ROTHENBURGER – A short history of confidentiality at Kamloops City Hall

SO KAMLOOPS CITY COUNCILLORS have approved a motion to bar Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson from closed meetings of committees based on a claim that he’s proven he can’t be trusted to keep confidential information confidential.

Councillors declared last week that the mayor has been guilty of “numerous privacy breaches” and that the “privacy and confidentiality of the municipal corporation” needs protecting.

They declined to explain just what the numerous breaches of privacy were, so we don’t know exactly why this latest sanction was approved. But the issue of confidentiality at City Hall has been much in the news during this council’s term, so let’s refresh ourselves with a brief history on the subject.

MARCH 2023 — Hamer-Jackson sends an email to the eight councillors plus CAO David Trawin and corporate officer Maria Mazzotta that he intends to make significant changes to who sits on standing committees. He will make the changes public at the next regular council meeting. “Within minutes” the email is leaked to local media.

The next day, March 17, the councillors call a news conference to criticize his committee changes, as well as his “erratic” behaviour, claiming he has “violated personal and professional boundaries.” They do not elaborate, and accept no questions from reporters.

MAY 2023 — Hamer-Jackson reveals to the City’s human resources director that he has found some personnel records apparently left in his office by previous mayors, and that he took them home to review.

In a closed-door meeting, councillors approve a new policy on the handling of confidential personnel records.

JUNE 2023 — A report from the Integrity Group (the report would later become commonly known as the Honcharuk report, after the lawyer who drafted it) on allegations against the mayor is presented in-camera to council. The report, which is not released, has concluded that Hamer-Jackson violated the City’s code of conduct by being disrespectful to three staff members. Consequently, the mayor is prohibited from meeting alone with CAO David Trawin and certain other staff members, or phoning them, unless an approved third party is present. Emails have to be vetted by the deputy mayor.

Several emails relating to the confidential report are leaked to radio station CHNL. Asked to comment, Hamer-Jackson says he can’t comment on in-camera matters. “I’d be breaching confidentiality,” he tells the station.

Coun. Mike O’Reilly (deputy mayor for June), however, confirms for Castanet that Hamer-Jackson has been under investigation. He doesn’t elaborate on its status.

AUGUST 2023 — Kamloops This Week reports some of the details of the report, including that CAO David Trawin was one of the complainants in the Honcharuk investigation. A “Statement from Kamloops City Council” is released revealing that Trawin has “the full confidence” of the council. O’Reilly then says the reason for naming Trawin in its “statement” was that KTW has reported it.

Hamer-Jackson fires back, saying he didn’t authorize the “statement from council” and that the release of confidential information from a closed meeting is “a serious legal matter.” He says he hasn’t received the full Honcharuk report and if it’s released he’ll comment further.

Castanet also apparently receives a copy of the confidential report.

SEPTEMBER 2023 — A column in ArmchairMayor.ca by former City councillor Denis Walsh lists several information leaks from City Hall, including:

• a BC Housing email accusing the mayor (who was accompanied by two councillors) of approaching a homeless facility “unannounced.”
• a leak accusing the mayor of trying in influence where security vehicles were being parked on Victoria Street West. (It was investigated and declared unfounded.)

At a regular council meeting, Hamer-Jackson asks for a second time that the Honcharuk report be released in full, along with certain emails he says contain innuendos and allegations about him, and a letter that was presented to him by three councillors. Mazzotta says he must make his request at an in-camera meeting.

OCTOBER 2023 — Hamer-Jackson turns over a transcript to human resources manager Colleen Quigley of a phone call he taped between himself and Trawin. He had revealed the taping at an open council meeting. Although Trawin didn’t know the conversation had been taped, the taping was legal and contained no confidential information. Councillors announce they’re looking into the mayor’s “practices” and authorize a third-party investigation.

Hamer-Jackson says he’s launching his own investigation into the leaking of confidential information from closed meetings to the media. (No conclusions have been announced, though he says he asked several councillors about it.)

MARCH 2024 — The mayor suspends acting CAO Byron McCorkell, intending to bring the matter forward to the next regular council meeting. The move is leaked to CHNL.

Although the agendas and decisions of closed meetings are supposed to be confidential until council deems otherwise, Coun. Mike O’Reilly, again deputy mayor for the month, announces that a special in-camera meeting will be called to overturn Hamer-Jackson’s suspension of McCorkell. The meeting is called and the decision is made.

APRIL 2024 — Hamer-Jackson receives a copy of the Honcharuk report, mailed from Tofino, in his residential mailbox. He distributes copies to several media, saying he can now “defend myself.” O’Reilly says his release of the report is “unlawful.”

The mayor lets it be known that councillors have, in camera, removed his ability to suspend McCorkell and six other staff members. That authority is handed over to deputy mayors. O’Reilly says the decision was supposed to be confidential.

MAY 2024 — Former Abbotsford mayor Henry Braun, hired by the provincial government at the request of Kamloops council to look into the dysfunction of the council, hands down his conclusions in public. Braun says Hamer-Jackson has committed “multiple breaches of privacy and confidentiality.” Among his recommendations are one that he adhere “strictly to confidentiality agreements and council protocols.”

Hamer-Jackson asks if an in-camera meeting that has been called will include anything about him. He is criticized on the basis that he shouldn’t be discussing in-camera meetings, though, on a couple of past occasions, he’s been told he can’t attend certain in-camera meetings because they’re about him.

JUNE 2024 — For a third time, Hamer-Jackson attempts at a regular open council meeting, to talk about texts between himself and Trawin he believes exonerate him from an earlier accusation that he threatened to fire Trawin. He is told once again that the exchange is confidential; councillors then walk out of the meeting.

A complaint by Coun. Katie Neustaeter under the code of conduct that the mayor has made misleading public statements is found to be valid.

The mayor is prohibited from attending closed meetings of select committees due to “numerous privacy breaches” and his alleged refusal to comply with Braun’s recommendations.

CONCLUSIONS: I leave you to draw your own. The above isn’t an exhaustive history of confidentiality at City Hall during the past couple of years, and I’m open to being corrected on errors or omissions.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.