Five seconds into the regular council meeting, Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson recused himself from the entire meeting. He cited potential conflicts of interest and turned the meeting over to Coun. Bill Sarai to lead. And then he never came back. Typically, if a board member believes that their presence during a particular agenda item may constitute a conflict of interest, they recuse themselves from that item and explain why they are in conflict. Because they tend to come back for the rest of the encounter, they stick around. Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson walked out of a council meeting on Dec. 6, pictured, and never returned. (City of Kamloops) Former Kamloops mayor and local columnist Mel Rothenburger said he’s never seen anything like it in his many years in and around city hall. “It was quite strange,” he told Radio West presenter Sarah Penton. Council members are declining to comment on the situation, other than to confirm that Hammer-Jackson did not follow proper protocols. Kamloops City Chief Administrative Officer David Trawin said the new council members received plenty of training in their first month on the job, including conflicts of interest. In addition, the province has resources for elected officials around what constitutes a conflict of interest and what should be done when it arises. Hammer-Jackson has since said two of the many items on the agenda were a conflict for him: a property dispute involving a close friend and a 26-page report on housing, safety and security that involved ASK Wellness, a local housing advocacy organization. Last month, an attorney for ASK Wellness sent a letter to Hamer-Jackson, asking him to stop making “slanderous” comments about the organization and its executive director in media interviews. Speaking with the CBC’s Marcella Bernardo, Hamer-Jackson said he wanted to be involved in setting the council’s agenda. If she had been involved, she said, she would not have allowed the report to be part of it. He also said he was forced to sit in his office all morning that day while a closed-door meeting took place. He didn’t want to sit in his office any longer while the council discussed the housing report, he said, so he left. “I could sit there for another two hours,” he said. “Real, [the earlier meeting] i took a break and everyone went and had lunch, and when i went to go get my lunch, there was no wrapper left. I thought, maybe I should get something to eat, you know?’ Radio West7:24 We get reaction from a former Kamloops mayor after current mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson recused himself from Tuesday’s council meeting due to a conflict of interest We’re getting backlash from a former Kamloops mayor after current mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson recused himself from Tuesday’s council meeting due to a conflict of interest
