Mayor told he must change

City council will not allow Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to rejoin the boards of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District or the Kamloops Airport Authority until he can prove he's a changed man.

Instead of imposing a new deadline to review the matter, council has decided to invite the mayor to apply to them via a notice of motion in a closed council meeting, for reinstatement as a member of the TNRD board of directors or Kamloops Airport Authority Society.

In a news release issued Thursday, council said it may consider reinstating Hamer-Jackson upon receipt of an application from him showing, to council’s satisfaction, “sufficient evidence of improvement in his governance skills” in compliance with “any or all of municipal advisor [Henry] Braun’s recommendations.”

Coun. Mike O’Reilly told Castanet Kamloops the mayor has not changed his behaviour in the months since the Braun report was made public.

“Really nothing has changed that we've seen as a council from any of the recommendations or his behaviour that he's done,” O’Reilly said. “It's been pretty much the status quo.”

Braun’s report advises the mayor to be open to constructive criticism, admit mistakes and misunderstandings, improve the quality and frequency of his communication with council, let go of perceived slights, seek constructive criticism, take conflict resolution training, respect confidentiality protocols and improve his understanding of official documents.

O’Reilly confirmed council does not believe the mayor has made improvements in any of those areas. He said the mayor could demonstrate changes he’s made in an application to council by pointing out examples of better behaviour or detailing training he’s received.

“The proof is really in the pudding — when he's chairing meetings, and how he's acting in the community and through regular emails that we get from him, that he has to show he has taken some of the recommendations from the Henry Braun report,” O’Reilly told Castanet Kamloops.

On July 19, council removed Hamer-Jackson from the TNRD board and airport authority for his refusal to adhere to municipal governance recommendations laid out by Braun this past April. Braun was sent by the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs to assist council cohesion and found the mayor largely to blame for the dysfunction.

Council committed to review the measures it took three months from July, with the hope that Hamer-Jackson would comply with recommendations in section five of Braun’s report.

O'Reilly noted council has given Hamer-Jackson all this time to show he has changed and deserves to be reinstated to his board appointments and he has chosen not to do that.

“Council continues to have concerns that Mayor Hamer-Jackson’s conduct is causing significant legal and reputational risk to the municipal corporation,” the press release from council said.

Coun. Stephen Karpuk will continue to serve as a TNRD director until such time as Hamer-Jackson successfully applies to council for reinstatement.