EDITORIAL – The Kamloops councillor who has come in from the cold

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

AS INVESTIGATION CONTINUES into Coun. Bill Sarai’s secret recording of a contentious meeting with Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson, and his subsequent lie about it, he appears to continue in the good graces of his fellow councillors.

When the City Governance and Service Excellence Select Committee meets this Thursday, none other than Coun. Sarai will be in the chair. That’s because he was selected as chair at the last meeting of the committee on Jan. 16.

It happened with few if any outside the committee paying any attention to it. Certainly, I missed it but, sure enough, Coun. Katie Neustaeter nominated Sarai as chair for the current year, and Coun. Mike O’Reilly seconded it.

 “I thank you very much for the confidence you’ve shown in me,” said Sarai, “and I will take the chair.”

There must be at least a measure of irony in picking Sarai to chair something called the governance service excellence committee. One can safely assume that if Hamer-Jackson had secretly taped a meeting with another member of council and lied about it, he wouldn’t be offered chair of a select committee. More than likely, he would have been verbally excoriated.

But in Sarai’s case, his fellow councillors quickly, though behind the scenes, offered him their encouragement in the wake of his actions becoming public. You might recall that on Dec. 3, when Sarai publicly acknowledged what he’d done, and apologized, his name was withdrawn as deputy mayor for the month of December. But he’s back on the list for August.

One would think that the council would at least wait until the results of a code of conduct investigation into Sarai’s clandestine taping is completed before offering him the chair of a committee, or put him back on the deputy roster.

But this council, which avows to be focused on community trust, obviously sees it differently.

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.