ROTHENBURGER – A surprise piece of mail reopens the debate on mayor’s conduct
(Image: CFJC Today)
THINGS SOMETIMES arrive in unexpected ways. Take the Integrity Group report on an investigation into Mayor Reid-Hamer Jackson’s conduct at City Hall, for example.
The investigation, triggered by a shouting match between the mayor and a City councillor in the mayor’s office, was completed almost a year ago, and a report filed on May 31, 2023.
Hamer-Jackson has been trying to get hold of an unredacted copy ever since to find out the specifics of how he ran afoul of council’s code of conduct.
Not that the general contents of the report have been a total secret. It was leaked in whole or in part to a couple of the local media last summer and has been extensively reported on. So the mayor has known the gist of it and the restrictions that were placed on him due to its recommendations.
After previously asking to see the actual report (the rest of the council got it in camera last June) without success, Hamer-Jackson received what was the equivalent of a plain-brown envelope in his mailbox this week.
It was mysteriously postmarked Tofino. Let’s think about that for a moment. Somebody in a far-flung community on the far West Coast had a copy of a confidential City of Kamloops investigation into the mayor’s conduct, but the mayor himself didn’t have one.
Now, he says, “at least I can defend myself.”
So how is the mayor going to do that? He’s indefinite but figures the first step is via the attention afforded by media coverage since yesterday.
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 
The homeless have taken over the streets. The homeless must be moved into shelter to make the streets more hospitable, cleaner, and less threatening. You don’t urinate and defecate in doorways, block sidewalks and panhandle the elderly using fear. This will help reduce crime, by the homeless and crime against the homeless. Police must organize full scale movement against crime, petty theft and violence. A loitering bylaw must be enforced. Police units must patrol crime areas and be held responsible to use the law to clean vagrancy and drug use in public. The council must get on board as each one campaigned on this issue.
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This city deserves better than Byron McCorkell. This city deserves better than this council.
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We need to know the facts, and avoid speculation, as self-interest will be out there to stir the pot, which will make it very difficult to move forward. City council needs to be a team, a team of committed people to a vision that must be articulated in order to be managed for success.
Kamloops history has been shaped by resource development model, but many of us know not so long ago we had seven sawmills in town producing value added products which some continue to think this is the only way forward, yes in many cases we must promote value added development, only in a sustainable financially viable way otherwise we will continue to experience turmoil between conflicting interests: the environment, labor, first nations, and the corporate sector.
The only way forward is through prioritization. We cannot move forward thinking that our side is “good” while the other side is “unworthy”. We must understand that all of us in Kamloops, BC and Canada love this country equally and we must have evidence-based reasons in policy decisions rather than policy that is self-serving.
In the past we have been sold on the idea that universal economic interdependence was a guarantee for our economic prosperity and stability. The corporatists led the way, and we joined trade organizations which have had benefits, markets for our resources, and costs, dependency on global commodity prices and neglect of our secondary and tertiary industries which have profited some and resulted in instability for many. We need a climate where value added secondary and tertiary industries can find a home in Kamloops.
Being interconnected has had benefits, years of stability which were then followed by years of instability. We are now faced with market manipulation by those who no longer subscribe to treaties but want them rewritten for their own commercial interests.
It’s understandable that national and provincial interest should be protected but we should be concerned how this is done and not succumb to blackmail and political pressure that we are now experiencing from local and national interests as well as our neighbor to the South. In this kind of environment there is very little chance that we will be able to address the technological, environmental, climate and humanitarian challenges confronting us at the Kamloops city level.
Kamloops will be left behind unless we embrace technological progress, robotics, automation, and digitalization in combination with our enormous wealth in natural resources. Embracing technological progress will lead us to incredible possibilities and opportunities. Automation which we have ignored far too long for quick profit through resource development and depletion has negatively affected our values, and economic, social, cultural progress. The Council’s main platform issue during election time, crime, and homelessness is a result of this thinking. All social services have been affected by a laisse fair thinking and are experiencing the same problems that business people witness on Victoria Street. The path that the city council has taken has led to many forks in the road.
