Kamloops City Council has decided to move forward with the creation of town hall meetings, while the Mayor appears to be charting his own course.
Kamloops Council has voted to create the so-called Community Engagement Select Committee, which will come together to establish the parameters of how any planned town hall sessions would work.
Opposing the creation of the committee was Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson, arguing its make up should have included members of the public at-large.
“You could have three, four, five citizens from the community on it — people that are professionals within the industry of whatever committee you’d like,” said Hamer-Jackson after being invited to sit on the Committee by Councillor Margot Middleton. “But for me to sit on another committee… I just was on a committee… and I sat there… and did what?”
Hamer-Jackson also suggested during his rejection of a Committee appointment that he still questions the legality of Council establishing a Select Committee structure to which council — and not the Mayor — have the power to appoint members.
“I’m still planning on having Standing Committees, because I don’t know if this is lawful — what we’re doing today — because it goes against what the Community Charter says,” argued Hamer-Jackson.
This comes after Hamer-Jackson was informed earlier in the session of a legal opinion provided to Council.
“We have received guidance on how to proceed with committee structure and we are following that guidance,” Corporate Officer Maria Mazzotta told Hamer-Jackson.
Meanwhile, the Mayor has put forward his own Notice of Motion to create something he’s calling “KamTalk.”
“I propose a KamTalk town hall meeting to take place with the cooperation of the mayor, city staff and supporting council,” stated Hamer-Jackson as part of his Notice of Motion.
Hamer-Jackson’s Notice of Motion contained four bullet points.
“Number one, whereas seniors sixty aged and older, are topics on needing more open discussion for resolutions and solutions. Whereas [the] Community and Protective Services Department require further community input,” stated Hamer-Jackson as part of his Notice of Motion. “Number 3, whereas Civic Operations have projects needing open dialogue. Number 4, whereas Development and Engineering and Sustainability — including the Planning Department — has room to grow and improve on communication with citizens.”
His Notice of Motion will be debated by council at their next meeting.
