Kamloops City Hall. (Photo via City of Kamloops)

City Hall watchers in Kamloops hoping for “appointment viewing” of the latest drama surrounding the horseshoe were likely left disappointed on Tuesday.

With acting CAO Byron McCorkell back in his seat after being briefly suspended by the Mayor last month — then reinstated two days later by the rest of council — the matter was only brought up directly among members of council by Margot Middleton.

She used her Councillor’s Report to address her attendance at the March 26th meeting in which McCorkell was suspended, as any contact between the Mayor and certain members of senior staff require a third party present.

“I do not support the Mayor in his efforts to have acting CAO Byron McCorkell suspended,” said Middleton in a prepared statement.  “My attendance at the meeting was requested by the Mayor immediately prior to the meeting. I was not previously consulted with, nor was I advised by the Mayor, as to the nature of this meeting.”

The only other direct comments at the Tuesday session connected to the McCorkell suspension was from a member of the public, who attempted to ask why the acting CAO was in council chambers after being “fired” by the Mayor.

That was quickly rebuffed as a point-of-order, as it was not an item on the council agenda for that day.

For his part, Reid Hamer-Jackson would only hint at the issue during his Mayor’s Report, imploring people to read the section of the Community Charter which gives him the ability to suspend staff.

“I’d just like everyone to maybe review them [sections of the Community Charter], because it’s kind of — from what I understand — the rule book of governance in British Columbia,” said Hamer-Jackson. “I think its imperative that we go to sections like ‘Duties of the Mayor,’ Section 116. If you go to Section 151, and you read it really good, it doesn’t say a lot of other things than what it says.”

Those comments later prompted push back from Katie Neustaeter during her Councillor’s Report.

“Sitting in these seats, there are many things that we can do. But that doesn’t mean that we should do them,” argued Neustaeter.

“For instance, we shouldn’t create chaos, we shouldn’t withhold information, we shouldn’t fail to communicate, we shouldn’t mislead the public,” blasted Neustaeter. “We shouldn’t sneak into BC Housing facilities, we shouldn’t knowingly act in a conflict of interest, we shouldn’t breach privacy, we shouldn’t give closed resolutions to media, we shouldn’t announce things on behalf of partners without authorization.”

In response, the Mayor decided to move on.

“Thank you. I appreciate the accusations,” rebuked Hamer-Jackson.

Also left undiscussed at the meeting was the Mayor’s recent moves to distribute copies of the Integrity Group report to the media.

The lack of comments surrounding the suspension of McCorkell and issues surrounding the Integrity Report were not unexpected, as those issues are connected to personnel and legal matters, which are — under the Community Charter — expected to be discussed only behind closed doors for due to privacy concerns.

Council did hold a closed door session before the open meeting on Tuesday.

While details of what was discussed in that session are not known, the open session of council was done comparatively quickly.

Council rolled through the 354 page agenda in under 2 hours.