Kamloops Councillor Mike O'Reilly

The Deputy Mayor of Kamloops says he and the rest of council expect to overturn a decision by the Mayor to suspend acting CAO Byron McCorkell.

Mike O’Reilly says they expect to do this at a special council session which has been called for Thursday afternoon.

This comes after Reid Hamer-Jackson decided to suspend Byron McCorkell for yet unclear reasons.

“In deciding to suspend acting CAO McCorkell summarily, Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson acted unilaterally and without prior consultation with the rest of City Council,” said city councillors in a statement issued early Wednesday afternoon.  “He provided no grounds or justification for his surprise suspension of the acting CAO and has provided no such explanation to date.”

O’Reilly says the Mayor did what he did on his own accord.

“The Mayor has had his own personal agenda for the last 513 days since being elected Mayor,” argued O’Reilly in an interview with Radio NL.  “Unfortunately, Reid hasn’t been able to go from ‘candidate Reid’ to ‘Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson.’ That’s a big gap. This is very much a pattern and a trend that’s forming, where the Mayor makes unilateral decisions.”

O’Reilly says he’s unsure if Hamer-Jackson will be showing up to tomorrow’s meeting.

“What we’re dealing with is, this is completely unprecedented and irresponsible,” said O’Reilly.  “What I can tell you is the eight councillors, we and city staff, have full respect and throw our support behind CAO McCorkell, and we look forward to reinstating him in the near future.”

Longer term, O’Reilly says he’s not sure whether this latest situation will have long-lasting impacts on the inner-workings of City Hall.

“I don’t think anything is irreparable. At the same time, we are all there, and we are elected to do a job,” said O’Reilly.  “All 8 city councillors, we are fiduciary duty to protect the Corporation [of the City of Kamloops], but also protect the taxpayers of City of Kamloops.”

Meanwhile, in a statement issued by City Council, it claims the Mayor — in moving to suspend McCorkell — may have breached privacy rules.

“The Mayor appears to have disclosed personal information of acting CAO McCorkell in breach of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act,” said the public statement. “This privacy breach has been reported to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.”

Editors Note:  We expect to hear from Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson this afternoon

More to come…