CITY HALL – Council meeting interrupted by Zoom-bombing incident
(Image: Mel Rothenburger file photo.)
Today’s Kamloops City council meeting was hit by a different kind of interruption (Sept. 24, 2024). Usually, the disruptions revolve around disagreements among council members but today it came via Zoom, the platform used to livestream the meetings.
At one point in the meeting, the feed was interrupted for a few seconds with pornographic video. It was quickly cut off and the meeting was adjourned shortly thereafter.
This afternoon, the City issued an apology for the Zoom bombing.
“We deeply regret the inappropriate behaviour that occurred and any distress it may have caused to our in-person or virtual attendees, including residents, media, staff, and Council members,” it said.
“Our intention is always to create an open and safe space for discussion, and we are disappointed that this incident overshadowed that goal. We take this matter seriously and are actively reviewing our procedures and security measures to prevent similar occurrences in the future and will take steps to prevent this from reoccurring ever again.
“Thank you for your understanding and support as we work to ensure that our meetings remain welcoming and constructive for everyone.”
ArmchairMayor.ca 
City hall needs to get over itself. I was there. It was just a few seconds of porn: worse than a fart joke, but not worth all the pearl-clutching.
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The city has made the videos private. There were two videos. The second video contains no hardcore pornography. They cannot do this. Public record must exist for a public council meeting.
An FOI might be required and a re-upload to YouTube should be done to maintain the public’s access to information.
From the city:
Freedom of Information (FOI). Whenever possible, information held by the City of Kamloops should be available to the public.
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Believe me, you do not want to see the porn shots. Embarrassing.
Blaming all people who ask questions at Public Inquiry is also embarrassing.
Why build a PAC when city hall provides so much theater? lol
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Exactly! The masters of performative politics are already down at council chambers and city hall!
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Open and safe space for discussion? Me thinks not. What a sham! Nobody can talk, councilors do not answer valid questions and the public is certainly not welcome to open conversation with any of them except our mayor who listens and will try to find answers when the others won’t. Of course when he asks questions he gets accused of improper behavior. It is amazing that K.N can blame the mayor for the interruption. She takes every opportunity to throw $%^&* at the mayor. Is she hoping to replace him in 2 years? Get over yourselves, move on. We are all tired of your shenanigans and embarrassing behavior. Can we please have our elected mayor back and have a cooperative council of 8 who listen to the people who voted for them?
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Gee, Mel,
You missed the comments/quotes in CFJC’s coverage of the incident where Councillor Neustader took the opportunity to tear several strips off Mayor Hamer-Jackson for his horrifying incompetence for not rebuking the incident, his lack of diginity, his lack of leadership, we cannot go on like this….etc, etc, etc. It amazes me that anything and everything gets thrown back at the mayor. He didn’t post the darn thing! And then we have Councillor Sarai talking about removing all public inquiries from council meetings. They take up too much time. Perish the thought that the citizens of Kamloops are allowed to speak. The arrogance of this bunch would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
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Yes, I read Katie’s little “manifesto” as written on CFJC’s web site. She put full blame for this “zoom bomb” onto Mayor Hamer-Jackson. Could the real blame, if any, have been put onto the City’s IT department?
People are becoming nauseated by Katie’s immaturity. The public has become saturated with her drivel. Quite frankly, if she is at the point where she can no longer tolerate the situation, the best course of action for her is to resign. Believe me, it may turn out that few actually miss her.
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Stay tuned.
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