A notice of motion from Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to end paid meals for City Councillors, Directors, and Senior Staff at council and committee meetings fell flat yesterday as it did not get a seconder.

That means it did not come up for debate during this afternoon’s city council meeting.

“Do we have a mover, or do I move it?” Hamer-Jackson said Tuesday.

“Mayor Hamer-Jackson, you have the ability to move it yourself,” Maria Mazzotta, the City’s Corporate Officer responded.

“Okay, I’ll move it,” Hamer-Jackson said.

“No seconder?” he added, after a 13 second pause.

In trying to convince one of his colleagues to second the notice of motion, Hamer-Jackson said the city has a budget of $22,000 for meals during council engagements.

“We waste so much, its in the fridge sometimes stacked up. Nobody eats it,” Hamer-Jackson said, waiting to see if someone would second his motion.

“We got 900 employees that don’t get free meals. Some of the highest paid staff in our staff are getting free meals.”

Another six seconds passed by before Hamer-Jackson attempted to call the question.

“All those opposed,” he said, at which point he was told there is no motion to be voted on as there was no seconder.

“And I’ve talked to lots of mayors and communities’ and they’re quite shocked that we spend that kind of money,” Hamer-Jackson said, before another pause.

“Well, there you go, I think I’m batting a thousand.”

Citing fiscal responsibility, Hamer-Jackson was hoping to put the money saved by ending catered meals towards other initiatives, possibly his plan to help send homeless people back to their communities.

Hamer-Jackson’s proposal was to use “surplus” money from Ottawa’s Reaching Home Fund, a fund the city has no influence over as it is federally administered.

He withdrew that motion from discussion at the Sept. 12 meeting, citing new information he had been given.

“We don’t adjudicate the money. It’s done through a community group. The community group has funds returned they’re unused by groups, and then they reallocate them, which they have done,” acting CAO Byron McCorkell said during the Sept. 12 meeting.

“Putting an end to catered meals could help the city find a ‘way to save money and help the people on the streets,'” Hamer-Jackson said, on Sept. 12.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Councillor Bill Sarai questioned whether the mayor’s plan would end up saving money for taxpayers, noting both open and closed council meetings are running hours longer than it was under the previous council.

“We ate lunch at our council desks one day with a 15-minute break before open council,” Sarai said. “Then we rushed back and went into closed [council] and had our dinner before a public hearing sitting at our council chambers.”

“Had we had ‘brown bag’ breaks for that, we would have probably kept staff there till midnight.”

In May of 2022, Kamloops CAO David Trawin told Kamloops This Week that staff get meals for working lunches. According to KTW, Trawin said he believes that if staff are expected to work during lunch, they will be provided with a meal.

Trawin said at the time an hour of staff time is worth $50 to $60 per hour and lunch costs $20.

– With files from Paul James and Brett Mineer