The Mayor of Kamloops has confirmed he has been shut out of the Mayor’s office on the main floor of City Hall.

Reid Hamer-Jackson says his electronic fob access to the office has been cut off, meaning he is no longer able to access the personal materials he says are still inside.

“There’s a lot of information in there that people like Byron McCorkell aren’t privy too,” Hamer-Jackson told Radio NL.  “People have been going in and out of my office for quite a while now, and I’ve been asking who has been going in and out, and I haven’t got anybody admitting to it. Like I’ve said, they’ve been opening my mail.”

He says while he does recognize that the office belongs to the City of Kamloops, he argues his removal from it isn’t what Kamloops wants.

“Without the taxpayers, there is no corporation. The taxpayers elected me. Not Byron [Interim CAO Byron McCorkell]. They elected me, the Mayor, to sit in that office,” he said.

Hamer-Jackson had remained in the main floor office past an October 22nd deadline imposed on him by council to move, demanding the city get a court order for him to vacate to an office a level below.

He says the new office established for him a level below is both unnecessary and ill-thought out.

“The funny part is, this downstairs basement, I told them, don’t spend any taxpayers money. Don’t spend their money. But they did. They spent a bunch,” argued Hamer-Jackson.  “The only thing they forgot to do was spend some money for people with disabilities, because there’s not even wheelchair accessibility down there.”

Council ordered Hamer-Jackson to move in early October, citing staff safety concerns, saying there are four active WorkSafeBC claims against the Mayor from City staff, a number Hamer-Jackson disputes.