For the second time in his term so far, Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson was removed as chair of a portion of Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Councillors grew frustrated with the Mayor for allowing some members of the public to either exceed their allotted speaking time or talk about items not on the agenda, and in one case failed council candidate Mac Gordon, who suggested that acting CAO Byron McCorkell was lying about the plans to redevelop the former Northbridge Hotel.
“This is a safe space for our staff. We are required to make sure it is a safe space,” Councillor Stephen Karpuk said, during the meeting. “People do not get to come in here and tell us they lied, they’re giving falsehoods and things like that. That’s not what we do in a business meeting here.”
“Please lets follow the civil discourse. Mr. Gordon, please do not make this personal in here. It’s not about staff. If there is something you disagree with, please let us hear it.”
Gordon – who was speaking during the public inquiries portion of Tuesday’s meeting – was also interrupted by councillors Katie Neustaeter and Bill Sarai, before Mike O’Reilly asked for a five minute “cooling off period.”
Tension was still palpable when the meeting resumed as Gordon – who was nearly removed from council chambers on a couple of occasions – appeared to double down on his accusations against McCorkell.
He also tried to ask council about the ongoing Alternative Approval Process related to Build Kamloops, claiming it was on the agenda.
Gordon and Hamer-Jackson contended the issue was up for debate Tuesday – as there was mention of the upcoming Sept. 4 meeting on the agenda document – though council and staff said it was not.
“They are calendar appointments, they’re there for information,” Acting Deputy Corporate Officer Denise Anderson said.
“They’re to say when the meetings are. At the beginning when we’re talking about the agenda and reordering it, it was discussed that there was no mechanism available for members of the public to speak to the Build Kamloops project or the Alternative Approvals Process at this council.”
“All of the select committee calendars are on there, so why can’t the public speak?” Hamer-Jackson said. “They’re on the agenda so why, and who makes the rule that you cannot speak? It’s a little confusing to me because it’s on the agenda. When people look at the agenda, they see ‘bingo, that’s on the agenda.'”
“The public is allowed to speak on matters on the agenda where there is a report or a memo, something that has information that the citizens are interested in,” Anderson said. “A calendar appointment is just a calendar appointment.”
“But as the mayor and the chair, am I not allowed to allow them to speak on what’s on the agenda?” Hamer-Jackson asked.
“It’s not normal practice,” Anderson responded.
“Not normal for who?” said Hamer-Jackson asked again.
“For council meetings and Roberts Rules,” Anderson said, while suggesting that people go to the City’s Let’s Talk Page if they have questions about things not on the meeting agenda. “The only question what would be relevant to a calendar appointment is what time is the meeting, where is the meeting going to be, [and] what date is the meeting. That is not about projects.”
“It’s pretty obvious today it’s on the agenda, but you can’t speak of it,” the mayor then said said to Gordon.
“I’m sorry, your honour, that’s just not going cut it,” Gordon responded. “It’s on the agenda, it will be spoken to.”
Hamer-Jackson then proposed a motion to allow members of the people to speak on calendar appointments, but it was not seconded, and therefore did not come up for debate.
“That was easy. You’re not talking about it,” Hamer-Jackson then told Gordon, who still refused to step aside.
It then prompted Councillor Nancy Bepple to table a motion – under Section 132 of the Community Charter – to remove the Hamer-Jackson as chair for the remainder of the public inquiries portion of the meeting.
“Point of order. I’d like to call for Section [132] where we will for this section of the agenda – which we’ve spent – we’re already at almost 2:30 that we remove the chair for the matter-at-hand and appoint the deputy mayor to chair the public inquiries section of the meeting,” Bepple said.
Deputy Mayor for August Margot Middleton then took over as chair for the rest of the public inquiry portion of the meeting -which lasted around an hour – at which point Hamer-Jackson returned as chair.
In May of this year, Hamer-Jackson was removed as chair in the closing stages of a meeting after he repeatedly refused to stop talking about confidential information regarding a city employee.
While Kamloops City Council meetings include time when people can ask questions on things related to the day’s agenda, a glance through agendas at many other BC cities reveals that they don’t have this time set aside for questions.
Editors note – You can listen to the entire exchange that led to Hamer-Jackson’s temporary removal as chair of the meeting below.