EDITORIAL – Code of Conduct has been a major waste of time and money

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

CITY COUNCIL DYSFUNCTION is costing Kamloops taxpayers a lot of money.

A summary to the end of 2025, published by the City, shows that Code of Conduct complaints filed by council members against one another continue to rack up tens of thousands of dollars in expense. The question arises, is the new Code of Conduct regime worth it?

In the old days, Codes of Conduct for municipal councils were somewhat toothless things, the only real punishment available against violators being a motion of censure. In essence, it was a finger-wagging “don’t ever do that again” sort of exercise.

With Codes of Conduct now mandatory, and especially with the acrimony between the current crop of councillors and the mayor, a variety of serious sanctions has come into play. Those found guilty of breaking the code of behaviour may now have their pay dramatically cut, be ordered to take re-education courses, ordered to issue apologies, be barred from certain meetings, be removed from committees or even — such as the case with Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson — be booted from being an official spokesperson for the City.

First, though, they have to be found guilty via a formal investigation, and that costs dough. In fact, the bill now tallies several hundred thousand bucks since the current council took office. It would be even higher if not for council’s decision in August 2023 to exclude the public from filing Code complaints and restricting the system to council members who get mad at each other.

By the time they were eliminated, public complaints had cost almost $130,000 in fees to the lawyers who investigated them. And not one was substantiated.

As well, a lot of complaints by council members against each other have been “summarily dismissed.” Those ones typically cost a few thousand each.

Nine complaints have been withdrawn. The most expensive of those was one for close to $22,000.

A couple of complaints are still in progress. One has cost $30,952.20 so far, the other $45,125.98. According to my trusty calculator and me, the grand total since the updated Code came into effect in May 2023 comes to more than $460,000.

Some complaints have, as mentioned, come from the public. Others were filed against the mayor by councillors. Still others were filed against councillors by the mayor. Only a few of the 28 complaints have been substantiated. Most of the consequences have been to the mayor. Coun. Bill Sarai got a slap on the wrist for Tapegate. A complaint by Coun. Katie Neustaeter against the mayor was dismissed.

Again, has the beefed up Code of Conduct been worth it? Nothing has changed since it came in. Other than from Sarai, there have been no apologies. There have been few other consequences of note other than the mayor’s pay cuts, the closing of his office and his removal as City spokesperson. But nobody’s behaviour has been altered. Council meetings are still a gong show. They’re all still at each other’s throats.

Indeed, other than laser focusing the public’s attention on the dysfunction, there has been zero net benefit. The Code has simply been weaponized. It has been a waste of energy and money.

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.