There is a need for a working relationship with the bureaucrats who have a responsibility to articulate their goals to move this city into the future so Kamloops can move in a different direction to seek answers to how human needs can be met in a productive way. What needs am I writing about; culture, music, art, shopping, restaurants, parks, education, recreation, safe streets and homes, things that recharge our energy for heavy lifting to sustain us economically. Roads will lead where answers need to be found to how changes in climate and environment will affect human needs and employment as machines take over more and more of human labor.
Education and medical care, should not be taken out of the hands of teachers and doctors and placed into the hands of technocrats who only see profit as the end to life. Education, health care and safety must be priorities as they are priorities of most critical thinkers. Unfortunately, the priorities of governments civic, provincial, and national are not prioritized by need but by budgets which are not spent wisely.
Throwing money at a problem seldom works. Those who ran for council are missing an opportunity to solve or attempt to solve one or two policies that they articulated during the campaign, and this is scrutinized by the old guard to justify the mess that they have left behind. Police and social agencies must work together so everyone understands what can be done legally to ameliorate crime and provide safe streets and neighborhoods.
Most people in Kamloops understand that technology will not solve and ensure sustainable development. We must use technology wisely in combination with social responsibility, freedom of expression and policing that will safeguard ethical values and human dignity. We must move away from a legal system that has one law for the poor and another law for the rich. Unless we follow this path, we will remain in a world of cronyism, castes, hierarchy, conflict, and division.
History teaches us that change is never smooth and sometimes it leads to all kinds of disruptions. This happens because the government failed to connect with the needs of the working people in society in time. Those in government on local, provincial and national levels must be accountable and when they are not, they revert to preserve the outdated norms that must be swept aside and replaced with a bold vision with an evolutionary consistent forward path. When the path is murky, we encounter strikes, vandalism and doorway drug injections met by police cudgel and pepper spray.
Past strikes were met with force, however, in each case working people improved their living standard by organizing associations and planning strategy to improve, race relations, education, human rights, rights of minorities and women.
In the last 15 years in Kamloops, we were closed off to new initiatives. For the most part interest rates were low and commodity prices were high and the economy grew. We achieved this through huge financial costs but in many cases the cost was always more than it should have been, affecting low-income families and young people.
Kamloops must abandon the obsolete agenda for which Canadian cities are known and BC cities follow. For too long we have been the “hewers of wood” and “drawers of water”. The world is changing, and we remain disciples of the Chicago School rather than Keynesians where demand drives supply rather than the other way around. We all love this city, and we must be responsible for its future – this is what should unite us, particularly when people demand change.
We are fortunate in this city, province and country with abundant resources, natural beauty, space, and educated labor force but all of this is defused so we must harness these elements to serve the public need.
How do we tie the knots of division in Kamloops to share the future, that should be our collective obligation? If we subscribe to a separate future, we will live in a city where conflict is a way of life and where prosperity for the few will spell misery for many. TRU, education, social services, health, First Nations, and many other community groups and initiatives are running repairs where planning for the future is indispensable.
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There is certainly a lot to ponder about this situation. For me, there are more questions than answers. I’d like to know:
I could go on. What stands out most for me is the following: “the report said [the Mayor] was disrespectful, insulting or demeaning at various times to those employees.”
If those interacting with, or witnessing, the Mayor’s behaviour found it to be disrespectful, insulting and demeaning, there is not much he can do to defend or rationalize it. What matters most is how the behaviour is perceived by those affected by it.
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Getting rid of McCorkell is the first step in advancing this city. I don’t feel like getting/writing a long comment but the essence is in the first sentence.
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How does a report issued almost a yr ago end up in Tofino, was it sent there from Sparwood and previously Fort Nelson, where hasn’t the report been other than the Mayors desk? The code of conduct was written by admin, the report was written by a law firm, the Integrity Group (the irony just doesn’t stop) hired by admin and the accusations of mistreatment were made by admin, is anybody surprised the results were favourable for admin?
