EDITORIAL – O’Reilly must clear up the mystery surrounding mayor’s texts

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

THE MAN WHO wants to be the next mayor owes the people of Kamloops an explanation.

Coun. Mike O’Reilly needs to explain how, as deputy mayor for June, he didn’t know he’d have to chair Tuesday’s City council meeting in the absence of the mayor. There was a bit of a fuss before the meeting got started, late, checking to see if the mayor was on Zoom, or maybe had trouble finding a parking spot (even though the mayor has a reserved spot right outside council chambers).

Then he announced that the mayor was absent and that no word had been received from him that he’d be missing the meeting, or why. “I have not received confirmation from Mayor Hamer-Jackson electronically that I will be needed to chair this meeting,” he said.

With that, he briefly adjourned the meeting so he could prepare.

Yet, Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson has copies of texts he sent O’Reilly asking him to chair the meeting because he was with his ill wife at Royal Inland Hospital.

Obviously, O’Reilly hadn’t seen the emails. There are limited reasons this could have happened.

1. for some technological reason, he didn’t receive them.
2. the mayor’s texts were blocked.
3. he received them but didn’t read them.

It’s no secret that O’Reilly and Hamer-Jackson don’t communicate well. Hamer-Jackson’s messages to the councillor are often followed up with further messages of the “why don’t you answer me?” variety.

Coun. Dale Bass was once quoted as saying she and other councillors sometimes ignore things given them by the mayor.

So let’s get it cleared up. O’Reilly has a responsibility to find out what went wrong on Tuesday, and why. If he never received the messages from the mayor, he needs to get the teckies at City Hall on the case.

If there was some other reason, he should say so. This incident was an embarrassment, and it’s particularly sensitive because of the fact O’Reilly is campaigning to defeat Hamer-Jackson in this year’s civic election.

And, as deputy mayor for the month, he should have made certain that a message of well wishes was sent from City Hall to Hamer-Jackson and his wife Lori. That’s what leadership looks like.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was 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.