the investigations are finished, but the final report is not. One claims an elected official lied to the public. The other claims an elected official, along with a third party acting on their behalf, discriminated against another council member because of their age, gender and physical appearance.

It's not clear how many are centred around the mayor, but Hamer-Jackson has said he's the subject of multiple. On Jan. 25 he complained that the process is a distraction.

"To me it's almost like a new tool of politics to keep somebody busy, distracted," he told iNFOnews.ca.

The code of conduct is a requirement instilled by the province, put in place to "strengthen" local governments and set boundaries for elected officials' behaviour, according to the Municipal Affairs Ministry.

Fellow councillor, and deputy mayor this month, Stephen Karpuk disagrees with the mayor.

"Yes it is a tool. It's a tool to try to reign in bad behaviour. It's a tool for accountability on elected officials," Karpuk said in response. "Whatever it may be, it's to ensure democracy is upheld."

Karpuk added that he was also investigated because he accused the mayor in an open meeting, of making a fart joke at a public event. Karpuk apologized that same day, however, and the complaint was dismissed.

While the investigations keep on in the background, there are still more complaints added to the pile.

The most recent complaint was filed in January. It was lodged by a staff member, and claims an elected official went to a city staff event and made "inappropriate comments" about something the politician had a conflict of interest in.

Karpuk said the investigations are a distraction but added that elected officials still focus on city business.

"On a daily basis there is always a little bit of a drag dealing with some of the stuff that is in the background," he said. "I can honestly say that there are eight of us that get along really well. Occasionally there are nine of us that get along pretty darn well."

— This story was corrected at 4:50 p.m., Feb. 12, 2024, to say Bill Sarai was not found to be in a conflict of interest, but he did breach the code of conduct bylaw.

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