Local media has had unredacted copies since the report has been issued and almost a year later the mayor receives a clandestine copy by snail mail. So now we have leakers supporting the mayor in addition to the usual leakers aiming to discredit the mayor, yet admin still refuse to seek an investigation into the continual leaking of confidential city documents. Who’s policing the admin? This is starting to sound a little too James Bondish for city hall.
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How is the crap going on in city hall impacting how my garbage is being picked up, how snow removal or street cleaning is being done, or how the Duchess night club is being demolished. Etc etc.
it’s not. If it does look out.
Cooper
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Clearly certain staff (which are unelected BTW) have way too much sway, I would call it interference, in local civic matters. At least one past CAO was very clear on that being the case already long ago. To be clear the at risk population at the centre of much angst at City Hall is not attributable to neither the current CAOs. However there are many other issues which are perhaps a little less popular but nevertheless important that are attributable to the current CAOs being in their respective positions for way too long without enough scrutiny. New faces are needed in my opinion just because new opinions are needed to move away from the current stifling parochialism.
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what is involved in starting a recall? I’m on board and would happily do some legwork.
just seeing us on global. How embarrassing.
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There’s no legislation in B.C. providing for recall of City council members.
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if you’re asking for all nine to resign then you’d get far greater support
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It sounds like the Mayor might be down the list of people who have already read the report. Who knows the real number, especially if two photocopies arrived in town; one for Mayor Hamer-Jackson and one for a media outlet?
There’s already talk about the last “closed meeting” having been ‘hacked’ because someone was clumsy enough to use an Internet connection and commonly used form of communication to join the meeting ‘virtually’. Let’s wait to see if any of the contents of that meeting get slipped out.
By the way, I mentioned to the Armchair Mayor already about the spelling of the Mayor’s name on the cover page of the report. It sure looked like “Reid-Hamer Jackson” to me. Was it a typo or produced by someone who didn’t bother showing respect by finding out the actual spelling of a person’s name who has a hyphenated surname?
Too much for too long for this guy in a similar way to David. Maybe a change in pablum or a different brand of disposable diapers would work. Maybe some new toys for the sandbox could make a difference. Children taking temper tantrums = children taking temper tantrums. It’s time for the Province to step in and remove all 9 from office. Collectively, they have lost any and all credibility to govern.
Those of us who voted mistakingly believed we were voting for adults. Time has shown otherwise. Maybe there’s a good reason for having the City daycare.
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I’ll be blunt.
Beyond commenting in various ways regarding budgetary expenditures made by Council (a ped bridge too far instead of a fence or a bike lane no one uses) … I just stopped commenting on the inability for anyone at City hall (not including staff) to stop tantrum’ing and listen to their parents, share their toys like good little kids, and act like decent sandbox dwellers.
I just simply, have had enough.
I vote municipal Councils in to fix and build roads, and decide on budget matters locally, whether I agree with a decision or not, thats the only job I care about. With this Mayor and Council, way too much time, attention and focus has been diverted to everything but the job at hand, and thats it … I’ve had enough.
To put it plainly, there is no; ‘well, if they just listened to the Mayor I voted in’ or ‘they need to keep this Mayor from doing anything stupid’ … I just dont care anymore … its all simply too late, and this has to end. There is no repairing, negotiating, or provincial intervention that could possibly help this crowd to get any work done. The charade needs to stop.
My vote is to recall them all, call the last election a fail, and literally start again.
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and the common denominator is??? For the good of the City could he not just resign?
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The BC Community Charter clearly states that the mayor can suspend a city employee, though council must approve or deny the suspension at a later date. This is not the first time that our council has decided to overrule the Charter. When they did so regarding the mayor’s standing committees, they were later told they couldn’t. Will it be the same for this issue? I was under the impression that city councils had to abide by the Charter and couldn’t overrule it.
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