ROTHENBURGER: Outcome of suspension should have been easy to predict
(Image: Mel Rothenburger)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
THE LATEST BIT of turmoil at City Hall was always bound to end badly.
When Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson suspended acting CAO Byron McCorkell on Tuesday, it kick-started a chain of events that has become all too common.
Somebody leaks it to the media and by yesterday the whole world knows about it, though not the details. Councillors ask for a special closed council meeting. The mayor says he’s busy with family travel until Monday but he can do it then.
Councillors issue a news release backing McCorkell and call a meeting for this afternoon.
According to the B.C. Community Charter, the mayor was within his rights to suspend McCorkell without consulting council first.
Let’s face it — City Hall isn’t great at keeping secrets. Imagine if the mayor’s intentions had gotten out before he’d had a chance to tell McCorkell.
And, of course he hasn’t elaborated on his reasons for the move; it is, after all, a personnel matter.
His only Charter obligation was to bring it before council for ratification or reversal at council’s next meeting, when he could explain his thinking.
He contends council can’t rightfully make any binding decisions on the issue without him, and that several councillors should recuse themselves because they have family members who work for the City and are, therefore, ultimately responsible to McCorkell.
Deputy Mayor Mike O’Reilly fends off the notion that issuing a press release backing McCorkell before a special meeting was even confirmed taints the process. He has kept an open mind, he says.
Despite the chaos, corporate officer Maria Mazzotta is confident the process is going according to Hoyle.
Forseeing the outcome didn’t require a crystal ball. Hamer-Jackson’s hope that councillors would suddenly see things his way was overly optimistic to say the least.
And one wonders what kind of working relationship he’ll have with administration now.
So what’s changed in the last couple of days? Nothing for the better, that’s for sure.
I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.
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.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
All three points are valid, Bronwen.
With the outcome predetermined in their minds, there was no sense waiting until Monday to have their unanimous vote.
At least they didn’t have a wildcat walkout from a TNRD meeting to do their grandstanding this time.
It’s always nice to have Councillor O’Reilly showing leadership skills and inherent wisdom in being able to predict the outcome of closed meetings.
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It seems that this city is getting closer and closer to a time when you will see party politics running slates for mayor and council. We now see the Gang of 8 trying to be the ones who run the city. I can see a slate will emerge who will back the mayor in the next election and we will be into the same mess they have in the larger cities. You will back the slate and forsake an individual who may have been an excellent representative just to make sure your policies are the ones that succeed. Childish behavior is going to take this city we all love and turn it into one where we don’t talk to our neighbours.
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How tidy. Perhaps I should say tiny, or tinny. The TRU President is not allowed to be secretive and retain information, but it’s okay for the Mayor?
Ahh, appearances…and while I’m at it just who is this Hoyle character? How did she/he get on Council?
Is she/he new? And another interloper, this Crystal Ball? Why does Fruit Loops need him/her. Okay, I’m going back to sleep, safer here.
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Always a chance you already knew this and were just having fun … but if not:
Hoyle or ‘according to Hoyle’, ie; according to the rules or to the authority; correctly.
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It’s too bad this suspension got leaked. It’s literally criminal how many leaks there have been at city hall in the past year or so.
It’s also too bad that Coun. O’Reilly chose to ignore privacy laws and leak the likely outcome of council’s closed meeting about the suspension. This does not foster taxpayer confidence in our local governance system.
And finally, it’s too bad the councillors can’t wait until Monday to discuss this with the mayor present. What’s the rush? Do the councillors prefer not to have the mayor present for reasons of their own?
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