The Mayor of Kamloops is proposing changes to council committees he created just three months ago, adding nine residents to five different committees.
Reid Hamer-Jackson has also removed councillors Bill Sarai, Kelly Hall, and Mike O’Reilly as chairs of three committees – Community Relations and Reconciliation, Community and Protective Services, and Development and Sustainability.
They will be replaced by Deborah Newby, Bud Smith, and Randy Sunderman respectively.
“I’ve talked to them all, and they’ve all chaired meetings, and things like that,” Hamer-Jackson said. “They’ve chaired meetings more than I have Paul and I’m the mayor.”
Newby was part of Hamer-Jackson’s campaign for mayor, Smith is a former Social Credit MLA and B.C. Attorney General, while Sunderman is president of the Kamloops Voters Society, who staged an unsuccessful campaign for a city council seat last fall.
While Sarai is still on the Community Relations and Reconciliation Committee, Hall has been removed from the Community and Protective Services Committee and added to the Development and Sustainability Committee.
O’Reilly meanwhile has been removed from the Development and Sustainability Committee.
Under the Community Charter, non-council members can be appointed to standing committees, as long as at least half of the committee is made up of elected councillors. Committees make recommendations to city council which has the final say on whether or not things are approved.
“You know when we have Community and Protective Services and when they’re doing two or three meetings for a whole year, I just didn’t think that was effective,” Hamer-Jackson, said, noting he also added himself to that committee.
“And nobody came up with any select committees or task force committees that I introduced in November, and so I just felt that we needed to make some changes.”
Each of the five standing committees has three councillors members and two community members, with the exception of the Finance Committee which has three councillors and one community member – failed council candidate Darpan Sharma, who was vocal about council spending while on the campaign trail.
Other community members being added to committees include former Tk’emlúps councillor Sonny Leonard on the Community Relations and Reconciliation committee, Bailey’s Pub owner, Brandon Coyle, on the Community and Protective Services Committee, and Canadian Home Builders’ Association-Central Interior President Tom Calne on the Development and Sustainability committee.
Bill Swaine, with Emil Anderson Construction, and former City of Kamloops employee, Jim Budnaryk, have also been added to the Civic Operations Committee.
A list of committee appointments being proposed by Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson in March 2023.
A list of committee appointments made by Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson in Dec. 2022.
Speaking on NL Newsday, Hamer-Jackson says the idea behind these changes is to relieve councillors of some of their workloads.
“We’ve got some good people on board and they’re willing to volunteer their time and I think its going to relieve some of the councillors,” Hamer-Jackson said.
“They’ve been pretty busy doing a lot of things. They’re on a lot of committees, and TNRD board, and things like that. You know hospital board, and airport authority I think they’re a little overwhelmed.”
What is not clear yet is how these new appointees will impact the mayor’s sometimes strained relationship with his fellow councillors.
City Councillors are expected to issue some kind of statement about the changes on Friday.
