EDITORIAL – Deputy mayors now pretending to be the real mayor

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

IT’S BEEN FIVE MONTHS since councillors removed Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson as the official spokesperson for the City. Not only did they do that, but they sent letters “to all levels of government, applicable government agencies, and applicable community partners, including the City’s Business Improvement Associations and the Chamber of Commerce, advising that the Mayor does not speak on behalf of Council or the City of Kamloops and that official communications should be directed to the Deputy Mayor and Council.”

The result of this decision has been a dramatic increase in the powers of the deputy mayor that was never historically contemplated for the position. As I’ve written several times before, the deputy mayor (previously known as the “acting” mayor) was supposed to be available to sign documents or attend public events when the mayor was away.

Since May, deputy mayors now not only show up at all public ceremonies as the official representative of the City, but also have taken on the responsibility of answering emails directed to the mayor’s office and assuming mayoral meeting appointments. Hamer-Jackson doesn’t even have the regular services of his executive assistant anymore.

In effect, the councillors succeeded in a coup, a seizure of power. The mayor is left out of the picture. His main job now seems to be chairing council meetings, and even that has been wrestled from him on a number of occasions.

The extreme to which it’s gone was not-so-subtly demonstrated in the wake of the fire that destroyed the Red Bridge. It was a major event that called for reassurance from City Hall that the situation was being properly handled by elected officials.

Early on the morning of the fire, the mayor went to the scene and assessed what was going on. He was here, doing the job he was elected to do.

And yet, there followed the bizarre rush by deputy mayor Stephen Karpuk and deputy CAO Byron McCorkell to return from Vancouver where they’d been attending the annual UBCM convention.

Why? Neither was needed. Karpuk went far beyond his “official spokesperson” role and, in effect, took over the actual job of the mayor during these past few days. He has no business doing that.

Sadly, local media by and large bought into it, acting as though Karpuk was, indeed, the mayor.

As for McCorkell, he certainly needs to be apprised of occurrences such as a historic bridge falling down but it was hardly an emergency that required his instant presence. All the people who needed to be here in the hours after the bridge was torched were here: Fire chief Ken Uzeloc, acting civic operations director Joe Luison, RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Crystal Evelyn, plus key provincial personnel from the transportation and environment ministries.

And the mayor.

Hamer-Jackson still has a job to do; let him do it. No matter what anyone thinks of how he handles that job, or of the general messed-up situation at City Hall, what has happened this week is simply wrong.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. 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.