
Henry Braun delivering his municipal advisor report to Kamloops Council on May 7, 2024. (Photo via Brett Mineer)
More drama at Kamloops City Council on Tuesday morning as councillors walked out of the room and cut the audio/visual feeds as Mayor Reid Hamer Jackson was delivering his Mayor’s Report.
Speaking to conversations the Mayor claims he had with Municipal Advisor Henry Braun about his report two days previous, June 9th, Hamer-Jackson began reading “information” he intended to provide council.
“Henry, just two questions. In our meeting of February the 12th, 2023 [sic 2024] at Cactus Club in Abbotsford at approximately 6:30pm, in your report, you claim that meeting to be on the 13th of February. And I’d just like to point out that, you know, the lack of attention and the importance of details.”
“One of the first things you asked me, was what I felt would it take to get myself and councillors to work better together,” continued Hamer-Jackson. “I replied: Councillor Neustaeter would have to step up and tell the truth, and CAO Trawin would have to step up and tell the truth about me not threatening to fire him when he told all of council that I did threaten to fire him…”
It was at this point that Hamer-Jackson was cut off by Corporate Officer Maria Mazzotta.
“Mayor Hamer-Jackson, I’m interrupting you… I’m interrupting you here Mayor Hamer-Jackson to let you know that information about David Trawin and any allegations he may or may have not made are private and confidential. Divulging that information in a public… they have not been authorized…”
From this point, calls of Points of Order were levelled by members of council, while the Mayor attempted to continue his Report, with various members of council, the Mayor and staffers talking over one another until the call for a ‘recess’ was eventually made by Councillor Dale Bass.
“Point of Order,” proclaimed Hamer-Jackson during the upheaval.
“Excuse me, the Mayor doesn’t get make a Point of Order. You’re the Chair. You are the Chair. You do not. You keep order. I would move we have a recess,” shot back Bass.
Councillors and staff then left the council chambers for approximately 20 minutes before they returned to complete the meeting without much fanfare as Hamer-Jackson did not finish his Mayor’s Report.
This is not the first time the Mayor has attempted to bring up issues connected to the Braun Report or other issues which members of council, including the Mayor, are not allowed to speak of in open session.
This led to a meeting on May 14th which saw the Mayor stripped of his duties as chair of that council session.
Council also stripped the mayor of his ability to speak on behalf of the city, saying he has “repeatedly demonstrated that he is not willing to reflect the will of Council in accordance with his statutory and common law obligations.”