Kamloops City Councillors have unanimously voted in favour of asking staff to review the municipally funded storage facility at 48 Victoria Street West.
It was an amended version of the notice of motion from Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson – put forward by Councillor Kelly Hall – with councillors choosing to not look at potential relocation of the facility that is run by the Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society as part of this review.
That decision came after much debate, including on whether the mayor was in a conflict of interest since he owns a business nearby.
Ahead of the 8-0 vote on Hall’s amended motion – which did not include the mayor – councillors debated asking staff to consider “possible changes and improvements of services” along the entire Victoria Street West corridor, as suggested by councillor Nancy Bepple.
“This is not the place to have an in-depth discussion,” Bepple said. “I want the essence of this motion to be moved to the committee and have them bring in people to get more information and then go forward.”
The discussion over whether to include all of West Victoria Street led Corporate Officer, Maria Mazzotta, to tell the mayor that he “could be in a perceived conflict of interest if he stayed at the table.”
“It’s your decision whether or not to remain in the room,” she said. “I’m just cautioning you as to the risk.”
CAO David Trawin, who was not at the meeting, had previously told Hamer-Jackson that he did not believe the mayor was at a conflict over his notice of motion as his business – Tru Market Auto – was more than 100 metres away from 48 Victoria Street West.
Saying she meant no disrespect to Trawin over the advice given to the mayor that is typically used in a public hearings when it comes to properties, Mazzotta noted Tuesday that “each conflict of interest case is unique.”
“I cannot guarantee which way a court would land on this,” she told Hamer-Jackson. “So again, it is for you to decide your level of comfort with the risk.”
While some councillors were in support of Bepple’s proposed amendment to include a review of the entire corridor, others felt that while important, Tuesday’s council meeting wasn’t the place for that discussion.
“I believe Mayor Hamer-Jackson presented an issue he thought was an issue being 48 West Victoria Street,” Councillor Mike O’Reilly said. “I think everybody around this table and everybody within this room today knows on another motion that we need to look at our support system for the vulnerable population holistically.”
“What is front of us today is 48 West Victoria Street. I think that should be more what we are discussing, not the entire corridor.”
Added Councillor Katie Neustaeter, who had initially asked Hamer-Jackson to clarify his history along West Victoria Street, “I know that this is going to look like, in a media scrum situation, like this is a council divided. It is not,” she said.
“This is a council – including the mayor – that is saying the same thing about our community. We want the same thing for our community. And we protect one another and we protect our community, and all of the stakeholders in the situation by operating above board, and that is all. But we all want the same thing, which makes a solution possible.”
When complete, this results of this review will go before the City’s Community and Protective Services Committee, which could bring further recommendations before council.